Understanding the American Grading System

With the changing of times, most of the students prefer to have their graduation abroad. Referred to as one of the most favored countries to get a foreign degree, America has always stood out as a quality education provider and one of the first preferences for Indian students. Since our childhood, we are well accustomed to marks based evaluation system and grades, but it is completely different than American grading systems. Here, the marks are calculated in percentage, whereas in the US, GPA or Grade point average is considered to evaluate the academic performance of students. Briefly describing the American grading system, this article has tried to bridge the gap and help students who aspire to study abroad.

 There are basically 2 types of grading systems followed in the US, - numerical and letter grades. In numerical grading system, the grading scale is from 0 to 100 which are further broken down to letter grades for better understanding. The typical grades which are awarded to students based on their performance are A, B, C, D, and F, meanwhile further breaking down them into A+, A & A-; B+, B & B-; C+, C & C-; D+, D & D-, and F. To calculate GPA or Grade Point Average, the 4.0 grade scale is used which basically providing a better understanding and an easy assessment to the student’s scores. The below-illustrated table will give a clearer picture of the American grading system:

GPA is considered as one of the most crucial factors in the American Standard of Education as it is used in every important thing such as joining Universities, applying for scholarships, graduating or joining any club. GPA is basically the standard scale based on which a student’s academic performance is evaluated.

Now, to calculate the GPA of a particular student we need to calculate his/her ‘Grade Points’ which is the product of Grade Weights (according to 4.0-grade scale) and Credits of the particular subject (according to the class of the student). For better understanding, let’s go through another example below:

Based on the above-mentioned report, the GPA of the particular student can be calculated as:

GPA= Grade Points/ Credits

29.33/11= 2.67

Calculated on the basis of 1 to 4, GPA provides the overall information of a student’s performance in his/her exams. Most of the top universities in the US prefer students of GPA requirement of 3/4 for graduation whereas for Ph.D. Program the minimum requirement is 3/4.

Hope this article helps you to understand the American grading systems.