Marks and GradesPercentage, percentile, GPA and CGPA: the difference
Result sheets use five different measures, and they are often confused. Each answers a different question.
| Measure | The question it answers | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Marks | How many did I score? | 412 out of 500 |
| Percentage | What share of the maximum did I score? | 82.4% |
| Percentile | What share of candidates did I do as well as or better than? | 96.3 percentile |
| Grade | Which band did my marks fall in? | A2, or B+ |
| GPA / CGPA | What is the average of my grade points? | 8.6 on a scale of 10 |
Percentage
Marks obtained divided by maximum marks, times 100. It depends only on your own paper. If you score 450 out of 500, your percentage is 90 whether the paper was easy or hard and whatever anyone else scored.
Percentile
A percentile compares you with the other candidates. A percentile score of 90 means that 90 percent of the candidates scored the same as or less than you. It says nothing directly about your marks. In a hard paper, 60% of the marks might put you at the 95th percentile; in an easy one, 90% of the marks might be only the 70th.
The exact formula is set by the body that conducts the examination and is given in its information bulletin. Large entrance tests held in several shifts use percentiles so that candidates who faced different papers can be put on one list.
Percentage is not percentile
- 90 percent: you got nine tenths of the marks.
- 90th percentile: you did as well as or better than nine tenths of the candidates.
A form that asks for a percentage wants the first. Do not write a percentile there.
Grade
A grade is a band. In absolute grading the bands are fixed ranges of marks. In relative grading they are slices of the rank list; CBSE's subject grades, for example, give A1 to the top one eighth of those who passed. Either way a grade hides the exact marks: two students with the same grade can be several marks apart.
GPA, SGPA and CGPA
Each grade has a grade point. A grade point average is the average of those points, usually weighted by the credits of each course. SGPA is for one semester, CGPA for all semesters so far. On a 10-point scale the top is 10; many foreign universities use a 4-point scale. See how SGPA and CGPA are calculated.
Division and class
Older mark sheets carry a division, and universities award a class with the degree. The cut-offs are set by each board or university. Of the documents we have read, VTU gives First Class from 60% and First Class with Distinction from 70%, while Anna University uses CGPA: 6.50 for First Class and 8.50 for Distinction, with further conditions. CBSE awards no overall division at all.
Converting between them
- Marks to percentage: always possible, by arithmetic.
- Percentage to percentile, or back: not possible without the full list of everyone's results.
- CGPA to percentage: only by the formula of the institution that awarded the CGPA. See CGPA to percentage.
- Grade to marks: only as a range, never an exact figure.
What to write on a form
Give exactly what the form asks for, in the form it asks. If it wants a percentage and you have a CGPA, use your institution's official conversion and say so. If it lets you choose, give the CGPA with its scale: it is the figure your institution actually certified.
Check with your board or university. The rules quoted on this site were read in the official documents on 12 November 2026. Boards and universities revise them, and yours may differ. For anything that decides an admission or a job, use the rule printed on your own mark sheet or in your institution's regulations. This is an independent site.