Your GPA and CGPA are probably two of the most significant numbers to keep an eye on while you’re enrolled in a Bachelor’s or Master’s program.
Your GPA, or Grade Point Average, is a statistic that reflects how well or how high you achieved on an average of your classes. It’s supposed to rate you during your studies (usually on a scale of GPA between 1.0 and 4.0) and to indicate whether your overall grades were good or poor. This number is then used to determine whether you are meeting the requirements and goals set by the degree or university curriculum.
On the other hand, a high Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) is not a small accomplishment. While your CGPA is outstanding it may not necessarily fetch you a job. Thousands of students each year amplify the importance of their grades, whether it is by studying all-night during exams, or by spending weekends in the library.
A student with CGPA of 7 points is not automatically smarter than the student who obtained CGPA of 5 points. Thus a good CGPA is just a sign of hard work, engagement and devotion to academic achievement, all the attributes an employer wants in employees. A lower CGPA may, however, also be a consequence to certain extenuating circumstances.
Today let’s talk about why GPA and CGPA is essential for your education and career, what makes them different, and most importantly, how to calculate GPA and CGPA as well.
GPA and CGPA Meaning
A grade point average (GPA) is a measured average of the grades of letters you receive in school on a scale of 0 to 4.0 or 5.0. Each semester you’ll get a GPA, whether weighted or unweighted, based on the grades you’ve received during the semester in all of your classes. You’ll also have a cumulative GPA throughout high school, which is an continuous composite of all your 1st and 2nd grade semesters beginning with freshman year.
Much as you earn an average mark at the end of a semester, your GPA is an estimate of how you did over a given period of time in all of your courses. The first thing that they see when an admissions officer looks at your mandatory transcript is the outcome of the work you put into your studies. What’s more, your final grades and GPA can also convey a message of who you are. They have a preview of your strengths in commitment, determination and time management. They will get a sense of what your patterns of working ethics and study are and how successful you are.
Of course, having a higher GPA also means that you are smart and able to understand difficult concepts easily. If your GPA is high enough, you may also be eligible for scholarships to help pay for tuition. On top of that, your future employer might also consider your GPA important. This is why it is crucial that you focus on achieving good grades while at school.
Whereas CGPA or Cumulative Grade Point Average is a method of academic scoring used in schools and colleges to assess a student’s overall academic performance. Students are assigned grades (A, B, C, D, or F). It is an average of grade points received for all semesters after completion of the course up to a given academic term.
They will ask for a copy of your transcript containing your latest cumulative GPA when you apply for colleges. Colleges use the two numbers to assess your overall school success and equate you with other prospective students.
A society like ours values CGPAs very greatly according to the current socio-cultural activities. Students strongly believe the only path to get a decent career is to get a strong CGPA. Hence, most students spend their academic path pursuing high grades, rather than spending time creating and improving the soft / life skills that are so much needed.
CGPA only represents the efforts of an person in the academics. One might argue a lower CGPA represents less effort while a higher degree represents the opposite. It is hard to catch the skill of everybody. Surely skill and energy are two separate individuals, and one can never override the other. Therefore, we will find those who have failed in their careers in academia have soared.
Nonetheless, the fact is that when applying or being considered for a work, CGPA always functions as the first criteria. This is not because it provides the applicant with a detailed understanding of the capabilities of the employee but rather to simplify the list of applications. Most often, it has been found during work interviews that if a student passes with a small or low CGPA to fulfill the circular pre-requisite, employers prefer to depend on their skills rather than their grades.
Employers/corporations are also searching for abilities, qualifications and experience; characteristics that one’s CGPA can not always contain. In other words, your CGPA will get you to the door but the deal will not be closed. There are other important factors — your creativity, interpersonal skills, critical thinking, team spirit, decision making skills, and presentation and communication ability — that are likely to be far more relevant than the grades you received in your student life.
Difference between GPA and CGPA
This is one thing that makes them different, which is the time span, GPA is for a shorter period, perhaps for a semester or a year, while CGPA spans a longer academic length, such as the entire duration of a bachelor’s degree, including all semesters.
How to Calculate GPA
GPA is a common form of grading used in the USA, Canada and Australia. The grading scale is different for each country though. The GPA range is 0.0 to 4.0 points in both the US and Canada, with 4.0 being the highest mark / score. Some Australian schools use a GPA scale between 0.0 and 7.0, where 7.0 is the maximum mark / score.
Here is a US GPA conversion list for your reference:
- A = 4
- B+ = 3.5
- B = 3
- C+ = 2.5
- C = 2
- F = 0
How to Count CGPA from GPA
To determine a CGPA, you simply divide your cumulative grade point average by the total number of credit hours attended for all subjects during your semesters.
Convert GPA to Percentage
For different universities the conversion formulas vary widely, for India the US GPA is a 4 point scale. Hence, 100 percent is taken as 100 points, 25 percentage points equals 1 GPA in the GPA system.
Split the number to 100, then multiply it by 4. For examples-80/100 * 4 = 3.2 GPA. For certain other nations, the framework is different where, for example, 75 – 79 is 3.3 GPA and 80 – 84 is 3.7 GPA, with a broad percentage range allocated to a particular GPA. The equations and range are not absolute values, so the score is approximately measured.
Convert CGPA to Percentage
We need to multiply CGPA with 9.5 to transfer CGPA to Percentage, which will give us the percentage. CBSE offers the formula. If your score is 9.8 GPA, for example, it would be 9.8 * 9.5=93.1 percent in percentage. Only subtract your CGPA by 9.5 to convert your CGPA to percentage and you’ll get your percentage.
This online tool will help you convert both SGPA to percentage and CGPA to percentage.