The short version
A screener in London reads A-Level and degree results all day and calibrates them without thinking. Give them "GPA: 86" or "Gaokao: 672" and they have nothing to compare it to, so it does nothing for you. Worse, they guess, and the guess can go either way.
Every grade on your CV should answer three questions: the score, the scale, and where it puts you. The third one matters most, because a rank needs no translation.
GPA 3.87/4.0, ranked 2/186 (top 1%)
Gaokao: 672/750, top 0.3% in Shandong Province (around 590,000 candidates)
If your result isn't strong, the rule is the same as for anyone else. One line, then move on. Grades are a line or two on the page, not the whole argument.
Your university grades
This section only applies if your degree is from a Chinese university. If you're at a UK university, write your predicted classification like everyone else ("Predicted First" or "Predicted 2:1") and skip to the gaokao section.
State the scale every time
Chinese universities use 4.0, 4.3, 4.5 and 5.0 scales, and 100-point averages. A reader who assumes 4.0 will misread a 4.1 out of 4.3 as a weak result. Always write the maximum: "3.92/4.3", never "GPA 3.92".
Get your rank in writing
Most Chinese universities will issue a ranking certificate (排名证明) if you ask. It's the single most useful document for this part of your CV, because "ranked 5th of 210" lands with a London reader in a way that no conversion does. If your rank is strong and you don't have the certificate yet, ask your faculty office before you apply.
If you want to give a UK equivalent
Some students add a UK classification in brackets. It helps, as long as it's honest and you call it approximate. Firms run their own conversions and won't take yours on trust, so don't round up.
A rough guide for 100-point averages:
| Average out of 100 | Roughly |
|---|---|
| 85 and above | First |
| 80 to 84 | High 2:1 |
| 75 to 79 | 2:1 |
| 70 to 74 | 2:2 |
So: "Weighted average 88/100 (First equivalent), ranked 5/210". The rank still does most of the work.
The gaokao
This is the most under-used line on a Chinese student's CV. UK screeners are used to judging school results, because every domestic CV has A-Levels on it. Leave the gaokao off and that slot is empty, which reads as having nothing to report.
The raw score means nothing in London. The provincial percentile and the size of the pool are what make it impressive:
Gaokao: 672/750, top 0.3% in Shandong Province (around 590,000 candidates)
If you know your provincial rank (省排名), that's even stronger than the percentile.
Put it on the one-line school entry, with any school prizes. I'd include it when you sat it within the last three years or so and the result was strong, roughly top few percent of your province. If it was an ordinary result, or you're far enough into university that your degree results have taken over, leave it off.
If you did A-Levels or the IB instead
A lot of students now come through international schools in China or boarding schools in the UK. Then the gaokao advice doesn't apply. Write your A-Levels or IB score exactly as a British student would: "A-Levels: A*A*AA (Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Economics, Physics)". No context needed.
Foundation years and 2+2 programmes
Say so plainly in the education section. If you leave it out, your dates won't add up, and an unexplained gap makes a screener assume something worse than a foundation year.
Naming your university
A London screener knows Tsinghua and Peking. Below that, don't assume they'll recognise the name. One short bracket helps:
Fudan University (QS World Top 50)
Zhejiang University (C9 League, China's top nine research universities)
Avoid writing "985" or "211" on their own. Outside China they're jargon. And don't annotate Tsinghua or Peking. Explaining a university everyone knows reads as insecure.
Scholarships and prizes
Two problems come up on almost every Chinese CV I review: the awards have no scale, and there are too many of them.
Give each one a size. "National Scholarship" tells a London reader nothing. "National Scholarship (Ministry of Education, roughly the top 0.2% of undergraduates)" does. Combine repeats into one line, like "First-Class Academic Scholarship, three consecutive years". Cut the ones that don't translate. "Three Good Student" (三好学生) means nothing outside China.
Things to take off
A Chinese 简历 often carries details that a UK CV never does, and some UK firms prefer not to receive them at all. Take these off: photo, date of birth, age, gender, marital status, political affiliation, ID number and hukou, and parents' details. Keep your name, phone, personal email, city and LinkedIn.
Write dates the UK way too: "Sep 2024 – Jun 2025", not "2024.09-2025.06". The second version tells a screener the CV was written for a different market.
The review flags any grade on your CV that a London screener can't read.