By Alan Kanyesigye
The style of grading performance in high school is in all manners different from the one at the university. One fact that is shared is that examinations will continue to be conducted and anyone known as a student should be in position to sit for all the papers in all course units in a given program before qualifying for certification during a graduation ceremony.
While at university, the first point to note is that each academic year consists of two semesters for majority of the students expect for a few who have recess term or placement or internship during the holidays after the second semester of a given academic year.
Each set of examinations sat for at the end of each semester have to be graded to come up with a percentage that can be manipulated with other academic components such as the course work marks so as to attain the exact value to estimate one’s worth for a particular study time.
Like in high school, the raw percentage can be graded using letter grades, A, B, C, D, E, and F with new additions such as A+, B+, C+, and D+ that were absent in the previous setting. Each letter grade stands for a particular range of marks and to that case a specific grade point that are displayed in the table below.
| Letter Grade | A+ | A | B+ | B | C+ | C | D+ | D | E+ | E- | F |
| Marks Range | 90 – 100 | 80 – 89 | 75 – 79 | 70 – 74 | 65 – 69 | 60 – 64 | 55 – 59 | 50 – 54 | 45 – 49 | 40 – 44 | 0 – 39 |
| Grade Point | 5 | 5 | 4.5 | 4 | 3.5 | 3 | 2.5 | 2 | 1.5 | 1 | 0 |
Grade Point Average (GPA) for a semester
The GPA is calculated by a three – step procedure:
- Multiply the Grade Point for each course unit done in a semester by the number of Course Units (CU) for that semester.
2. Add the figures for each of these courses to arrive at the Grade Point Total.
3. Divide this Grade Point Total by the total number of Credits (CU) for which a grade was received.
For example: If a medical student completes four courses units in a given semester with the grades below,
| COURSE UNIT | GRADE | CU VALUE | GRADE POINTS EARNED | ||
| Course Titles | Percent – age | Letter Grades | Grade Point | ||
| Bioinformatics | 80 | A | 5 | 2 | 10 |
| Genetics | 76 | B+ | 4.5 | 4 | 18 |
| Entomology | 66 | C+ | 3.5 | 2 | 7 |
| Enzymology | 62 | C | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| TOTALS | 10 | 41 | |||
| GPA; 41/10 = 4.1 |
The Forty one grade point is divided by 10 Credit Units to arrive at 4.1 GPA for the semester’s work.
Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA)
CGPA at a given time shall be obtained by:
i) Multiplying the Grade Point obtained in each course by the credit units assigned to the course to arrive at the weighted score for the course.
ii) Adding together the weighted scores for all the courses taken up to that time.
iii) Dividing the total weighted score by the total number of Credit Units taken up to that time which is the last semester of the final year.
After completing studies in a given program, the final CGPA mark is subjected to a class system that is depicted on the academic transcript which can only be attained after successfully completing the studies and having attained at least the minimum requirements for graduation.
The CGPA for the various classes is as indicated below:-
Class Cumulative Grade Point Average
First Class 4.40 – 5.00
Second Class – Upper Division 3.60 – 4.39
Second Class – Lower Division 2.80 – 3.59
Pass 2.00 – 2.79
