The importance of GPA cannot be overemphasized without an understanding of the subject matter ‘GPA’. Grade Point Average (GPA) is derived from either letter grades or percentages that you obtained from your courses in a completed semester, usually between the value of 0-5.0 and 0-7.0 point scale, based on the countries grading system. It is again the only quantitative assessment of yourself that enables other people (or recruiters) to directly compare (quantitatively) between you and other candidates to know who the best is.
GPA is an employment and scholarship requirement that you see on almost any job and scholarship opportunities. When you graduate and search for employment, you will realize that most job vacancies have ‘minimum GPA requirement’. Having a high GPA will allow you to apply for more job opportunities and apply to the most attractive and competitive industries.
Even though in some cases, graduates with a slightly lower GPA also get employed in these top companies based on their skill or influence in these companies. For scholarship, you will have to maintain a standard of 3.5 or be pulled out eventually.
GPA is also said to be a reflection of your academic capabilities, your commitment, perseverance and time management skills. Because your GPA is a reflection of how well you are doing in college/university, employers have used it to measure your consistency, perseverance and time management skills in handling all of the assignments, class schedules, part-time jobs, etc. as a student. Hence, the belief that a better GPA performing student will perform better at work.
In as much as your GPA is important for maintaining a scholarship, it is also crucial for Masters & Post Graduate studies. If you want to further, having a high GPA for your undergraduate studies will increase the likelihood of your acceptance to postgraduate studies.
See how your Performance will be assessed
How the GPA is Calculated
The GPA is computed by dividing the total number of credit points (TCP) by the total number of units (TCU) for all the courses taken in a semester. Values of GPA range from 0 – 5. See table below for more details and examples for the calculations of GPA:
Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA)
The CGPA is the up-to-date mean GPA of a student’s performance across all the semesters he/she has sat for exams. The CGPA is cumulative GPA evaluation; it is computed by dividing the cumulative total number of credit points (CCP) by the cumulative credit units registered (CCUR) for all the semesters registered so far. Values of CGPA range from 0 –5. See table below for more illustration of the evaluations.
How the CGPA is calculated
CGPA = Total Points so far scored/Total Credit units so far taken = 636/152=4.19
Class of Degree
The Cumulative Grade Point Average earned at the end of the Programmeme is then used in the determination of the class of degree for graduating students as summarized below;
Finally, although GPA is important, hands-on experience is also priceless. When you go out to the workforce and you can point to actual projects and examples of your work, it will go a long way to point you out, as the brightest and the best, among other applicants, both in terms of experience and overall academics.