Calculating A Student'S Grade Point Average (Gpa)

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CALCULATING A STUDENT’S GRADE POINT AVERAGE (GPA)
Definitions
On a traditional schedule, a one semester course (55 minutes a day) carries ½ unit of credit.
On a block schedule, a one semester course (90 minutes a day) carries 1 unit of credit.
Quality Point – When a student completes a course, a final grade is determined and recorded on the student’s high
school transcript. A Grade Point Average can be determined when a grade is given a number of Quality Points. In
Cobb County, we are on a 4.0 Grade Point System. An ”A” earns 4 quality points, a “B” earns 3 quality points, a
“C” earns 2 quality points, a “D” earns 1 quality point, and an “F” earns no quality points. Sometimes Bonus
Quality Points (BQP’s), also referred to as weighting, are earned if the course is an honors course or Advanced
Placement (AP) course.
In Cobb County – Honors courses (except for H Ninth Lit, H Physical Science, and Pre-AP Soc. Stud.) are given
.5 BQP. AP courses, For. Lang. level IV and higher, and some upper level courses (like Analysis and Chemistry II)
are given 1.0 BQP. See your school’s Profile or web site for a complete list of weighted courses. NOTE: A
course with a grade of “P” or “NC” would not be used in a GPA calculation.
Colleges – Colleges vary in how they review GPA’s. Some colleges will use a student’s overall weighted GPA.
This would mean they would take all courses the student had taken in high school at that time, convert the grades
earned to Quality Points, and include any Bonus Quality Points awarded for honors or AP courses taken. This is
the GPA listed on a Cobb County SchoolMax transcript. Some colleges will only use a weighted core or academic
GPA. This means they would recalculate the student’s GPA using only grades earned in core courses (Eng. Math,
Science, Social Studies, and For. Lang). Core courses taken as academic electives are included. They would
include any BQP’s awarded for honors or AP courses taken. Grades earned in non-core elective areas (P.E., Fine
Arts, Business, Technology/Career, etc.) are not used in this GPA calculation. Some Colleges want to recalculate a
student’s GPA using an unweighted academic or core GPA. This is the same as just described, but no BQP’s are
allowed for any honors or AP courses taken Also, colleges may choose to allow different BQP’s than the high
school does. Some colleges will award BQP’s like Cobb County (see above), some only weight AP courses, and
may only award .5 BQP’s for them (this is what UGA does). You may find out how a college calculates a student’s
GPA’s on their website, by calling or e-mailing the admissions office, or speaking with an admission counselor.
HOPE – The HOPE Scholarship pays for tuition and fees at any Georgia public college or university, and some
tuition at any Georgia private college. A high school student’s eligibility for the HOPE Scholarship is
determined by their GPA in all core courses upon graduation from high school. Students earning a College
Prep Diploma must earn a 3.0 HOPE GPA to be eligible for the scholarship for the first 30 credit hours of
college work, and students earning a Technology Career diploma must earn a 3.2 HOPE GPA to be eligible.
The Georgia Student Finance Commission determines eligibility and will calculate a student’s GPA’s using the
student’s high school’s grading system, but they do not give any weight or BQP’s for honors courses taken.
They will weight AP courses taken, but only with .5 BQP. They do not allow any quality points higher than 4.0
for any given course (so an “A” in an AP course would be awarded 4.0 quality points, not 4.5).
How to Compute a Student’s GPA
Determine the quality points earned for
Determine
Find the final
Find the sum of
Calculating the
each course. Determine if calculating
units of credit
quality points
the final quality
GPA – Divide
for an overall GPA or core GPA.
attempted for
earned – Multiply
points earned and
the sum of the
Grading scale: A 100-90 B- 89-80
each course.
quality points
the sum of the
final quality
C-79-74 D-73-70 F- below 70
earned by class by
units attempted.
points earned
(for Cobb County)
the number of units
by the sum of
Quality points awarded by grade:
attempted for that
the units
A=4 B=3 C=2 D=1 F=0
class.
attempted.
BQP’s awarded for honors and AP
courses based on the entity (i.e. Cobb
County/Pope, the college, HOPE)
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