jvn098

I need to know what my GPA is because i'm applying for a program which has a cut-off gpa. The grading system in my high school was quite different, we had numbers instead of letter grades. Is there an easy way to calculate my GPA? I went to a counselor and she gave me a form that I have to fill out and submit to the International Education Research Foundation but its going to cost me $200! surely there's a cheaper alternative?

AznPwyd

90-100 = A = 4 Grade Points
80-89 = B = 3 Grade Points
70-79 = C = 2 Grand Points
...
Average your grade points to get the Grade Point Average

happymomof1

What country are you in? What is considered a failure? There are a lot of variables here.

Did you visit the Education USA counselors for your country, or did you use a private counselor?

Educational Advising Centers ? EducationUSA

Good luck!

YOU

Usually you don't have to convert.. just ask you counselor to give a school profile detailing your school's scale

Rister_Chutophs

WES offers a rough conversion guide:
WES Grade Conversion Guide

csprof2000

There are services that will do it for you, but they do cost money... anywhere from ~$100 and up.

Where do you live? Here's how you can estimate...

Get your class rank, assume a GPA of 2.5 is average, and get the average score of people in your graduating class. Compare your score to the average; say the average is 6/10 and your score is 9/10. That means your score is 1.5 times the average. By the same logic,

2.5 * 1.5 = 3.75.

So you can reasonably estimate a GPA of 3.75.

This number may be a little high. To get a slightly lower estimate, you can do...

4.0 * 0.9 = 3.60 GPA.

To get a lower bound, say that you beat 30% of the students who were above average, to find that

2.5 + 1.5 * 0.3 = 3.4 GPA.

So you can very reasonably place your GPA in a 3.40 to 3.75 range under the above scenario.

Sci-Fry

I have a similar issue. In our report, we get marked out of 7 (like the IB), and we don't get an actual GPA.

In my last report, I got eight 7s, one 6 and one 5. How would that convert to the US GPA?

csprof2000

Assume the average score is... well, let's say for calculation's sake it is 5. Then using the three methods above...

2.5 * 1.4 = 3.5 * 8 = 28
2.5 * 1.2 = 3.0 * 1 = 3
2.5 * 1.0 = 2.5 * 1 = 2.5 + = 33.5 / 10 = 3.35 GPA.

4.0 * 7 / 7 * 8 = 32
4.0 * 6 / 7 * 1 = 24 / 7
4.0 * 5 / 7 * 1 = 20 / 7 + = 3.82 GPA *** notice that this method gave a higher number this time

2.5 + 1.34 * 2/7 = 2.88 GPA.

If the average is 4/7, things change quite a bit...

2.5 * 1.75 = 4.375 * 8 = 35
2.5 * 1.5 = 3.75 * 1 = 3.75
2.5 * 1.25 = 3.125 * 1 = 3.125 + = 4.185 GPA.

the second number is the same, namely, 3.82 GPA

finally,
2.5 + 1.425 * 3/7 = 3.11 GPA.

Averaging all of these numbers...

3.35
3.82
2.88
4.19
3.82
3.11
------
3.52 GPA.

You will probably be looking at something in the neighborhood of a 3.52 GPA, depending on how competitive a school you're at. That's a healthy mix of As and Bs at an American school, which indicates performance in the A- to B+ range.

b@r!um

I second YOU that you should not convert your grades when applying for admission to college. However, if you really need an American GPA to qualify for e.g. some scholarship, I would use the WES conversion chart that Rister posted a link to. It has the advantage that you could refer to an 'objective' organization for the grade conversion guidelines you used and WES actually seems to take grade deflation overseas relative to American standards into account. (I had a GPA of 2.1 out of 6 at home, and according to WES that would be an A- in the US; note that the valedictorian of my class had a GPA of 1.8)

I would advise against the method that csprof2000 suggested because it seems to produce an artificially low GPA. Judging from what I have heard on CC, the mean high school GPA is closer to 3.0 than 2.5.

The most accurate way of converting grades would be in terms of percentiles or standard deviations but that is waaaay to much work for any practical purposes.

csprof2000

My method is basically a shortcut for doing a rough statistical analysis. Make the average grade higher and the grade looks worse by comparison.

jvn098

wow, thanks everyone!

ajayc

Every country has a different grading system. If us Indians get our transcripts evaluated by WES, anything above 60 is considered an A while the official grades here by the central board would be A for anything above 75.

And you dont need to convert your numbers to grades if your generally doesnt follow that. The colleges are aware of different educational system. Just leave the GPA part blank.

Sci-Fry

Dang, I'm an A-/B+ student? That sucks

My freaking 5/7 in P.E screws it all up! Does P.E. even count (it's a compulsory "subject" we have to take, but we still get graded on it)?

loathed

If you are from a country with the british system of education, roughly, an american high school diploma is = to the british GCSE or GCE O levels.

at the O levels, 70 and above is considered an "A" (either 1 or 2), 60-70 a "B" (3 and 4) and 50-60 a "C" (5 and 6).

however, i dont think you can convert this to the GPA out of 4 system. you really need to ask someone who has true knowledge.

ajayc

I am going to repeat you DO NOT have to convert your scores to GPA if your educational system doesn't!