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How to Calculate Your GPA

How to Calculate Your Grade Point Average (GPA)
(Written by Donna Harris (donna.harris@murraystate.edu)

For all courses where grades were received (except AU, P, R, W or WP), you multiply the credit hours for each course by the number of points appropriate for the grade you received in that course.  For example:

Divide Points by Hours Attempted:  32/16 = 2.00 GPA (a minimum of a 2.00 GPA is required for graduation!)

TRUNCATE (Don't Round) the GPA: a 2.9999 GPA is still a 2.99, NOT a 3.00!

• A grade of "P" has no GPA effect, so course hours are NOT included in attempted hours.  This is why it's possible to have more earned hours than you have attempted hours on your transcript.
• A grade of "AU" also has no GPA effect.  An auditor is one who enrolls and participates in a course without expecting to receive academic credit.  An audited course is not applicable to any degree or certificate program.  A student who arranges to audit a class must have written permission from the instructor before they can enroll and must complete all requirements and tests specified by the course instructor.  Audit courses are considered load credit so students need to know that failing grades can be given to students who do not complete the course requirements.  A student may take a class for credit after having audited it or may audit a class after having received credit but an AU grade will not replace any earlier grade.
• A student who receives I or X within one calendar year from the end of the term in which such grades were received will forfeit the privilege of making up the incomplete course work or examinations for those courses.  A grade of I means that some relatively small part of the term's work remains undone because of sickness or some other reason satisfactory to the instructor.  This work must be completed within the first semester after the student reenters the institution if credit for the course is to be granted.  The deadline for the instructor to come to the Registrar's Office to change the I grade is the last day of classes for the term within which the work must be completed.  A grade of X may be changed by special examination within the first four weeks (two weeks during the summer term) after the student reenters the institution if credit for the course is to be gained. 

For Repeated Courses:

Courses that may be taken more than once for credit (such as MUS122, Band) are so noted in the University Bulletin course descriptions with any limits specified in the text.  All attempts count towards your GPA, but all attempts may or may not count toward required hours for graduation, based on stated limitations.

The majority of MSU courses may only be taken once for credit.  If you take one such undergraduate course twice, MSU wipes out the first (and only the first) grade.  NOTE: We do NOT keep the BEST grade--we keep the SECOND grade.  IT IS POSSIBLE THAT YOU COULD REPLACE A PASSING GRADE WITH A FAILING GRADE--THIS MEANS YOU WOULD HAVE TO TAKE THE COURSE AGAIN TO RECEIVE CREDIT.

To see how a second attempt changes your GPA, you delete any points and hours from the first time you took the course and add in the new hours and points.  If the course with the "D" on page 1 is repeated and an "A" is earned, then the hours would be unchanged (16 - 3 + 3 = 16) and you would have 41 points (32 - 3 + 12 = 41).  41 divided by 16 = 2.562, or a 2.56 GPA.  If the course carried more hours the first time you took it, you can only subtract hours and points equal to the hours completed the second time you took the course.  For example, MAT 220 is now a three hours class, but used to be four hours.  If you had earned a D when it was a four hour class and repeated it after it became a three hour class, you could only subtract three hours and three quality points of the D grade, leaving you with 1 hour of D for the first attempt.

Any attempts after the first one are included in the GPA calculations (both hours and points, but only one attempt counts toward any course or credit hour requirements for graduation.  This is why iti is critical that students who repeat courses to increase their GPA focus on doing the best they can the FIRST time they repeat a course.  Subsequent attempts have less of a positive impact on the GPA.

Graduate Credit:

Graduated course repeats will not remove prior attempts.  All graduate credit remains on the transcript.

Transfers:

A transfer grade can be replaced on our transcripts by repeating the equivalent course at MSU.  MSU courses MUST BE REPEATED AT MSU if you want the first grade marked off your record!

See the University Bulletin for other policies related to the posting of transfer credit.

Dropping Classes:

You may want to consider dropping a class if you are not going to receive a passing grade.  Be absolutely certain to check the drop deadlines and to discuss any possible repercussions with your advisor, the student financial aid office, and your insurance company if dropping a course will put you below 12 hours.

Many medical insurance plans require students to be enrolled full time (12 hours for undergraduates) in order to maintain coverage.  Full-time enrollment is also required for many scholarship and financial aid programs.

Once You Graduate:

No courses taken before a baccalaureate degree is completed will be marked off after graduation and no grades are changed once the degree is conferred.  The grade point average at graduation is frozen and will not be changed when additional courses are added to the transcript.

Official University Policies:

Complete university policy information can be found in the Undergraduate and Graduate Bulletins.  Be sure to consult the bulletins for more information.  Lack of knowledge about university policies is not an acceptable basis for appeal.  The bulletins can be found on-line at www.murraystate.edu.

Revised: January 20, 2002
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