With the wide variety of different ways that high schools compute grade-point average (GPA) (weighted, unweighted, etc.) it is no wonder why so many students upon entering Illinois Tech are confused about this important topic. Knowing how to compute your GPA is important, not only because your academic standing depends on it, but also this new skill will empower you to employ certain strategies to maximize it. Here at Illinois Tech, grades are based on the standard letter grades A, B, C, D and E, ranging from A being excellent, to E (non passing).
Case Study I
Now let’s dive in. Suppose you are registered for MMAE 100 (Introduction to the Professions), MATH 151 (Calculus I), PS 200 (American Government), and CHEM 124 (Principles of Chemistry I). Each of these courses along with the number of credit hours for each course is listed in the first and second columns of the table below.
| Course | Credits | Grade | Grade Points | Quality Points |
| MMAE 100 | 3 | A | 4 | 12 |
| MATH 151 | 5 | B | 3 | 15 |
| PS 200 | 3 | A | 3 | 9 |
| CHEM 124 | 4 | C | 2 | 8 |
| Total | 15 | 44 |
Next, suppose that you earn the letter grades listed in column 3. Each letter grade is associated with a certain number of grade points listed in column 4. For example, if you earn an A in a course, you will earn 4 grade points. Similarly, if you earn a B, you will receive 3 grade points and so on. Note that if you earn a grade of E, you will receive 0 grade points. Now in the last column we define a new term called “Quality Points.” The number of quality points earned in a particular course is defined as the number of credit hours attached to that course multplied by the number of grade points that you earned in that course:
Quality Points = (Credits)*(Grade Points)
So for example, the number of quality points that you earned in MMAE 100 is equal to the number of credit hours (3) times the number of grade points (4)=12. Finally, we compute the GPA by adding up the total number of quality points that you earned and divide that by the total number of credit hours:
GPA = (Total Quality Points)/(Total Credits)
Hence, in this case study we have
GPA = 44/15 = 2.93
Case Study II
Next, suppose you took the same courses as in Case Study I, but this time you received an A in MATH 151, a C in PS 200 and a B in CHEM 124 (still two A’s one B and a C):
| Course | Credits | Grade | Grade Points | Quality Points |
| MMAE 100 | 3 | A | 4 | 12 |
| MATH 151 | 5 | A | 4 | 20 |
| PS 200 | 3 | C | 2 | 6 |
| CHEM 124 | 4 | B | 3 | 12 |
| Total | 15 | 50 |
In this scenario, the quality points now add up to 50, mainly because of the A grade in MATH 151 which is 5 credit hours. So our new GPA is
GPA = 50/15 = 3.33.
You increased your GPA by 0.4 points!
Well, I hope this was helpful. In my next article I will dive a little deeper into this topic and address questions like, “what happens to my GPA if I withdraw from a course?” So stay tuned.
