How to find your GPA. How is the passing score calculated?

The reform of Russian education is difficult, the new Minister of the Ministry of Education will have to clean out the Augean stables of education, polluted by supporters of the Bologna, and popularly called “swamp” system of schooling and training of specialists. The Finns at one time realized that the education system that existed in the USSR was really the best in the world and stole it, adapting it to their educational standards. Now the Finnish education system is the best in the world.

However, let us return to the Russian reform and pay attention to the fact that in 2013, in order to encourage applicants to enroll in colleges, that is, in order to motivate, first of all, graduates of the 9th grade to receive a specialized secondary level education, entrance exams were canceled.

Instead, certificate competitions and passing grades after 9th grade were introduced. Moreover, each, let’s call them by analogy with universities, determines the secondary educational institution for each specialty independently. Therefore, the question of what is the passing score for college after 9 years of schooling sounds ridiculous, as is the case with the question of the average temperature of hospital patients.

Passing score for technical school

College and technical school are twin educational institutions for obtaining SSE after 9 years of school. And paraphrasing Mayakovsky, which of them is more valuable for a quality education, we can say that when they say “college” in a foreign manner, they mean a technical school, and when they say “technical school,” they mean a college.

The same as in college, the definition of a passing grade for a technical school is controversial; firstly, you need to clarify what the passing grade is for 9th grade, that is, with incomplete or for a graduate with complete secondary education.

Secondly, in what specialty are you interested in the passing score and, thirdly, you need to indicate a specific technical school.

Because for graduates of the 9th grade, the passing score is set according to the average score of the certificate, somewhere in the range from 3.5 to a maximum score of 5, for graduates with complete secondary education from 130 to a maximum of 200 points of the Unified State Examination result.

As for the passing rates in the specialty, here too the range of knowledge assessments is approximately the same. And if we take individual technical schools, then they can independently set the passing parameters to the lower side of the lower values.

Passing score for medical college

Without going into banal discussions about the humanity and necessity of medical professions, which are always in demand by society, it should be taken into account that secondary medical education can be obtained after the 9th grade.

The passing score for a medical college also depends on specialties such as nursing and midwifery, as well as on the average certificate, which is determined by the educational institution independently, depending on the enrollment and number of applicants per place.

As for other areas that are considered related in medical colleges, the principle for determining the average passing score is the same as for the main specialties.

Until quite recently, medical schools universally followed the requirement that for admission one had to pass exams in biology, as well as in the Russian language.

Now everything has changed and for admission it is necessary to pass a written psychological test to determine whether the applicant’s psychological and physical abilities meet the requirements for a medical specialist.

College passing scores 2017

If we take, for example, any medical college, the passing grade in 2017 is unlikely to differ from previous years. Moreover, there is a possibility that the average passing grade of the certificate and the Unified State Examination result will be lower than the threshold of previous years due to a significant reduction in the number of applicants due to the so-called “demographic hole”, which happened at the beginning of the 2000s. It’s just that in those days, as many children were not born as were born before.

Therefore, such situations are not uncommon, especially in provincial colleges, where passing grades may not be strictly fixed, for example, in cases where 30 applications for 30 places are submitted to a college, then in this case all 30 applicants are accepted. Then the passing grade will be considered the average grade of the certificate with the lowest indicators, or the lowest USE indicator. The main thing here is that the grades are, as they say, adequate to the profile of study, and also correspond to the status, or rather, the indicator that the college gives itself.

Very often, university and school graduates need to calculate the average score of the certificate received. It may be required upon admission to a foreign university or when applying for a job. We'll tell you what GPA is, how to correctly calculate your GPA, and whether you need to take credits into account.

What is GPA

How to calculate GPA

When calculating GPA, all grades indicated in the certificate or diploma are taken into account. These can be final grades: in subjects, for coursework and dissertations, for state exams. If you already have your education document in your hands, there is no need to take into account any intermediate grades that you have entered in your school electronic journal or grade book.

The next point concerns only students: do they need to take credits into account and, if so, how exactly to take them into account.

If your university uses a 5-point system for assessing knowledge plus “pass/fail”, students entering foreign universities can calculate the average score of their diploma in one of two ways:

1. « Credits" are taken into account.“Pass” = 5 points, “fail” = 0 points. Average diploma score = arithmetic average of points for all subjects in the insert, including “pass” and “fail”.
2. “Credits” are not taken into account. GPA = arithmetic mean of all points received.

The arithmetic mean of both school performance and diploma grades is calculated using the formula:

GPA = “the sum of all grades received” divide "number of items".

Example of GPA calculation

In the example given, we show the calculation of the average score for students, but schoolchildren calculate according to the same scheme. Since most schools do not take tests, this type of performance assessment is not included in the calculation.

An undergraduate student in the Organizational Management program received the following grades:

According to the formula indicated above, the average diploma score will be equal to:

64/14 = 4.64 taking into account credits or

44/10 = 4.4 - if credits are not taken into account.

