Calculating Your GPA
In high school, each course was considered the same, so calculating your 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 university’s 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 you withdrew from a course, you will get a W in the course, but the W won’t affect your GPA.
Let’s suppose that next semester, you take 16 credit hours and you earn 49 quality points. Your GPA for this semester will be:
GPA = 49 = 3.06
16
Your cumulative GPA will be your cumulative quality points divided by your cumulative credit hours.
Cumulative GPA = 50 + 49 = 3.00
17 + 16
Some universities allow you to repeat a course when you receive a D or F. See the topic Repeating a Course to see how your GPA is calculated in this case..
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