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You are here: Parent Connections » Parent Topics » Being a Supportive Parent » Calculating Your Student’s GPA

Parent Topics

Calculating Your Student’s GPA

by JoJo
July 19, 2012

Calculating Your Student’s GPA

In high school, each course was considered the same, so calculating your student’s GPA was fairly easy to do. In college, courses carry different credit hours, so the GPA calculations are a little more involved. Consider the following case:

Credit Hours

Grade

Math 155

4

C

Chem 115

4

B

Engl 101

3

B +

Eng’r 199

1

A

Eng’r 101

2

A –

Hist 152

3

B

17

A’s are worth 4 points, B’s 3 points and so forth – just like in high school. In some cases, you will have + or – grades as well. These may or may not affect the point value for the course depending on your universities policy. Thus a B + is still worth 3 points.

In the table below, quality points are calculated for each course. The quality points are calculated by multiplying the credit hours by the point value for the course, depending on your university’s policy. Thus the quality points for Math 155 are equal to 4 credit hours x 2 points = 8.

Credit Hours

Grade

Quality Points

Math 155

4

C

8

Chem 115

4

B

12

Engl 101

3

B +

9

Eng’r 199

1

A

4

Eng’r 101

2

A –

8

Hist 152

3

B

9

17

50

The GPA is just the total quality points divided by the total credit hours.

GPA = Total Quality Points = 50 = 2.94
Total Credit Hours 17

If your student withdrew from a course, they will get a W in the course, but the W won’t affect your student’s GPA.

Let’s suppose that next semester, your student takes 16 credit hours and you they 49 quality points. Their  GPA for this semester will be:

GPA = 49 = 3.06
16

The cumulative GPA will be their cumulative quality points divided by their cumulative credit hours.
Cumulative GPA = 50 + 49 = 3.00
17 + 16

Some universities allow your student or students to repeat a course when you receive a D or F. See the topic Repeating a Course to see how the GPA is calculated in this case..

← Checking Your Student’s Grades
Knowing Your Role in the Scheduling Process →

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Testimonials

  • My biggest improvement is that I have been checking my grades, instead of burying my head and trying to ignore the classes I know I am doing bad in.  This semester my grades don't necessarily show improvement at midterms because once again I wasn't prepared for the first round of exams.  That really came back to bite me because in a few classes that was the only grade on the midterms.  But since I have been keeping track, I have been doing everything in my power to make the grades better.  I did all my on-line homework for a few classes so that I would not have to worry about keeping track of when they are due, and I have been keeping a to-do list for studying and things like that..

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