If the student has no “failures,” the first calculation system raises the student’s average diploma score. Many universities do not define the procedure for calculating the GPA, and the choice of calculation method remains up to the applicant.

How to find out GPA if your studies have not yet been completed

As a rule, admission to a foreign university begins a year or a year and a half in advance. If at this time the schoolchild or student is still continuing his studies, he can independently calculate the average score based on intermediate grades in order to assess his chances of admission. In this case, the following grades can be taken as a basis for calculating GPA:

1. Only completed subjects for which final grades have already been assigned.

2. All completed and most recent grades for incomplete courses.

When sending an official application to a university, if a certificate or diploma has not yet been received, the applicant must provide a transcript - a letter with grades, in which the average score will be indicated by the university. In addition, the applicant must inform the university about the deadline for submitting final grades.

How to indicate GPA in an application for admission

The rule for indicating GPA in the application for admission is simple: indicate not only the average score, but also tell the admissions committee the maximum possible score in your program, since in different countries the maximum score can be 4, 5 or 10 points.

For example: if your university/school has a 5-point grading system and your average score is, say, 4.1, then in your application for admission you need to indicate “GPA 4.1 out of 5.”

Please indicate your maximum GPA

When reporting your diploma GPA, do not forget to indicate the maximum possible score. In the above example, it would be "4.64 out of 5" or "4.4 out of 5". A diploma of first higher education or a transcript of the applicant will be attached to the application for admission, so the university will in any case see all your grades.

GPA in educational systems of the world

In world university practice, several methods of calculating the average score are most common. Thus, in Britain, grades from the first courses are often not taken into account, while in the USA and Europe the average score is calculated taking into account the credit hours that the student has accumulated (and the weight of credits in America and Europe is different).

In order to assess their chances of admission to a particular university, American and European students must find out their average score and, possibly, transfer it to another educational system. To do this, they use special online calculators, but it is important to note that the result they receive when transferring to a foreign educational system is not official. The official transfer of GPA to other educational systems (for example, between Britain and the USA) is carried out by special organizations. | How to transfer to a British university from a university in Russia and the CIS countries | On the correlation between the grades of Russian and British diplomas

The average score of a higher education diploma in Russia may be required only when employing a freshly graduated university graduate in branches of large foreign companies, or less often in domestic giants like Gazprom. In a couple of years, when a young specialist can already indicate experience and length of service in a professional resume, no one will remember about the grades in the insert and no one will check them before hiring. But when entering a master's or graduate school in almost all foreign colleges and universities, GPA - the average score of the diploma - is necessarily taken into account, so it will have to be calculated very carefully.

How to calculate your diploma GPA

The abbreviation GPA (Grade Point Average) denotes the average grade of academic performance derived from the grades received by the student for a certain period. Each university has its own requirements for calculating the GPA. Some institutions ask to calculate GPA for the 3rd-4th years of study, others - only in certain subjects, others - taking into account all the marks indicated in the insert: final grades for the studied program disciplines, coursework and thesis, module tests and state exams. Therefore, specific parameters must be found out at the university chosen for further education.

How to calculate the average diploma score for European universities

Technically, calculation methods differ radically depending on the country where the university is located.

Germany

First, the average diploma score is calculated, then the result is translated into German format - most often according to the Bavarian system using the formula:

The Russian diploma score (N d) is calculated as the usual arithmetic average: the sum of all grades is divided by their number. If the university requires credits to be included in the GPA calculation, then they are evaluated by the highest score accepted at the graduate’s alma mater.

For example: for a standard Russian scale with the highest grade of five and an average diploma score of 4.2, after converting it, it turns out to be 2.2:

Don't rush to despair. The scoring scale in Germany is the opposite of that generally accepted in most universities in Russia: in it, one is excellent, two is good, etc. In medical universities, the passing score is usually set in the range of 1-1.3; for prestigious economic specialties - about 1.7. The lower limit for enrollment in a master's program is 2.5.

Not all German universities use this conversion formula - some develop their own grade transfer schemes.

England

The United Kingdom uses a verbal descriptive rating scale.

How to calculate the average score in a diploma for America

In the USA, a four-point rating scale has been adopted:

Before entering American universities, you must calculate your diploma GPA, taking into account the number of hours of studying the discipline, which are indicated in the application, and after converting Russian grades into the American system.

• history (100 hours) - excellent;
• social studies (145 hours) - excellent;
• philosophy (90 hours) - satisfactory;
• theory of translation (85 hours) - excellent;
• foreign literature (70 hours) - good.

1. Calculate “point hours”: 100 x 4 + 145 x 4 + 90 x 2 + 85 x 4 + 70 x 3 = 1710.
2. Calculate the total number of hours: 100 + 145 + 90 + 85 + 70 = 490.
3. Calculate GPA: divide the amount of points by the hours spent to obtain them: 1710: 490 = 3.48 ≈ 3.5.

