Grading glossary

Grading vocabulary is inconsistent between countries and sometimes between departments in the same university. These are the plain meanings, with a note where a term means something different somewhere else.

Academic probation: A formal status applied when a student's average falls below the institution's minimum, often 2.0 on a four-point scale. It usually carries conditions such as a reduced course load, required advising, or a deadline to recover, and a continued shortfall can lead to suspension. Thresholds, notice periods, and the route back to good standing are set by each institution and published in its academic regulations.
CGPA: Cumulative grade point average. In North America it means the average across every term you have completed rather than a single term. In India it more often names a ten-point cumulative scale used by CBSE and many universities, which is a different measurement rather than a different word for the same one. Which meaning applies depends on the institution asking, so read the form's own instructions.
Credit hour: A unit measuring how much a course counts toward a qualification and toward your average, traditionally reflecting weekly contact hours across a term. A four-credit course moves your average roughly twice as much as a two-credit one. Naming varies by country: North America uses credit hours, Australia and much of Europe use credit points, and the European Credit Transfer System uses ECTS credits with its own conversion rules.
Dean's list: An institutional honour recognising students whose term average exceeds a stated threshold, commonly around 3.5 on a four-point scale. The threshold, the minimum course load required to qualify, and whether it is awarded each term or each year are all set by the individual college, so the same result may qualify at one school and not at another. It appears on some transcripts and not others.
Final exam weight: The proportion of a course grade decided by the final examination, commonly between 15% and 40% and occasionally half or more. The weight, rather than the gap between your current grade and your target, is what determines whether a target is reachable: with a 10% final, every point you need requires ten on the exam. Check the syllabus, since a separate minimum score on the final is sometimes required.
First-class honours: The highest classification in the British undergraduate degree system, usually awarded at a weighted average of 70% or above. It is not an A and does not convert to a 4.0 by any rule the awarding university publishes, because UK degrees classify rather than average to a grade point. Institutions differ in how heavily they weight later years and in the borderline rules applying just below a boundary.
GPA (grade point average): A grade point average converts each course grade into a numeric point value, weights it by the course's credits, and averages the result. The four-point scale is the North American convention rather than a universal one: Canada commonly uses 4.33, India a ten-point scale, and the United Kingdom classifies degrees instead of averaging them. Your institution's published scale is the one governing your transcript.
Grade point: The numeric value a letter grade is worth before credits are applied. On the standard US scale an A is 4.0, a B is 3.0 and a C is 2.0, with plus and minus variants at 3.7, 3.3 and so on where a school uses them. Canadian institutions often top out at 4.33 and India uses a ten-point scale, so the same letter carries different values in different systems.
Grading on a curve: Adjusting raw scores after an assessment so the spread of grades matches an intended shape. The phrase covers several different practices: adding a flat number of points to everyone, scaling so the top score becomes full marks, or fitting results to a target distribution where a set proportion receives each grade. Only the last genuinely limits how many students can earn a high grade, and courses rarely say which they use.
Latin honours: The cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude distinctions awarded at graduation by many US institutions. Some set fixed thresholds, often near 3.5, 3.7 and 3.9, while others award them to a set percentage of each graduating class, which means the cutoff moves from year to year. Because the two systems behave differently, the same average can earn a distinction at one school and not at another.
Pass mark: The minimum score a course accepts as a pass. It is commonly 60% in the United States and 50% across much of the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, but the figure that governs you is the one printed in your syllabus. Some courses set a higher bar for required subjects, and some demand a minimum score on the final exam itself regardless of the course average.
Percentage to GPA conversion: The mapping from a percentage mark to a grade point, which is a policy rather than a calculation. One institution may treat 90 and above as 4.0 while another starts the A band at 93 or at 85, and conversions between national systems are decided by the receiving institution or a credential evaluation service. Any single formula presented as universal is describing one convention among several.
Quality points: The product of a course's grade point value and its credit hours, used as the numerator when a grade point average is calculated. A three-credit course graded A on a four-point scale contributes twelve quality points. Adding the quality points from every course and dividing by the total credits gives the average. The term is common on North American transcripts and rare elsewhere, though the same arithmetic appears in most credit-weighted systems.
Semester: A term of study, typically fifteen to eighteen weeks, with most institutions running two per academic year plus an optional summer session. Quarter systems divide the year into three ten-week terms instead, and trimester and block structures exist as well, which is why credit counts do not transfer between structures without conversion. Your term average covers one such period; your cumulative average covers all of them.
Syllabus weight: The share of a course grade assigned to each category of assessment, such as 40% coursework, 25% midterm and 35% final. These weights decide how much any single piece of work can move your grade, which makes them the first thing to check before planning revision. They are set per course and stated in the syllabus, and a category worth ten points repays far less effort than one worth forty.
Transcript: The official record of the courses you took, the grades you received, the credits attached to each, and the averages calculated from them. It is issued by the institution rather than assembled by you, and receiving universities and employers treat it as the source of record over any figure you report yourself. What appears on it varies: some show class rank or honours, others deliberately do not.
Unweighted GPA: A grade point average in which every course counts the same regardless of difficulty, capping at 4.0 on the standard North American scale. An A in a standard course and an A in an advanced one both score 4.0. Because the calculation is consistent between schools, it is the figure most scholarship minimums and published admissions ranges are expressed in, and the one selective universities often recalculate to.
Upper second-class honours (2:1): The second-highest British degree classification, usually awarded between 60% and 69%. It is the level most UK graduate programmes and graduate employers name as a minimum, which makes the boundary at 60 more consequential than its size suggests. A lower second, written 2:2, sits between 50 and 59. Universities publish their own borderline rules for marks falling just under a boundary.
WAM (weighted average mark): The standard Australian measure. It averages the actual percentage mark from each unit, weighted by that unit's credit points, and stays on a percentage scale rather than converting to grade points. Universities differ on the details, with some weighting later years more heavily, some excluding first-year units, and some counting failed units. Your university's academic policy defines the version applied to your record.
Weighted GPA: A grade point average that adds extra points for harder courses, most commonly a full point for AP or IB classes and half a point for honours, which lets the result exceed 4.0. No national standard sets the bonus, so schools differ substantially and two students with identical coursework can carry figures a full point apart. Universities frequently recalculate rather than accept the reported number.