Avenarius' Ratings Explained

[The shortcut addresses for this page are ratings.avenarius.sk and ksicht.avenarius.sk.]

This page explains the rating system used across my sites to evaluate works of art (books, short stories, films, plays, concerts, albums, exhibitions...).

Only works of art scoring 5 or more grinning faces can be unequivocally recommended.

Len umelecké diela s 5 alebo viacerými vyškerenými tvárami možno bez výhrad odporúčať.

Nur Kunstwerke mit 5 oder mehreren grinsenden Gesichtern können uneingeschränkt empfohlen werden.

Why It's Essential to Rate Works of Art

Read the section Rating books, movies, etc., is useful on the Slapdash Reviews page.
 

About This Ratings System

This is a personal critical scale, not a school-grading system; the letters below follow the definitions given here, not any national educational convention.

In particular, A and B denote two distinct upper tiers: outright favorites and highly recommended works.

The ratings A− and B− are threshold grades, used for works of very high quality whose final placement in the higher category may remain uncertain.

The C range denotes works that are genuinely good or very good, yet not sufficiently outstanding to command priority in a life typically too short for all the worthwhile books, films, plays, albums, concerts, exhibitions, and other works of art that exist. In this system, C is still positive, D is mediocre to below average, and only E / F are plainly bad.
 

Discussing This Ratings System with the Robot

For a deep-dive into the logic behind this ratings system, you can read my conversation with ChatGPT.
 

Brief version

The following is the condensed version of the rating system.

	mind-blowing	neprekonateľné	umwerfend
	classic	klasické	klassisch
	exceptional	jedinečné	brillant
	excellent	vynikajúce	hervorragend
	good	dobré	gut
	fair	priemerné	mäßig
	poor	slabé	schwach
	trash	brak	Kitsch
	unbearable	neznesiteľné	unerträglich

 

Expanded version

The following is an expanded and alternatively worded version of the above rating system.

	A+	mind-blowing	neprekonateľné	umwerfend
	A	classic	klasické	klassisch
	A−	exceptional	jedinečné	brillant
	B+	masterly	majstrovské	meisterhaft
	B	marvellous	veľkolepé	großartig
	B−	exquisite	skvelé	hervorragend
	C+	distinguished	závažné	hochwertig
	C	very good	výborné	sehr gut
	C−	good	dobré	gut
	D+	almost good	takmer dobré	beinahe gut
	D	fair	priemerné	mäßig
	D−	below average	podpriemerné	unterdurchschnittlich
	E+	insufficient	neuspokojivé	ungenügend
	E	poor	slabé	schwach
	E−	very poor	veľmi slabé	sehr schwach
	F+	worthless	bezcenné	wertlos
	F	trash	brak	Kitsch
	F−	unbearable	neznesiteľné	unerträglich

 

Full version

The table below offers a more explanatory, fully expanded version of the same rating system.

	Knockout, blows your mind	Hypnotizujúco geniálne, rana do hlavy
	Exceptional, inimitable	Jedinečné, nenahraditeľné
	Exceptional, inimitable by a whisker / almost exceptional, inimitable	Jedinečné, nenahraditeľné o vlas / takmer jedinečné, nenahraditeľné
	Excellent, marvellous, magnificent, fantastic	Vynikajúce, nádherné, perfektné, fantastické
	Excellent, simply marvellous, amazingly enjoyable	Vynikajúce, vysoko nadpriemerné, (pokojne) nádherné
	Excellent, fine, delightful / almost a triumph	Vynikajúce, skvelé, pôžitok / takmer vysoko nadpriemerné
	Very good indeed, immediate encore welcome, exceptional skill, extraordinary	Veľmi dobré, radosť ihneď zopakovať, nadpriemerné, výnimočná zručnosť
	Very good, quite satisfying, definitely high quality	Veľmi dobré, očividne výborný výkon, nepochybne fakt dobré
	Good, sincere, interesting, passable	Dobré, má to do seba, zaujímavé, prijateľné
	Ordinary; average; unimpressive; can't make head nor tail of it; boring	Normálne; priemerné; neurčité; ťažko prístupné; nudné
	Poor; very boring	Slabé; veľmi nudné
	Trash, kitsch; fake; banal	Brak, gýč; podvod; banalita
	Truly unbearable, ordeal; disgrace, outrage	Absolútne neznesiteľné, utrpenie; hanba, škandál

 

Conversions to Other Rating Systems

• half-star characters are now encoded in Unicode, but as of March 2026 they still do not display reliably across all fonts, apps, and platforms, and are therefore replaced below by either the ½ numeral or the older “dingbat” character ✪
• originally (in an earlier version) published at ave.click/s
   

Emoticons

💣💣💣💣💣💣 (A+)
🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩 (A)
🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩 (A−)
🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩👍 (B+)
🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩 (B)
🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩👎 (B−)
😃😃😃😃👍 (C+)
😊😊😊😊 (C)
🙂🙂🙂🙂👎 (C−)
😑😑😑👍 (D+)
😑😑😑 (D)
😑😑😑👎 (D−)
😒😒👍 (E+)
😒😒 (E)
😒😒👎 (E−)
🤢 (F+)
🤮 (F)
💀 (F−)

5-Star Scale

½ as half-star	✪ as half-star
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (A+, A) ⭐⭐⭐⭐½ (A−, B+) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (B, B−) ⭐⭐⭐½ (C+, C) ⭐⭐⭐ (C−) ⭐⭐½ (D+, D, D−) ⭐⭐ (E+, E) ⭐½ (E−, F+) ⭐ (F, F−)	★★★★★ (A+, A) ★★★★✪ (A−, B+) ★★★★☆ (B, B−) ★★★✪☆ (C+, C) ★★★☆☆ (C−) ★★✪☆☆ (D+, D, D−) ★★☆☆☆ (E+, E) ★✪☆☆☆ (E−, F+) ★☆☆☆☆ (F, F−)

10-Star Scale

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (A+)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ (A, A−)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐☆☆ (B+, B, B−)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐☆☆☆ (C+, C)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐☆☆☆☆ (C−)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐☆☆☆☆☆ (D+, D)
⭐⭐⭐⭐☆☆☆☆☆☆ (D−)
⭐⭐⭐☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ (E+)
⭐⭐☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ (E, E−)
⭐☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ (F+, F, F−)
 

Relevant Links

The links below are no longer current as of March 2026, as I've now switched to the Infinity database software for maintaining my review lists. See lists.avekritik.com. (I'll be updating the links below later.)

• Avenarius Lists
  • Avenarius Ratings
    • Books Read
    • Short Stories Read
    • Films Watched
  • Avenarius' Favourites
    • Avenarius' Favourite Books / Avenariusove obľúbené knihy
    • Avenarius' Favourite Short Stories / Avenariusove obľúbené poviedky
    • Avenarius' Favourite Films / Avenariusove obľúbené filmy
    • Avenarius' Favourite Albums / Avenariusove obľúbené albumy
    • Avenarius' Favourite Songs / Avenariusove obľúbené pesničky
  • Slapdash Reviews
    • Slapdash Book Reviews
    • Slapdash Film Reviews
  • Avenarius Literary Lists
  • Avenarius Film Lists
  • Avenarius Music Lists