The scale is generally further subdivided with intervals of one decimal place, although the use of halves (e.g., 7.5) and quarters (e.g., 7+ or 7−, rounded to 0.8 or 0.3) is also common.
At all levels of education, some subjects may be graded with the marks "insufficient" (O, or onvoldoende), "pass" (V, or voldoende) and in some cases "good" (G, or goed).
For an average grade better than 7, but not meeting the criteria for cum laude, met genoegen ("with distinction") is sometimes awarded.
This becomes relevant in comparing fractions of students attaining various grades with other systems where a higher or lower number of candidates are assessed at the level concerned, as selection effects influence this comparison.
Moreover, the equivalence of university preparatory education the world over should not be assumed, as the American high school level or (barely) passing British and commonwealth A-levels with a D mark are inadequate for admission to Dutch research universities, as they do not equate the vwo and are organised completely differently.
As the incidence of a 9 or 10 in havo examinations is considerably lower than that of the top marks in the American or British grading system, it would be a mistake to equate a 10 to an A, a 9 to a B, and so forth.
A mark 7 is a decent grade, implying the student has satisfactory command of the subject matter but is not exceptionally good either.
As an average final grade point of 6 constitutes the unconditional passing grade, in most cases is the standard for admission to a higher cycle of education, and has a high occurrence among pupils, there are good grounds for equating a 6 with a C in most systems and B− on the US scale, which has a similar frequency and purpose.
A mark 5, on the other hand, is "almost satisfactory" and may be about that of the D in many systems, which counts as a weak pass, but as an average is too low for admission into a higher cycle of education.