The American Higher Education System generally focuses on courses that last for one semester; some are compulsory, some elective, and there may also be some foundation studies in the early part of a degree program. As a student progresses through her college or university, she will accumulate term GPA scores and the mathematical mean of these is her cumulative GPA.
Because term GPA scores give an immediate value, there may be some things that you can do to improve them. One possibility is to approach the lecturer for a course that you have performed badly in and ask her in which areas you were particularly poor. If she tells you that an assignment was the culprit, you may ask her if it is possible to re-submit a new version. She may not have the flexibility to say yes, but it could be worth a try. If not, you may repeat the course. At some universities, the score for the repeat of the course may be the one that is used for the cumulative GPA.
One possibility that a low term grade point average may lead to is a lower priority for future registration and therefore fewer choices for courses. Thompson Rivers University, for example, has such a policy and states that the fall and winter term GPA scores will determine registration and lower priorities are given to students with a GPA of less than 2.0.
You can consider making an appeal if you think that your term GPA reflects some unfairness in the marking for one particular course. Each institution of higher education will have a procedure to follow. However, you should give this careful consideration before doing it because you will be expected to demonstrate any perceived unfairness with evidence.
If you have a low term GPA, you will run the risk of being put on probation. The New School will dismiss any student who has a term GPA of less than 1.0, and any below 2.0 will be placed on probation and subsequently dismissed if he receives a grade of B- in any required course. Conversely, students in many universities may receive scholarships or be placed on the Dean’s list if they have a cumulative GPA of more than 3.5. Being on the Dean’s list is noted in academic transcripts.