GPA Full Form

GPA full form is Grade Point Average and is a grading system used to measure the performance of pupils in educational sessions. As per the grading system, students are given a score ranging between 1.0 to 4.0 that helps to determine whether a student passed a course or not. Furthermore, it allows both teachers and students to understand if they are able to fulfill expectations set by an institute. GPA is considered to be crucial as it is taken into account when offering admissions to students in various graduate and postgraduate programs. 

What is GPA Full Form?

GPA full form is Grade Point Average which evaluates the academic achievement of the students. It is calculated by taking into account all the final grades a student achieves in different subjects in an academic year. Many educational institutes and even some companies base their selection criteria on Grade Point Average.

Well, each institute has formulated different rules to offer grades to the students; some make use of a 1 to 5 scale while others rely on a 1 to 10 scale. GPA is vital in determining an individual's scholarship eligibility, class rank, academic skills, etc. If you want to explore more about GPA and how it works, we suggest you read our article. Diving into the Grading Systems

The grading system aims at evaluating an individual based on the marks they obtain in any course or specific subject. It comprises various types of scales and is represented either in letters or numbers. If we dive into the grading system followed across the world we may come across the following:

• In countries like Russia, Germany, and Slovakia, a 1-5 grading system is adopted.
• In Canada, Saudi Arabia and Thailand, letters are used to represent grades.
• Percentages are given to an individual as part of the grading system in Poland, Kuwait, Belgium, etc.

To bring uniformity in evaluating practices, GPA is used to measure the academic performance of pupils. The grading system helps the educational sector to achieve transparency, and offers an opportunity to students in assessing their academic performance.

GPA Overview 

How to Calculate GPA?

Be it the percentage, numbers, or letters an individual obtains in a course culminates into a quality score which follows a scale of 0 to a multiple of 4. Students who perform exceptionally well often obtain A, 5, and 10, these marks or grades top the grading scale. See, GPA is calculated by adding marks obtained by a student in each subject which is divided by the total number of course credits. 

Let’s understand the process through an example

Suppose you want to calculate the GPA of your three subjects which include English (3 credits), Maths (2 credits) and Science (2 credits). For calculating GPA, you need to divide the number of credit courses by the number of grade points. The calculation will be 2+2+3=7, so the GPA will be 3.14.

Below table will offer an insight into the percentages denoted by a letter grade.

Why is GPA Considered a Significant Grading System?

Grade Point Average (GPA full form) brought uniformity in the grading system followed across the globe. Educational institutes assess overall academic performance by translating percentages into a standard system called GPA. The GPA score is accepted in both institutes located in India and abroad. When offering admission in graduate or postgraduate degree courses, institutes prefer to consider GPA achieved in schools. Here’s a list of advantages of obtaining a good GPA.

• In schools, college and universities GPA score is used for determining students who are eligible to get scholarships or any kind of financial assistance to compete for higher education. 
• Students applying to foreign universities will be assessed based on their GPA scores.
• When pursuing higher education, candidates have to appear in various competitive exams, and GPA score is taken into consideration alongside exam score.
• A good GPA helps students get admission to their dream colleges without much hassle.

How Does GPA Prove Beneficial for Institutes and Students?

GPA proves helpful for both an educational institute and students by offering them a scope to assess the education system and enable students to portray their academic achievements. A high GPA acts as a scorecard of your intelligence level and strengths. Besides helping an individual pursue higher education in top institutes, it even allows one to participate in various cultural clubs. Yes, you read it right. Many clubs confirm membership only after checking GPA. 

Grades allow learners a great scope to analyze their skills by identifying strengths and weaknesses thereby opening doors to constant improvement. Furthermore, marks represented in letters save the learner from the stress of ranking burden. 

Are there any Loopholes in the GPA System?

As it is popularly said a coin has two sides so GPA besides being a refined performance indicator too has limitations. As the students get grades in the form of letters which somehow reduces the competitiveness and makes the students a bit lethargic. If we look at today’s education system, institutes assess students on a wide array of factors like project works, assignments and others which has shifted the focus of students from academics to extra-curricular activities, which might prove damaging for their future. 

One of the biggest disadvantages of the GPA system is it fails to differentiate between good performers and exceptional performers because Grade A is awarded to a student's scoring percentage of 98 and those obtaining 90.