PSA grading scale explained: what every grade from 1 to 10 means

PSA grades trading cards on a 10-point scale. The grade sits on the label of a sealed plastic case (the slab), and it can change a card’s value more than anything else about it. Here is what each grade means, how much off-centering each one allows, and how to judge a card before you send it in.

The scale at a glance

PSA looks at four things: centering, corners, edges and surface. The grade reflects the weakest of them, so a perfectly centered card with one soft corner can’t reach a 10.

Grade	Name	Front centering	Back centering
10	Gem Mint	55/45 or better	75/25 or better
9	Mint	60/40	90/10
8	Near Mint-Mint (NM-MT)	65/35	90/10
7	Near Mint (NM)	70/30	90/10
6	Excellent-Mint (EX-MT)	80/20	90/10
5	Excellent (EX)	85/15	90/10
4	Very Good-Excellent (VG-EX)	85/15	90/10
3	Very Good (VG)	90/10	90/10
2	Good	90/10	90/10
1.5	Fair	about 90/10	about 90/10
1	Poor	no limit	no limit

The centering numbers come from PSA’s published grading standards, which describe them as approximate.

What each grade means

PSA 10 Gem Mint. A virtually perfect card: four sharp corners, clean edges, full original gloss, sharp focus and no staining. PSA allows a very slight printing imperfection that doesn’t hurt the look of the card.

PSA 9 Mint. Superb, with one minor flaw allowed, such as a tiny bit of wear on a corner or a slight printing imperfection.

PSA 8 NM-MT. Looks mint at first glance. A closer look shows very light wear on a few corners, a minor printing flaw, or slightly less gloss.

PSA 7 NM. Light surface wear or fraying visible on a closer look, a little loss of gloss, and slightly rounded corners.

PSA 6 EX-MT. Visible surface wear or a light print line, some gloss lost, and corners that show slight fraying.

PSA 5 and 4 (EX, VG-EX). Rounding on the corners, chipped edges and visible surface wear, but the card is still clearly presentable. Light creasing appears at 4.

PSA 3 to 1 (VG, Good, Fair, Poor). Heavier wear: rounded corners, creases, staining, loss of the original color and, at the bottom of the scale, missing pieces or heavy damage.

PSA can also give half-point grades below 9, such as an 8.5, for a card that sits at the top of its grade.

The 2025 centering change

In January 2025, PSA’s published standards changed for the front of the card. A PSA 10 used to allow a range of 55/45 to 60/40; the standard now reads about 55/45. The 9, 8 and 7 tightened the same way, by one step. Back limits and grades 6 and below did not change. PSA did not announce it widely, so older guides still quote the 60/40 figure for a 10.

Qualifiers: OC, ST, PD and more

A card can get a solid grade with a qualifier on the label when one problem stands out. The common ones:

OC: off-center
ST: staining
PD: print defect
OF: out of focus
MK: marks, like writing or ink
MC: miscut

A qualified card usually sells for less than the same grade without one. You can ask PSA not to qualify your cards, in which case they get the lower, unqualified grade instead.

How to tell if a card is worth grading

Check the centering first. It is the one thing you can’t fix and the easiest to measure. Our free card centering calculator shows the best grade the centering allows at PSA and other graders.
Inspect corners, edges and surface under a bright light and a loupe. Tilt the card to catch scratches and print lines.
Compare raw and graded prices. Grading only pays when the difference between the raw card and the grade you can realistically expect is bigger than the cost and the wait. Slabby shows a card’s raw price and its graded prices side by side after a scan.
Make sure the card is real. Our guide on how to tell if a Pokémon card is fake covers the checks to run first.