What is the GPA?
GPA (Grade Point Average)
The full-form of GPA is Grade Point Average. It is a number or grading system that measures the performance of the student in an academic session. GPA usually measures the grade point score on a scale of 0.0 to 4.0. GPA is very important because it tells your academic strengths and weaknesses and the ability to improve yourself. It is a standard method for calculating the student’s average grade over a certain period, such as we can calculate the GPA of a semester or an academic year. GPA is calculated by dividing the total average grade points of a student by the total number of credits obtained by that student over a particular session.
GPA Formula
The basic formula for calculating a GPA is:
GPA System
GPA system classifying the performance of the student by the grading system in college, schools, and other educational academies. The below table shows the classifications with the grade points.
| Grades | Grade Points | Classifications |
| A | 4.0 | High Achievement |
| B | 3.0 | Satisfactory |
| C | 2.0 | Minimum Passing |
| D | 1.0 | Failure |
The below table shows the different types of grades, which are used to measure the performance of the student in the schools, colleges, and other educational academies.
| Grades | Grade Points |
| A | 4.0 |
| A- | 3.70 |
| B+ | 3.33 |
| B | 3 |
| B- | 2.70 |
| C+ | 2.30 |
| C | 2.00 |
| C- | 1.70 |
| D+ | 1.3 |
| D | 1.00 |
| D- | 0.70 |
| WF/F | 0 |
How to calculate GPA?
Now, we are going to take an example to solve the GPA by using the given formula. The following are the steps to solve the GPA grade system.
Example: We take an example of student performance, which contain student’s course name, grades, and credits of the student, as shown below:
| Course | Grade | Credit |
| Mathematics | A | 4 |
| Physics | C | 6 |
| Chemistry | B | 3 |
| English | D | 5 |
| Biology | F | 2 |
Step 1: In the next step, we will take the grade points instead of grade letters and then calculate the total grade points by multiplying the grade points with credits.
| Courses | Grade | Credits | (Grade points * Credits) |
| Mathematics | A (4.0) | 4 | 4.0 * 4 = 16 |
| Physics | C (2.0) | 6 | 2.0 * 6 = 12 |
| Chemistry | B (3.0) | 3 | 3.0 * 3 = 9 |
| English | D (1.0) | 5 | 1.0 * 5 = 5 |
| Biology | F (0.0) | 2 | 0.0 * 2 = 0 |
Step 2: After that, we will calculate the sum of the total grade points and total credits of the student.
| Courses | Credits | (Grade points * Credits) |
| Mathematics | 4 | 4.0 * 4 = 16 |
| Physics | 6 | 2.0 * 6 = 12 |
| Chemistry | 3 | 3.0 * 3 = 9 |
| English | 5 | 1.0 * 5 = 5 |
| Biology | 2 | 0.0 * 2 = 0 |
| Total Credits = 20 | Total Grade points = 42 |
Step 3: In the end, we will calculate the GPA (Grade Point Average) by using the given formula of GPA.
Finally, we will get the GPA of the student that is 2.10. By using the above steps, you can easily calculate the GPA system.