How to Use the Grade Point Calculator

1. How to Use the Grade Point Calculator A Brief Description

2. What the calculator does • The Grade Projection Calculator (GPC) is designed to compute a student’s: • Weighted GPA • Qualifying Points • Necessary Future GPA to stay in good academic standing • Most importantly if the qualifying points are negative the student is below the 2.5 minimum standard

3. A few important notes • The (GPC) has many hidden formulas. Please do not unhide the hidden rows as it will be hard to read • If the columns of the GPC are to narrow it will round decimals leading to inaccurate tallies. • If you think you affected something on the GPC quit without saving and reopen or re-download the file

4. If there are any problems • If there are any problems or concerns about the GPC please contact me. • The best way to reach me is by e-mail or calling Cathy Thornhill in the OIA office : • RChellapilla@sgu.edu

5. Using the GPC Calculator • I will try to make this PowerPoint as visual as possible. • There is also a word file called Description of Calculator for more detailed information on the fields • In addition I am supposed to do a demonstration on sonic foundry however this is tentative at this time.

6. Using the GPC Calculator con't • The only valid grades are A, B, C, F, and W (use W for incomplete grades (I) as well. The GPC is not case sensitive • The calculator is only to be used for student admitted in term 2 or after term 2 as the new minimums only apply to them. • The calculator is broken into 6 sections one for each term. Each section begins with column headlining and ends with a Blue border.

7. The fields of the GPC and an Example • To start, I will explain the first 3 fields of the GPC and what happens. • As stated the GPC is broken into 6 term sections each new term beginning with a column heading. • The field you will use the most is the Enter Grade field, in addition you may use the Retaken field it the student has retaken the course. • You will start by entering a grade into the enter grade column as shown on the transcript. For incompete (I) use W.

8. Example 1 • Now lets enter grades into fields below; I will use first term courses for this example. • I have noted which column I am referring to. Remember there are many hidden columns where formulas exist • For this student I have given him a B, C,F, and A respectively.

9. Example 1 • When you enter grades into col E, you will immediately notice that numbers appear in col K, col O. • Col K – Simply tells the credits of the course, if you put a W into col E, no credit value will be given. • Col O will tell you the GPA by subject. • Col V is why the GPC was made, it tells the qualifying points based on the new standard. Notice that if the grade is a C or F the numbers are negative i.e (-#) • The values are determined by the number of credits and the letter grade.

10. Example 1 • Observe that I ommited col J, col L, and col T from the previous example. Also notice that those columns are ‘walled off’ as the results for these columns are at the bottom of the term section. • Usually between 5 to 8 rows below you will see the word “For Term:” • Directly under that you will see “For All Terms:” • In the cells right next to these fields a disply of what the totals are for the terms and for all terms of the respective categories. Look at the example on the next page.

11. Example 1 • As you can see at the end of each section totals will appear once grades are entered. • As you can see this person has negative qualifying points i.e. (-15.5) qualifying points as a total. • This means that she or he is below the minimum. This is confirmed by the GPA for the term. • The next 4 columns after the thin white divider will tell what GPA the student needs to eliminate their negative qualifying point totals and return to the minimum of a 2.5 (see the next slide)

12. Example 1 • So as you can see all the results for the future projections are at the bottom of the term section. • The GPA is weighted on the number of credits left. • On the next slide I will show what to do if a student Retakes the course

13. Example 2 • Now lets say the student who got an F in bio chem retakes the course. • Simply enter the retaken into the adjacent cell as below the calculator will update the results.

14. Example 2 • In this example the student retook the course which they failed and got an A. • While this raises the student’s subject GPA for the subject back up to 2 it does not erase their qualifying point deficit.

15. Example 2 • The student is now still below the 2.5 minimum however the total has changed considerably. • Again the most notable fact of the new system is that the student A does not cancel out their F.

16. Example 3 • Now instead of giving the student an F they decide to withdraw from the course

17. Example 3 • Now lets see an example of where a student withdraws after they realize they are having difficulties at mid term.

18. Example 3 • Now for the future projections • As you can see withdrawal makes a big difference

19. Example 4 • In this case the student is in good academic standing • As one can see the is an incentive to withdraw instead of failing and retaking is far more compelling with the new criteria.

20. Question or Comments Please E-mail me if you have any question or comments RChellapilla@sgu.edu