Calculating CGPA and Assigning Letter Grades.

CGPA stands for Cumulative Grade Point Average. It reflects the grade point average of all subjects/courses regarding a student’s performance in composite way. To calculate CGPA, we should have following information.
 Marks in each subject/course
 Grade point average in each subject/course
 Total credit hours (by adding credit hours of each subject/course)
Calculating CGPA is very simple that total grade point average is divided by total credit hours. For example if a student MA Education programme has studied 12 courses, each of 3 credits. The total credit hours will be 36. The average of GPA, in all the twelve course will be the CGPA.
In the following table the GPA calculated for astudent of MA Education program is given as example.

The average of GPA, will represent (GPA) CGPA=sum of gpa/sum of total course

Assigning letter grades

Letter grade system is most popular in the world including Pakistan. Most teachers face

problems while assigning grades. There are four core problems or issues in this regard; 1)

what should be included in a letter grade, 2) how should achievement data be combined

in assigning letter grades?, 3) what frame of reference should be used in grading, and 4)

how should the distribution of letter grades be determined?

1. Determining what to include in a grade

Letter grades are likely to be most meaningful and useful when they represent

achievement only. If they are communicated with other factors or aspects such as effort

of work completed, personal conduct, and so on, their interpretation will become

hopelessly confused. For example, a letter grade C may represent average achievement

with extraordinary effort and excellent conduct and behaviour or vice versa.

If letter grades are to be valid indicators of achievement, they must be based on valid

measures of achievement. This involves defining objectives as intended learning

outcomes and developing or selecting tests and assessments which can measure these

learning outcomes.

2. Combining data in assigning grades

One of the key concerns while assigning grades is to be clear what aspects of a student

are to be assessed or what will be the tentative weightage to each learning outcome. For

example, if we decide that 35 percent weightage is to be given to mid-term assessment,

40 percent final term test or assessment, and 25% to assignments, presentations,

classroom participation and conduct and behaviour; we have to combine all elements by

assigning appropriate weights to each element, and then use these composite scores as a

basis for grading.

3. Selecting the proper frame of reference for grading

Letter grades are typically assigned on the basis of one of the following frames of

reference.

a) Performance in relation to other group members (relative grading)

b) Performance in relation to specified standards (absolute grading)
c) Performance in relation to learning ability (amount of improvement)
Assigning grades on relative basis involves comparing a student’s performance with that of a reference group, mostly class fellows. In this system, the grade is determined by the student’s relative position or ranking in the total group. Although relative grading has a disadvantage of a shifting frame of reference (i.e. grades depend upon the group’s ability), it is still widely used in schools, as most of the time our system of testing is ‘norm-referenced’.
Assigning grades on an absolute basis involves comparing a student’s performance to specified standards set by the teacher. This is what we call as ‘criterion-referenced’ testing. If all students show a low level of mastery consistent with the established performance standard, all will receive low grades.
The student performance in relation to the learning ability is inconsistent with a standard-based system of evaluating and reporting student performance. The improvement over the short time span is difficult. Thus lack of reliability in judging achievement in relation to ability and in judging degree of improvement will result in grades of low dependability. Therefore such grades are used as supplementary to other grading systems.
4. Determining the distribution of grades
The assigning of relative grades is essentially a matter of ranking the student in order of overall achievement and assigning letter grades on the basis of each student’s rank in the group. This ranking might be limited to a single classroom group or might be based on the combined distribution of several classroom groups taking the same course.
If grading on the curve is to be done, the most sensible approach in determining the distribution of letter grades in a school is to have the school staff set general guidelines for introductory and advanced courses. All staff members must understand the basis for assigning grades, and this basis must be clearly communicated to users of the grades. If the objectives of a course are clearly mentioned and the standards for mastery appropriately set, the letter grades in an absolute system may be defined as the degree to which the objectives have been attained, as followed.
A = Outstanding (90 to 100%)
B = very Good (80-89%)
C = Satisfactory (70-79%)
D = Very Weak (60-69%)
F = Unsatisfactory (Less than 60%)