His performance was just passable; he barely made the cut.
Tips
mistakes
Many people think 差强人意 means unsatisfactory or disappointing, but it actually means just barely satisfactory / passable. The character 差 is read chā (slightly), not chà (bad). Using it to express dissatisfaction is a very common error.
history
From 《后汉书·吴汉传》: the idiom originally described how General Wu Han barely bolstered morale. 差 = slightly, 强 = to strengthen. Even educated native speakers often get the meaning wrong.
