Polish Transcript Translation

**Suplement do dyplomu:** Since the Bologna Process implementation (post-2005), most graduates receive a Diploma Supplement listing all courses, ECTS, and grades in a highly structured, multi-page format. **Wykaz ocen / Karta przebiegu studiów:** A standard printed transcript used before the Suplement became universal. **Indeks:** A historical, small green or blue student booklet with handwritten signatures and stamps from professors for every semester.

WES and ECE accept all three, provided they cover your complete course of study. We handle the structured tables of modern supplements and the handwritten, densely packed pages of a vintage Indeks, organizing the translation into a clear, legible English format for the evaluator.

Polish transcripts differentiate how a subject was taught: **Wykład (W)** for lecture, **Ćwiczenia (Ćw)** for classes/tutorials, **Laboratorium (Lab)** for laboratory work, **Seminarium (Sem)** for seminars, and **Lektorat** for language courses.

We retain these distinctions in the translation. This is critical for credential evaluation, as evaluators may assign different U.S. credit weights to a laboratory hour versus a standard lecture hour. Grouping them generically as "classes" can result in lost credits.

The standard Polish university grading scale is numerical but carries specific descriptors: **5.0** (bardzo dobry / very good), **4.5** (dobry plus / good plus), **4.0** (dobry / good), **3.5** (dostateczny plus / satisfactory plus), **3.0** (dostateczny / satisfactory), and **2.0** (niedostateczny / fail). Some institutions also use 5.5 or 6.0 (celujący / excellent).

We translate both the numerical score and the Polish performance descriptor exactly as they appear. This dual rendering ensures that a 4.0 is properly evaluated as a "Good" (often equivalent to a U.S. solid B or A- depending on the evaluator's matrix) rather than a U.S. 4.0 GPA.

In the Polish system, not all courses end with a numerical grade. Many courses require a **zaliczenie (zal.)**, which signifies completing course requirements without an exam, effectively a "Pass" or "Credit." Others are marked as **zaliczenie z oceną (zal. o.)**, meaning a graded pass without a formal exam, while major subjects conclude with a final **egzamin**.

We clearly translate these status markers (e.g., zal. → Pass/Credit) so evaluators understand that a missing numerical grade is intentional and not an incomplete course. Mismarking a "zaliczenie" can cause a course to be excluded from GPA calculations.

Modern Polish transcripts use **Punkty ECTS** (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System), where 1 ECTS credit typically represents 25–30 hours of student workload. Pre-Bologna transcripts and older Indeks books list only the **Liczba godzin** (number of contact hours) per semester or per year.

We preserve whichever metric is used on the original document. Evaluators like WES use specific formulas to convert ECTS to U.S. semester credits (often a 2:1 ratio), and different formulas to convert raw contact hours. Accurate transcription of these numbers is essential for fair credit transfer.