When indicating your GPA on your application for admission, be sure to specify the highest possible score, as it differs for each country. For example: 8.56 out of 10 (8.56 out of 10).

Online GPA calculators

When entering master's and postgraduate programs at Russian universities, the average diploma score is taken into account only if the candidates showed the same results in the entrance exams.

A C in the certificate of incomplete secondary education - a death sentence or a reason to change the atmosphere of study? How many C grades will block a child’s path to university if he still has 2 years of school ahead? Is it possible to “place a careless student” in a prestigious college?

These issues are considered particularly pressing today. Reason: in 2016, the number of certificates with C grades in 9th grades was more than 70%, in 11th grades – 43%. Is it time for parents to worry?

Here the question itself must be posed differently: is it not possible to do so (because it is possible), but where to send the future specialist in order to reveal his potential.

What should the average grades in a 9th grade graduate certificate be?

Yes, a high GPA is a plus. The fewer C grades a ninth-grader has, the wider the choice of specialties that can be entered by submitting documents (photos, application).

Our 14-year practice of “growing” competitive specialists demonstrates the following:

• the presence of one C in a non-core subject (determined by the choice of specialty) does not spoil anything;
• 2 or more triples can reduce the number of options.

When transferred to the classic 5-point system, the ideal average score for a ninth-grader is 4+ points. C grades in Russian, social studies, and mathematics are undesirable.

What should the average score of 11th grade graduates be?

Graduates of the complete secondary education system require an average Unified State Exam score for admission to college/university. A lot depends on the choice of specialty. A budget place “costs” an average total Unified State Examination score of 280–300+ points, contract training is more affordable (from 95–100 points in at least 3 disciplines).

The grades of the first certificate are overlapped by the new exam results. Particular attention should be paid to the selection of those to take the Unified State Exam (the set is formed with an understanding of the future direction of further study).

Alternatives for ninth graders

Yes, it is easier for good/excellent students to enter the most lucrative professions at prestigious lyceums, colleges, and vocational schools. It’s more difficult for a C grade student (30%+ C grades); tuition will most likely be paid. But he can do it.

Another question is if a child of 14–16 years old does not show an active desire to change his usual institution, choose a profile, or study a specific specialty. Where to go after 9th grade with C grades under such circumstances?

• 10th grade at my school. Classes will thin out, teachers will be able to pay more attention to each student, and there is a chance to catch up.
• Lyceum. This is not specialized training, but here they teach you how to study.
• The first job is an interesting practice, albeit hard.
• In addition to the certificate, there is an OGE - final tests for ninth graders. Exam scores (the student chooses 2 subjects himself) can be taken into account upon admission.
• The concept of a ninth-grader’s portfolio has existed for almost 15 years, but only a few people use it. Certificates of commendation, history of training, reviews of teachers, collected into the quintessence of achievements, can “cover” 1–2 C grades in the certificate.

This time it turned out that graduates entering universities need to independently calculate the average score of their school certificate. This figure is necessary to calculate the final competitive score. The admissions committees of universities will recalculate and check this average certificate score.

How to calculate the average score of the certificate?

Step 1. Calculate the score on the calculator

The average score of the certificate is calculated on a 12-point scale. Tenths are rounded off. To calculate your score you need to add it up grades in all subjects and then divide the resulting number by the number of items.

Example. We take four items. Their scores were 8, 8, 9 and 12. Add them up and get 37. Divide by 4 (number of items) and get 9.25. So the average score is 9.

It is important to remember that those items for which the entry “exempt” is made are not taken into account in any way.

If the grades in the certificate were given on a five-point scale, then this is also no reason to panic. The Ministry of Education and Science said that you can count like this: “3” corresponds to “6”, “4” corresponds to “9”, “5” corresponds to “12”. If there is no insert for the certificate for objective reasons, then the average score is considered equal to “2”, which is not particularly good. So it’s better not to lose important documents.

Step 2: Trust but verify

Teachers advise that if school teachers were not lazy and calculated the graduates’ scores themselves, and the average score is indicated in the appendix to the certificate, then you must check whether it was calculated using the correct methodology. If it is incorrect, then recalculate and indicate the number that was obtained when submitting applications for admission. A certificate with an incorrect score is still considered valid, but for those who made a mistake - shame and disgrace, and a minus in karma.

Step 3. Where to enter the ball

When submitting applications electronically, the applicant enters the average score in his personal account. Where exactly will become clear during the filling process. If an applicant finds an error in his calculations, he can correct it himself before submitting his first application.

Step 4. How the score is converted

The average score entered into the Unified Database on a 12-point scale is automatically transferred to a 200-point scale according to the table corresponding to the average score of a document on complete general secondary education. See the table below.

Table* of the correspondence between the average score of a document on complete general secondary education, calculated on a 12-point scale, and the value on a 200-point scale

*table taken from the website "Osvita.ua".