Open University Malaysia

Open University MalaysiaHUTECH WORKING MEETING VISIT FROM 12th - 14th APRIL 2012

1. How to calculate GPA & CGPA in the grading system? It should be explained in detail.

a) The Grade Point Average or GPA, measures a learners academic performance in a particular semester for his/her programme of study. To calculate the GPA, we need to know:

(i) the number of courses that a learner registers for in a particular semester and the credit hours for each registered course. For example, if a learner registers 3 courses in a particular semester and each course is 3 credit hours, the total credit hours for the three courses would be 9 credit hours (3 courses x 3 credit hours)

(ii) the grade points obtained by the learner for each course based on the grades and the equivalent grade point as shown in the Marks and Grades Schedule. The grade points of each course are added together to obtain the total grade points.

To obtain the GPA, the total grade points are divided by the total credit hours for the three courses.

The following example shows how the GPA is calculated for a semester:

CourseCredit HoursGradeEquivalent Grade Points*Credit HoursX Equivalent Grade PointsTotal Grade Points

Course 13A-3.673 x 3.6711.01

Course 2 3B3.003 x 3.009.00

Course 33C+2.333 x 2.336.99

Total9---27.00

GPA Total Grade Points / Total Credit Hours27.00 9

= 3.00

* Refer to OUMs Marks-Grade and Grade Points Schedule below

a) The Cumulative Grade Point Average or CGPA, measures a learners academic performance over more than one semester until completion of the learners programme of study.

The Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) is calculated by dividing the cumulative grade points obtained with the cumulative credit hours taken by a learner over more than one semester.

The following example shows how the CGPA is calculated.

Assuming the learner has completed three semesters of his/her programme, has accumulated 27 credit hours and obtained the total grade points for each semester as follows:

Semesters 2012Credit Hours Per SemesterTotal Grade Points Per Semester

Semester Jan.927.00

Semester May 918.00

Semester Sept.927.00

Cumulative Total2772.00

CGPA72.00 27 = 2.66

Note:Only the credit hours of the courses with grades A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D and F are included in the calculation of the GPA and CGPA. Courses with grades S (Satisfactory) or U (Unsatisfactory) AU (Audit), IP (In progress) are not included in the calculation of the GPA and CGPA.

(c) WHAT IF:

(1) a learner is unable to take the examination for a course due to unforeseen circumstances (e.g. medical, death of immediate family member, etc.) and is awarded the grade I Incomplete in a semester for example, semester January 2012.

The credit hours and grade I Incomplete of the course is not included in the calculation of his/her GPA and CGPA for semester January 2012. If he/she retakes the examination of the course for example in September 2012, the examination marks that he/she obtained in the retake examination is then added to the coursework marks of the course for January 2012 and the GPA and CGPA is recalculated for semester January 2012.

(2) a learner obtains grade F or low grade for a course in semester January 2012 and retakes the examination in semester September 2012 in order to pass the course or improve on the grade.

The coursework marks of the course in semester January 2012 is added to the retake examination marks in semester September 2012 to obtain the course grade. The grade points of the course are added to the grade points of other courses taken in September to calculate the GPA and CGPA. But the grade points of the course taken in January 2012, provided it is lower, are deducted from the cumulative grade points when calculating the CGPA.

2.The meaning of Marginal Failure status and the status of other grades in the grading system

MarksGradeGrade PointMeaning

80 100A4.00Outstanding

75 79A-3.67Very Good

70 74B+3.33Good

65 69B3.00Pass

60 64B-2.67Conditional Pass (Subject to CGPA => 3.00)

55 59C+2.33

50 54C2.00

45 49C-1.67Fail

40 44D+1.33

35 39D1.00

0 34F0.00

In the grading system, the minimum pass grade for postgraduate courses is grade B. Grades B-, C+ and C are known as Conditional pass grades. If a learner obtains any one of these grades in any course, he/she need not repeat the course or course examination on condition his/her GPA or CGPA is 3.00 or higher.Upon completion of his programme, he/she can continue to maintain the Conditional pass grades for the courses concerned provided his/her CGPA is 3.00 which is the minimum required for graduation.However, if a Faculty requires that a core compulsory course must be passed at minimum grade B, the learner must repeat either the course or examination even though his/her CGPA is 3.00 or higher.