While countries and institutions use a range of alpha-numerical grading scales, their formulas for calculating a student's cumulative grade point average (CGPA) score are basically the same. In mathematical terms, the CGPA score is a "weighted mean," wherein the influence each grade has on the cumulative score depends on the number of credit hours the course was worth. Additionally, courses audited or taken on a "Pass/Fail" basis are omitted from the CGPA calculations completely.
Step 1
Locate the letter-to-point conversion table on your transcript. For example, A = 4.0 at an American university while A = 12 at the University of Windsor, in Ontario. If you cannot find this table, visit the website for your Registrar's Office.
Step 2
Count all of the courses for which you received a letter grade. Do not include courses in this tally that were audited, taken as "Pass/Fail," incomplete or dropped.
Step 3
Add together the credit hours for all of the courses from step 2. For example, if you took a total of 15 three-credit-hour courses and 17 four-credit-hour courses, you would multiply 15 by 3 (45 credit hours) and 17 by 4 (68 credit hours). This would give you a grand total of 113 credit hours.
Step 4
For each letter grade on your transcript, multiply the grade's numerical point value (from step 1) by that course's credit hours.
Step 5
Add together all of the point-hour products from step 4.
Step 6
Divide the total from step 5 by the result from step 3. This will give you the raw CGPA score.
Step 7
Round your raw CGPA score to the nearest hundredth to calculate your actual CGPA score. For example, 3.477 would be rounded to 3.48.