The German grading system may seem paradoxical to international students: the best grade is 1, yet an admission threshold can be lower, for example 0.5. Here is how it works.
German education uses a scale from 1 to 6:
Numerus Clausus (NC) is the minimum average grade required for admission to a particular subject. A lower NC means greater competition and higher requirements.
If medicine has an NC of 0.8, admission requires an average close to 1.0, which is nearly perfect. The lower the NC number, the higher the requirements.
The NC is based on:
For particularly prestigious subjects with intense competition, such as medicine at popular universities, the NC may theoretically reach 0.5. This means a perfect average of 1.0 plus additional advantages are needed.