GPA Tutorial
While your grade card or transcript will display your Semester and Cumulative GPA, there are times when you need to be able to calculate your GPA for yourself. For example, you may need to know what grades you must earn to hit a 3.0 Cumulative GPA. Below is the necessary information to figure out how to answer these types of questions.
First, each grade (A, B, C, D, F) has a different value. The values are as follows:
| GRADE | GRADE VALUE |
| A | 4.000 |
| B | 3.000 |
| C | 2.000 |
| D | 1.000 |
| F, WF | 0 |
| W, WP, P | NOT INCLUDED |
If you multiply the grade you received times the credits for the course, you get what we call “Grade Points”. If you add up the Grade Points earned in each course, and divide by the total graded credits (don’t forget to include the credits for failed courses). Here is an example:
| Course | Grade | Grd Value | Cred | Grade Pts |
| BIO 101 | B | 3.000 | 3 | 9.000 |
| MTH 100 | C | 2.000 | 3 | 6.000 |
| ENG 101 | A | 4.000 | 3 | 12.000 |
| ALH 120 | A | 4.000 | 2 | 8.000 |
| PSY 101 | D | 1.000 | 3 | 3.000 |
| GEN 101 | WF | 0.000 | 2 | 0.000 |
| TOTALS | 16 | 38.000 |
After adding up the Grade Points for each course (the column on the right), total the graded credits. To get your GPA, simply divide the total grade points by the total credits. In the above example, the GPA is (38.000/16) = 2.375
Notice that the 2 credits from GEN 101 were included even though the grade received was “WF”. Even if the credits don’t count in the “Total Credits Earned”, those credits do count against the GPA. That is why it is so important to retake failed courses as soon as possible.
