Your GPA (Grade Point Average) is a means of scoring how well you are doing on the course you are taking; this is worked out over the entire year through a series of assessments and tests. A higher GPA will undoubtedly open doors and show better academic success to potential colleges and employers.
It’s essential to keep track of your GPA through the semester, term, or year. Keeping track allows you to know where you need to invest the time and effort to improve your grades, and thus improve your chances of getting into a good college.
GPA: A Summary
In summary, your GPA is a good indication of your academic success throughout the year. Most schools and colleges consider a GPA average of between 3-3.5 to be good enough, with excellent students pushing further towards the 4.0 average. Most students obtaining a 3.5 average, but this does depend on the course you are planning to take and the university or college at which you are planning to study. The top universities will usually require a GPA that is higher than 3.5 to get onto their course programs.
The top universities will usually require a GPA that is higher than 3.5 to get onto their course programs. Different colleges are looking for various scores, some ask for a very high GPA average, and some lower. For example, the average ASU GPA is 3.54.
Maintaining a high GPA can be a tough job for any student. It requires hard work and dedication on all subjects, including those in which the student does not naturally excel. A lower GPA student may still be able to get into university, but specific financial aid may not be available to them.
It can seem a little unfair to work out a student’s GPA in this way, but there are advantages in doing so. While it’s tough to improve on your GPA towards the end of the year if you have particularly under-performed, if you were to maintain a very high GPA throughout most of the year and then slip towards the end, the impact would not be quite as severe as it would at first seem.
How your GPA is calculated
Working out how to calculate your GPA can seem like a complicated process at first. The most important thing to remember is that your GPA is always worked out on a scale of 0 to 4 using multiples of 4. No matter what grading system your school uses, your grade will be given a numerical value, and this will be used to work out your GPA.
Where a GPA score sometimes falls down is because they are usually calculated on an unweighted scale, this means that there is no consideration for how easy or difficult the class may be; this means that you could effectively score a high GPA by taking some easy classes.
Therefore, a weighted GPA system is a much more accurate reflection of your studies and academic success. Weighted GPAs usually use the 0-5 average, meaning the highest mark you would be able to receive would be equal to a 5 rather than a 4.
