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Grade-Point Average

The NCAA Eligibility Center calculates your grade-point average (GPA) based on the grades you earn in NCAA-approved core courses. Only your best grades from the required number of NCAA core courses will be used. Grades from additional core courses will be used only if they improve your grade-point average.

Your GPA is calculated on a 4.000 scale. Numeric grades such as 92 or 87 are changed to letter grades such as A or B. The NCAA Eligibility Center does not use plus or minus grades when calculating GPA. Weighted honors or advanced courses may improve your core-course GPA but your high school must notify the NCAA Eligibility Center that it weights grades in these classes.

In Pass/Fail grading situations, the NCAA Eligibility Center will assign your high school’s lowest passing grade for a course in which you received a Pass grade. For most high schools, the lowest passing grade is a D, so the NCAA Eligibility Center generally assigns a D as a passing grade.

Calculate your core-course credits and GPA

Generally, you receive the same number of credits from the NCAA for a core course that you receive from your high school for the class. One academic semester of a class counts for .5 of a core course credit. One academic trimester of a class counts for .34 of a core-course credit. One academic quarter of a class counts for .25 of a core-course credit. A one-year class taken over a longer period of time is considered one core course and is not awarded more than one credit.

To calculate your estimated core-course grade-point average, divide the total number of quality points for all of your core courses by the total number of core-course units you have completed.

To calculate quality points for each core course, multiply the following points for each grade by the amount of credit earned for the class:

  • A: 4 points
  • B: 3 points
  • C: 2 points
  • D: 1 point

Examples

  •  An A grade (4 points) for a trimester course (0.34 units): 4 points x 0.34 units = 1.36 total quality points
  • An A grade (4 points) for a semester course (0.50 units): 4 points x 0.50 units = 2.00 total quality points
  • An A grade (4 points) for a full-year course (1.00 units): 4 points x 1.00 units = 4.00 quality points