very important GPA question

Weasel8488
Tue, 29 Jul 2008 16:44:17 +0000

DougBetsy, think of it this way. All schools calculate a student’s numerical grade for a course. Some schools report that number on the transcript. Others convert it to the four point scale. To compute GPA (either in numerical or four point form), schools then average all of the grades reported on a student’s transcript. It’s impossible to know how a person’s GPA on a four point scale converts to the numerical scale. Here is an example:

Alice and Bob both attend Central High School, which uses the 0-100 scale. There grades were:

Alice
[ul][]History: 90
[]Math: 88
[]English: 93
[]Science: 83
[/ul]

Bob
[ul][]History: 92
[]Math: 89
[]English: 97
[]Science: 87
[/ul]

Alice’s GPA on a 100 point scale is 88.5 while Bob’s is 91.25. But what if they went to Eastern High School, which uses the four point scale?

Alice
[ul][]History: 3.7 (A-)
[]Math: 3.3 (B+)
[]English: 4.0 (A)
[]Science: 3.0 (B)
[/ul]

Bob
[ul][]History: 3.7 (A-)
[]Math: 3.3 (B+)
[]English: 4.0 (A)
[]Science: 3.0 (B)
[/ul]

At this school, Alice and Bob would both have a GPA of 3.5! The point is that you can’t easily convert the 100 point scale to the four point scale, or vice-versa. I realize other people have made this point already, but hopefully this example will help those who are still a bit confused.