@itswrittenintheshinyorbthings replied to your post:
“If I may ask, what does NC mean?”
Finally, an opportunity to explain the German high school grading system! Brace yourselves.
In primary and middle school, we get grades on a scale from 1 to 6, 1 being the best and 6 being the worst. They’re subdivided into +, nothing, and -. That means you have 1+, 1, 1-, 2+, 2, 2- etc. A straight 4 is the lowest pass, a 4- is a fail. A 6 is a complete fail and may result in not passing the year. A 1 equals 100%, so a 1+ is only achievable if you really put forward exceptional work. On our report cards, we don’t see the plus or minus, we just see the numbers.
German high schools (grade 11 and upwards) grade on a scale from 0 to 15 points. You need 5 points to pass (that would equal grade 4), everything below that is a fail, 0 is a complete fail and may result in not graduating at all. 15 is the best you can hope for (equals a 1+ from above).
All final grades of the final two or three years of school (grade 11 & 12, sometimes also 13 in the old system) are summarised in one big report card at the end, together with the additional five (in some states more) Abitur exams at the end of your final year. Those exam grades are counted for four times their value if I’m not mistaken, and the two (in some states more) advanced classes grades you’ve chosen are counted twice. They’re all in the point system, so you get a total of a couple hundred points.
Example (don’t kill me if you’re from another state and do it differently ok):
You have 24 normal classes over two years, each grade is counted once with the highest possible being 15 points per class. That means you could reach 360 points. The minimum to pass is 120 points.
You have 8 advanced classes over two years, each grade is counted twice. The highest amount of points possible is 240, you need at least 80.
You have 5 final exams, each is counted four times. 300 points is the maximum, you need at least 100 to pass.
For your average, you use the formula N = 17/3 - (your points)/180. The best average is 1.0, the worst is 4.0, everything higher than that is a fail.
Example from yours truly: I had 758 points (at least I think so, I may be a few points off but i’m pretty sure), which is a 1.4 average. Considering that on a scale of 1.0 to 4.0, that’s pretty good.
Now to your question of what an NC is: NC stands for Numerus Clausus and is a restriction that universities put into place in high-demand subjects. The NC doesn’t indicate how hard a subject is, just how popular it is. The biggest quote of students is admitted via their grade average. In my subject (English), we had an NC of 2.7, meaning that with my 1.4 Abitur I had no trouble getting in.
There are quotas for other students too - if you’re younger than 18, a certain percentage of places is reserved for you, no matter your grades. Same for people who are over 50, who have work experience, or who have waited a long time for their place - each semester you wait you climb up the waiting list. Some universities also have their own criteria for certain subjects, for example internships you attended or knowledge in foreign languages or whether you took certain subjects as advanced classes in school.
There are plenty of subjects without an NC, meaning that everyone gets in no matter their grades. Physics, Mathematics, Latin, IT and other subjects that aren’t very popular don’t have NC’s. Medicine, Law, Psychology, and Communication Studies have the highest NC’s because so many people apply for it.
I hope this was somewhat clear - things differ in every state but I think the grades are the same, more or less. Universities grade differently, but that would be a whole separate post haha!
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