The maximum GPA score is a designation of 4.0. This indicates that the student in numerically scored testing has scored no lower than 99. Depending on the student’s performance level, a specific grade point encompasses only one or two numerical scoring values. For example, above 3.0 the grade point may span two values such as a 3.5, including both an 89 and a 90 score on a graded assignment. Below 3.0, a grade point may span only a single numerical score, such as a 1.8 incorporating only the score of 68.
For a per-session GPA, the academic institution will calculate an overall semester GPA by taking the graded assignment numerical scores of all assignments for all courses the student completed for that semester or session. The academic institution applies a ratio that takes into account, for example, distinctions between three-credit and four-credit courses. The result of averaging all the numerical scores in graded coursework using the ratio that takes course credits into account yields a student’s per-session GPA.
Beginning in a college student’s second semester, the academic institution typically provides two different GPA performance metrics for students. The cumulative GPA represents a mean that incorporates all numerical scores including those from semesters previously completed. Cumulative GPAs have greater significance to future employers and in association with admissions to graduate schools. Additionally, each student has the opportunity to increase the cumulative GPA on a semester-by-semester basis by obtaining higher grades in subsequent semesters. The cumulative GPA also has significance in terms of both placement into Honors level classes and, conversely, the issuance of a warning of inadequate academic performance.
High schools, in translating student scores into a GPA correlation, may use a grading criteria known as a weighted GPA. High schools that seek to reward students for taking Honors or Advanced Placement classes may award numerical scores in excess of the 4.0 maximum score used by college GPA rating metrics. For example, in a weighted GPA system, the letter grade of “A” may translate to a score of 5, whereas in the unweighted GPA system a 4.0 would represent the maximum score. High schools that assign weighted GPA scores typically provide colleges both a weighted and an unweighted GPA for students seeking college admission. Because of the differentials in expectation between high school level and college-level academics, colleges may take only the unweighted GPA into account when considering a student for admission.