GPA – Grade Point Average

GPA stands for Grade Point Average. It functions as a universal term for academic scoring used across 90+ countries, covering both semester-level and cumulative calculations depending on the institution’s grading policy.

GPA and CGPA overlap but differ in scope. In the US, GPA typically refers to the cumulative score across all semesters by default. In India, GPA often describes a single-term score, while CGPA handles the cumulative total.

Two dominant scales set the global standard. The US 4.0 scale assigns letter grades (A = 4.0, B = 3.0) with plus/minus variations. The Indian 10-point scale maps numerical ranges to grade points, where 10.0 represents the highest band. Direct comparison between scales requires conversion formulas specific to each system.