A+ GPA=9 or (8.5 .. 9) Exceptional - Thorough knowledge of concepts and/or techniques and exceptional skill or great originality in the use of those concepts and techniques in satisfying the requirements of a piece of work or course.
A GPA=8 or (7.5..8.4) Excellent - Thorough knowledge of concepts and/or techniques together with a high degree of skill and/or some elements of originality in satisfying the requirements of a piece of work or course.
B+ GPA=7 or (6.5..7.4) Very Good - Thorough knowledge of concepts and/or techniques together with a fairly high degree of skill in the use of those concepts and techniques in satisfying the requirements of a piece of work or course.
B GPA=6 or (5.5..6.4) Good - Good level of knowledge of concepts and/or techniques together with a considerable skill in using them in satisfying the requirements of a piece of work or course.
C+ GPA=5 or (4.5..5.4) Competent - Acceptable level of knowledge of concepts and/or techniques together with considerable skill in using them to satisfy the requirements of a piece of work or course. *** Needed for honours CS program ***
C GPA=4 or (3.5..4.4) Fairly Competent - Acceptable level of knowledge of concepts and/or techniques together with some skill in using them to satisfy the requirements of a piece of work or course. *** Needed for general CS program ***
D+ GPA=3 or (2.5..3.4) Passing - Slightly better than minimal knowledge of required concepts and/or techniques together with some ability to use them in satisfying the requirements of a piece of work or course.
D GPA=2 or (1.5..2.4) Barely Passing - Minimum knowledge of concepts and/or techniques needed to satisfy the requirements of a piece of work or course.
E GPA=1 or (0.5..1.4) Marginally failing
F GPA=0 or (0..0.4) Failing
The mapping used in COSC1030 is the following. A number of letter grades are combined into one by converting each to the GPA number in the above table and then taking their weighted average. Suppose g1,g2, and g3 are GPA grades. For each of these you assign a weight, say w1, w2, and w3. Then the first GPA has a weight of w1 out of a total of (w1+w2+w3). Therefore, the combined GPA grade is
w1*g1 + w2*g2 + w3*g3
-----------------------
w1 + w2 + w3
The reason for dividing by the sum of the weights is so that the result can
again be viewed as a GPA (0-9). Finally, the resulting GPA number is mapped
back to the letter grade for the corresponding range in the letter grade
defintions given above. For example, if the resulting GPA is 5.3, the
correponding letter grade is C+, since the range for C+ is 4.50 to 5.49
inclusive.
For example, suppose that an assignment has three questions of equal weight. The GPA for the assignment would be
(q1 + q2 + q3) / 3
where q1 is the GPA for question 1. The final mark may be recorded as
3*GPA, in order to save the marker from dividing in his head by three.
As a second example, suppose that the course has four assignments the first worth 6%, the rest worth 8%, a midterm worth 20%, and a final exam worth 50%. (Check the course description for the grading scheme used for this course). The final GPA will be
.06*ass1 + .08*ass2 + .08*ass3 + .08*ass4 + 0.2*mterm + 0.5*exam
If you have only completed the first two assignments and the midterm, then your GPA grade so far is
(.06*ass1 + .06*ass2 + 0.2*mterm) / (.06 + .08 + 0.2)
The weighted average of all of your assignments is
(.06*ass1 + .08*ass2 + .08*ass3 + .08*ass4)
/(0.06 + 0.08 + 0.08 + 0.08)
The weighted average of all of your tests is
(0.2*mterm + 0.5*exam) / (0.2 + 0.5)The course requires that in order to pass, the above two weighted GPA must be passing grades (i.e. >=2).
The main difference is as follows. If you do not do an assignment the GPA is 0, just passing is 2 and the maximum mark is 9. The equivalent percentages, however, are 0, 50, and 100. Note that with GPA barely passing an assignment is quite close to not doing it at all. However, with percentages, you are half way to a perfect mark.
For example, suppose you get a D and an A+. The GPA average is (2+9)/2 = 5.5 = B and the percentage average is (50+100)/2 = 75 = B+. On the other hand, if you get a F and an A+. The GPA average is (0+9)/2 = 4.5 = C+ and the percentage average is (0+100)/2 = 50 = D.