You are on page 1of 3

what is this guide about?

this guide is written to assist university or college students to understand more about the
grading system at tertiery education level. students are often trapped under the pretense
that once they've failed, their grades can never go up again. this is fairly untrue in most of
the cases. however it is important to note that not all tertiery education system follows the
same CGPA system. what i've tabled out below are applicable to local IPTAs, several IPTSs
and most UK based universities.

what is CGPA?

ultimately, CGPA is where everything boils down to in ur studies. it stands for Cummulative
Grade Point Average, hence CGPA, which is an accumulation of all ur grade points divided to
every single credit u take. CGPA is also the determining factor of whether u get to graduate
with 1st class, 2nd class upper, 2nd class lower or 3rd class. however, the minimum point
for each class differs from university to university. UTM for example classifies 1st class as
3.70 and above and 2nd class upper from 3.00 to 3.69. MMU on the other hand classifies
2nd class upper from 3.30 to 3.69.

what is calculated?

CGPA is calculated based on all subjects that u take. each subjects usually comes with a
credit value. some less important subjects carry between 1 to 2 credits, more important
ones carry 3 to 4, and the core subjects can carry between 5 to 8 credits each. also, there
are subjects categorized as "compulsory attendance only" (hadir wajib sahaja) which usually
carry 0 credits. these subjects hold no value, but failing it (due to poor attendance or
whatever) will still hold u down from graduating successfully.

how is it calculated?

for each subject that u've successfully taken, a grade will be issued after the final exam.
these grades each carry a specific point value. typically, A carries 4.00, B carries 3.00 and C
carries 2.00. each of these points will be calculated based on the credit rating of each
subject, and later summed up to give u ur GPA for that particular semester. for example:

semester 1

subject M (6 credits): B = 3.00
subject N (2 credits): A = 4.00
subject O (3 credits): C = 2.00

(6 x 3.00) + (2 x 4.00) + (3 x 2.00) = 32 total grade point for 11 credits. hence, your GPA
for semester 1 is:

32 / 11 = 2.91 GPA for sem 1. since this is ur first semester, ur GPA is also ur CGPA.

semester 2

subject P (6 credits): A = 4.00
subject Q (3 credits): B = 3.00
subject R (3 credits): E = 0.00 (FAIL)
subject S (2 credits): B = 3.00

(6 x 4.00) + (3 x 3.00) + (3 x 0.00) + (2 x 3.00) = 39 total grade point for 14 credits.
hence your GPA for semester 2 is:

39 / 14 = 2.79 GPA for sem 2

now that this is ur second semester, ur CGPA will be calculated by combining the two.
however, a direct average is wrong. CGPA is calculated NOT based on the average of GPAs
per semester, but based on grade points per credit that u take. to calculate ur CGPA based
on the two semesters above:

[(total grade point for sem 1) + (total grade point for sem 2)] / total credit taken in all
semesters

[(32) + (39)] / (11 + 14) = 2.84 CGPA

Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide...

compare this if u simply average the two semesters:

(2.91 + 2.79) / 2 = 2.85 CGPA

not much difference? it will make a HUGE difference when u start retaking ur failed subject.


now, let's try the next semester where u retake the failed subject:

semester 3

subject R (3 credits): A = 4.00 (REPEATED SUBJECT)
subject T (3 credits): B = 3.00
subject U (3 credits): B = 3.00
subject V (3 credits): B = 3.00

(3 x 4.00) + (3 x 3.00) + (3 x 3.00) + (3 x 3.00) = 39 total grade point for 12 credits.
hence your GPA for semester 3 is:

39 / 12 = 3.25 GPA.

now, how do u calculate ur CGPA when u have a repeated subject? here's the main rule: u
recalculate the repeated subject by replacing the old grade with the new one. it means, in
ur CGPA calculation, u never failed ur subject R, u actually scored A! lets see what it looks
like:

[(grade points for sem 1) + (grade points for sem 2 excluding the failed subject) + (grade
points for sem 3)] / [(credit for sem 1) + (credit for sem 2 excluding the failed subject) +
(credit for sem 3)]

[(32) + (39 - 0) + (39)] / [(11) + (14 - 3) + (12)] = 110 / 34 = 3.24 CGPA!

a lot of students made the mistake of including the failed subject into the calculation despite
having repeated it. here's what the wrong calculation usually looks like:

Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide...

[(32) + (39) + (39)] / [(11) + (14) + (11)] = 110 / 36 = 3.06 CGPA!

can u see how much difference it can make if u calculate ur grades wrongly?


implications

wrong calculations would lead to students being afraid to fail, simply bcoz the impression
that failed subjects would drag the CGPA even further down. this is wrong. repeating the
failed subject replaces the old grades. in ur CGPA, it is as if u've never failed before. most
students would simply accept a C- or D+, which is usually the minimum passing rate, in
hope that they dont have to ever repeat the subject, and hopefully score more subjects in
time.

thing is, once u've got a D+/C-, it's very hard to catch up and drag ur pointers up. i strongly
advise students whom ultimately concerned for their grades to DARE to fail and repeat it
again. ofcourse, certain subjects are big enough that repeating means u have to extend
another semester. well, if it means graduating between a 2nd class lower and a 2nd class
upper, why not?

good luck!

You might also like