Calculating/Understanding Grade Point
US schools have their own grading system, unlike the numerical grading accepted all over the world . Students are evaluated on a credit/ alphabetical grading system. The credit system that most universities in the US follow is the one in which specific number of credit hours are allotted for each course .Usually, there is a course load of 6 to 12 credits in each semester.
The most common scale is the 4 point scale. At the bachelor’s level, the minimum passing grade is C, while at the master’s level, it is B.
Grade |
GPA*
|
Undergraduate |
Graduate |
A |
4 |
Excellent |
Excellent |
B |
3 |
Good |
Average |
C |
2 |
Average |
Passing |
D |
1 |
Passing |
Fail |
F |
0 |
Fail |
Fail |
*Grade Point Average
Some schools allow teachers to add a minus (-) or a plus ( ) to the grade. For example, a student may receive an "A " or an "A-, a "B " or a "B-", "C " or a "C-"and so on.
Other grade designations include:
Grade Symbol
|
Remark |
S |
Satisfactory |
I |
Incomplete |
IP |
In progress |
U |
Unsatisfactory |
NC |
Noncredit |
N |
No grade assigned |
DR |
Dropped |
WP |
Withdrew from passing |
Calculating GPA
Students from other countries who have their scores in percentage, needs to be converted into a GPA score. Some of the most common methods to do so are mentioned below:
Method 1
First multiply your grades by the number of credits, and then divide this sum by the total number of credit hours.
For Example: if you received an "B" for a three-credit course, you multiply 3x3, and the result is 9. If you received a "a" for a two-credit course, you multiply 4x2 and the result is 8.
- Add your total points (9 8=17).
- Then add together your total number of credits (3 2=5).
- Finally, divide the total number of points by the total number of credits (17/5).
- The result in this case would be a 3.4 GPA.
Method 2
Many Universities take the percentage score as the GPA score, with the only difference that they change the scale.
- If you get 9 points out of 10, your GPA would be 9, and scale would be 10.
- Similarly, if you get 70%, your GPA would be 70 and the scale would be 100.
Method 3
American high schools and universities sometimes weight their GPAs. The following is an example of a grade distribution commonly used in American high schools, based on a total percentage of points.
Grade
|
Percentage |
A |
90%–100% |
B |
80%–89% |
C |
70%–79% |
D |
60%–69% |
F |
59% and below
|
Some schools in the United States use an 8-point grading scale, as below:
Grade
|
Percentage |
A |
100-93% |
B |
92-85% |
C |
84-76% |
D |
75-68% |
F |
67% and below |
There are many premier arts institutes which do not assign grades or discourage the practice of assigning grades. According them learning should be the goal and not achieving the highest score.