Although the German employment reference does not state a school grade, the performance assessment in practice corresponds to a five-step scale. The decisive formulation usually appears in the summary performance assessment — the sentence containing "satisfaction".
The scale at a glance
Grade 1 (very good): "always to our fullest satisfaction" — the highest recognised formulation.
Grade 2 (good): "always to our full satisfaction" — a very common, positive assessment.
Grade 3 (satisfactory): "to our full satisfaction" — without "always", clearly weaker.
Grade 4 (adequate): "to our satisfaction" — barely passed.
Grade 5 (poor): "by and large to our satisfaction" — the lowest recognised step.
Consistency is key
Performance and conduct assessments must match the chosen grade. A grade-2 formulation ("always to our full satisfaction") with a weak conduct formulation is immediately noticeable to experienced readers.
Zeugnis links the selected grade with the matching formulations and checks consistency between grade, performance and conduct before export.