GPA, or Grade Point Average, is an important part to any education. United States colleges often set the GPA scale on a four-point scale. Though the scale differs slightly from school to school, there are basics to GPA conversion that are applicable to most colleges and high schools around the nation. High schools often have different grading scales that further complicate GPA conversions, but they can be converted to a four-point scale as well.
Some colleges differ slightly in GPA, looking at the total by A+, A and A- scales instead of the typical four points for any A grade. Exact conversions will differ based on the college scale used, which can typically be found on the college website. The method remains the same, adding the points and then dividing by the number of classes, but the numbers will differ slightly.
Ignore the points and look at the letter grade. High schools that use a 100-point system for grading are one of the hardest for conversion because they are not based on a four-point scale to begin with. The best way to convert in this case is to ignore the exact points and look at the letter grade instead.
Write down every grade in letters and convert each letter grade per class to the four-point scale. An A is worth 4 points, a B is worth 3 points, a C is worth 2 points, a D is worth 1 point and an F is worth 0 points. Incomplete classes are usually counted as 0 points.
Add all of the points. For example, a student taking five classes who has two As and 3 Bs would add 4+4+3+3+3 to get a total of 17.
Divide the total found for all the points by the number of classes. A total of 17 for five classes would result in a GPA of 3.4.
Tips
References
Tips
- Some colleges differ slightly in GPA, looking at the total by A+, A and A- scales instead of the typical four points for any A grade. Exact conversions will differ based on the college scale used, which can typically be found on the college website. The method remains the same, adding the points and then dividing by the number of classes, but the numbers will differ slightly.
About the Author
Helen Jain has been writing online articles since December 2009 for various websites. She has studied English and psychology and hopes to get a Ph.D. in English in the future.
Photo Credits
school books image by William Berry from Fotolia.com