This is an overall computation of a student’s school grades, taken as a culmination of all grades gotten in courses offered by the student. Since the education and grading system varies across countries, students seeking admission to a foreign educational institution often face problems. As a solution to such situations, a globally recognized calculation system called the GPA (Grade Point Average) was introduced.

A student’s GPA is a number that specifies how high or how well they scored in their courses on average. Usually, students are scored on a GPA scale between 1.0 and 4.0 during their studies, which shows whether their overall grades have been low or high. This number is then used to assess if those students meet the expectations and standards set by the degree program or university.

Just like professors give students a grade to evaluate their progress or success in their course, a GPA is a score that’s used to assess students’ success during the entirety of their degree program. Thus, a student’s average GPA will show what they have typically scored in their classes all through the semester, term, and year. The GPA scores can go up and down throughout a student’s time at the university and will change depending on how much they have been able to improve their overall grades (or how much they fell behind, in some cases).

To calculate their GPA, students need to know the following:

·         Credits attempted:

·         Final grades earned

·         Point values for the grades earned

Assuming there’re five ‘letter grades,’ namely A, B, C, D, and F with their point values being 4.00, 3.00, 2.00, 1.00, and 0.00, respectively, the GPA can be calculated as:

Total points earned in a program ÷ Total number of credits attempted = GPA for that program

To make it more transparent, let’s take a look at student A’s transcript with credit hours, grades earned, and grade points, respectively:

·         English: 5, C, 10

·         Biology: 5, A, 20

·         Mathematics: 5, F, 0

·         Chemistry Lab: 1, B, 3

A has attempted a total of 16 credits and earned 33 grade points. Using the basic formula mentioned above, A’s GPA is 2.06 (33 ÷ 16).

It’s important to notice how A has failed in Mathematics and earned no grade points for that course. However, the credits hours he attempted from that course are still included in the program’s total credits attempted.