Merit rating

If you meet the entry requirements, your prior grades and other qualifications will be reviewed and a merit rating (meritvärde) assigned. Learn more about merit rating and what it means in the admissions process.

After a student meets the general and specific entry requirements, the next step is to assign a merit rating. There are often more applicants for a course or programme than places available. The merit rating is used to rank applicants and assign places on courses and programmes.

In order to receive a merit rating, your foreign upper secondary education and supplementary courses from adult education (komvux, if you have them) must be reviewed.

Convert your foreign grades to the Swedish grading scale

In order to have a course value on the Swedish grading scale, your grades must first be translated to a scale of 10.00 – 20.00. You can use the merit rating calculator “räknefunktionen” for foreign upper secondary education (only in Swedish) at Antagning.se in order to convert your foreign course value (grade average). The result of this conversion is called the preliminary merit rating (preliminära meritvärde). This does not include any supplemental courses taken at komvux.

Re-calculate your foreign grades at Antagning.se (in Swedish)

Check your merit point compensation

Students with Swedish grades can receive merit points (also called credit implements), while students with a foreign upper secondary education receive merit point compensation. After you’ve calculated your preliminary merit rating, the next step is to find out what merit point compensation you're eligible for. The number of points you can add depends on your grades, reflected in your preliminary merit rating. You can receive a maximum of 2.5 points. Remember that your merit point compensation is based on your preliminary merit rating which excludes your supplemental courses from komvux.

Table for merit point compensation:

Preliminary merit rating	MPC
10.00-11.99	0.50
12.00-12.99	0.75
13.00-13.99	1.00
14.00-14.99	1.25
15.00-15.99	1.50
16.00-16.99	1.75
17.00-17.99	2.00
18.00-18.99	2.25
19.00-20.00	2.50

Add your supplementary course grades

Before your merit point compensation value can be added, you must first calculate in your komvux (adult education) grades. Supplementary grades from komvux are multiplied by 1.2. This means that all courses you study in order to meet the entry requirements will be multiplied with a factor of 1.2, regardless of whether you receive a low or high grade. The courses you studied in order to raise your merit rating are only calculated in if they actually raise your merit rating.

Remember that…

...if you study courses that are not needed to meet the entry requirements, they must be included in the list of courses that can raise your merit rating (Kurser som kan höja meritvärdet) found on Antagning.se. In order for the course to be included and hence increase your merit rating, it must be at the same or higher level than the subject in your foreign upper secondary grades.

Kurser som kan höja meritvärdet

Can I raise my merit rating?

If you wish to raise your grades, which gives you a better merit rating when competing for a place, you can retake courses at komvux.

Another way to increase your chances of being offered a place is to take the Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test (Högskoleprovet). Students who have completed this test are placed in their own selection group.