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Grading System in the USA

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Your guide to understanding the evaluation system in the USA

As you start shortlisting your target USA universities and prepare applications for each, it is essential for you to get familiar with the unique Grading System followed in the country. Like most countries, the marking system in your home country might be based on numerical scores that are translated into a percentage score at the end of the academic year.

In the USA, however, students are allotted alphabetical as well as numerical grades based on a system of credits. As a new student, coming across terms like credit hours, GPA, and extra credits for the first time can get intimidating. To fit well into an American college or university, it is advisable to get an understanding of their evaluation matrix. Here’s your guide to the USA Grading System:

Credits, credit hours, and GPA

In the USA, each course that you opt for in a given semester has a certain number of hours that are assigned to it known as credit or semester hours. Credits act as a reward you earn for utilising the assigned credit hours to your grader’s satisfaction and thereby completing the course successfully.
Credits and credit hours are in turn used to calculate your overall grade. This is known as GPA or the Grade Point Average. This indicates a student’s average grade through the academic semester across courses.

So, the final Grade Point Average that you graduate with, is not only an average of all your scores. In fact, it is a weighted average where the weight is the number of semester hours.

Final GPA = Credit hours * letter grade value

The number of credit hours per course is predetermined by the faculty and even mentioned in the course schedule. For a bachelor’s degree, you need to earn at least 15 credit hours every semester to do well. Per semester, this could go up to 24 credit hours for masters. You can make up for the shortfall by independent study or in the summer break.

The Grading Scale

The GPA assumes a grading scale of A to F with A being the top grade and F indicating a student failing to meet his/ her academic requirements.

Some institutions further qualify student grades by adding a plus and minus to the grade. For instance, an A+ is better than an A-.

For your grades to be easily averaged at the end of the semester/ year, the grades are assigned a numerical equivalent known as the grade point. It follows a 4.0 grading scale which means that your grade point ranges from 0 to 4.

This is the most common grading scale followed across institutions in the USA.

What each grade means

As must already be clear, A is the best grade a student can get while F is the lowest one. B signifies good performance, C means average performance, and D means the student is barely managing to keep us.
In case you need to convert your percentage score from your home country to its American equivalent, that is easy. You just need to find out which percentage window you score fits into and you will know what its American equivalent is. Here is a table for more clarity:

Grade	Grade Point	Meaning	Percentage equivalent
A	4	Excellent	90% to 100%
B	3	Good	80% to 89%
C	2	Average	70% and 79%.
D	1	Passing	59% and 69%.
F	0	Failing	Between 0 and just below 59%

Special grades

In certain special cases, the American Grading System assigns the following grades to a student:

IP: This stands for In Progress. You are likely to be assigned this grade in case you have not completed parts of a subject required to be studied in multiple semesters for earning the regular grade. This grade is changed to the regular grade upon completion.

NC: This stands for Not Complete and is assigned if an exam, tutorial, or homework related to that subject has been missed.

W: This means Withdrawn and is assigned if you drop out of a course after attending classes beyond the pre-decided trial period.

While it may seem complicated at first, the US grading system becomes quite easy to follow over time. Just be regular in your classes and keep up with your credit hours. The grading system in the USA is one of the most respected ones across the world.