What does “mention Passable” mean on a Moroccan baccalauréat transcript?
On a Moroccan baccalauréat transcript, mention Passable means a pass in the lowest of four honors bands (Passable, Assez bien, Bien, Très bien), not what the English adjective “passable” suggests. CertTranslate kept the French band name in the certified translation, added the gloss “Satisfactory” and explained the scale in a Translator’s Note. The translation was delivered in August 2026 for the client’s U.S. filing, certified to the USCIS standard.
A Moroccan Relevé des Notes From an Independent Candidate
A client sent one phone photo of a Moroccan relevé des notes du baccalauréat, the transcript of grades for the exam that closes upper-secondary school. Its decision line reads “ADMIS(E) AVEC MENTION PASSABLE”. The order was a certified translation of a Moroccan baccalauréat transcript from French into English.
The candidate sat the 2010 session as a candidat libre: an independent candidate who registers for the exam directly rather than through a school. That status is printed in the title line, under the letterhead of the regional education academy (A.R.E.F.) for Meknès-Tafilalet.
Below the title, a four-column grid lists eight subjects. Each row gives a grade out of 20, a coefficient (the subject’s weight in the average) and a weighted score. The total and the overall average sit under the grid, followed by a boxed line headed “DECISION DU JURY”, the examination board’s decision.
The client named no receiving office; the translation was for a U.S. filing.
Why “Passable” Reads Wrong in English
In English, “passable” is faint praise: just about good enough. On a Moroccan baccalauréat, Passable is the formal name of a band, printed on the same line as the word for “passed”.
Mention Passable is the lowest of the four honors bands, or mentions, given with a Moroccan baccalauréat pass: Passable, Assez bien, Bien and Très bien. Nuffic, the Dutch agency for international education, lists Morocco’s 0–20 secondary grades as 10–11 Passable (satisfactory), 12–13 Assez bien (quite satisfactory), 14–15 Bien (good) and 16–20 Très bien (very good). Grades of 0–9 are Insuffisant (unsatisfactory).
A literal rendering such as “passed with passable mention” turns a band name into a comment on the pass. Replacing it with one English word hides the scale that a university or a credential evaluation service needs to place the result. Placing the band against U.S. grades is the evaluator’s job, not the translator’s.
The sheet raised three smaller questions of the same kind. They were the bracketed (E) in “ADMIS(E)”, a Physical Education row marked “Disp.” with no grade, and the letterhead abbreviation A.R.E.F.
How We Kept “Passable” and Explained the Scale
We translated the decision line as “PASSED WITH THE MENTION PASSABLE (SATISFACTORY)”. The French band name stays, so the line maps straight back to the original. The gloss in parentheses is the English descriptor Nuffic gives that band.
A Translator’s Note on the certificate page names the full scale in ascending order. It also explains admis(e), the pre-printed masculine/feminine form of “passed”.
The Physical Education row reads “Disp.”, short for dispensé(e), meaning exempt. We rendered it as “Exempt”. The asterisk fillers in its coefficient and weighted-score cells stay exactly as printed, so the row does not read as missing data.
The letterhead abbreviation A.R.E.F. stays as printed, and a note expands it once: Académie Régionale d’Éducation et de Formation, the Regional Academy of Education and Training. The grid headers CF and Note*CF were spelled out as “Coefficient” and “Grade × Coefficient”, and the title’s “candidats libres” became “EXTERNAL CANDIDATES”.
We also checked the sheet’s arithmetic. Each weighted score is the grade times the coefficient, and the weighted scores add up to the printed total. Divided by the sum of the coefficients, that total gives the average, and every figure on this sheet reconciled.
A shortened place name printed on the form was reproduced as printed, with the full name in a note. Completing it silently would have changed the record.
The signing official’s printed name is partly covered by the signature stroke. We transcribed it only as far as it could be read and marked it as partially legible. The faint round seal beside it was described by its layout, not guessed.
The Outcome
CertTranslate delivered the translation in August 2026 for the client’s U.S. filing, certified to the USCIS translation standard under 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3). The packet ran three pages: the one-page translation, a certificate page carrying six Translator’s Notes, and a copy of the original photo.
Every grade, the total and the average appear exactly as printed, in the original layout.
What This Means for You
A mention on a Moroccan baccalauréat is a named band on a fixed scale. Its translation should keep the mention in its original French with an English gloss. If your relevé des notes reads mention Passable, the English version should make plain that you passed, in the lowest of four honors bands.
If a receiver also wants the diploma itself, see French diploma translation. Our guide to transcript vs. diploma translation covers when you need one or both.
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Authorship, sources & history
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- Published
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Sources & references
- Morocco: grades and study results
Nuffic · Verified
- Morocco: Country Overview
WENR (World Education Services) · Verified
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