High School Grade Point Averages

 

100-point average

 

The official high school grade point average of a Seton student is his or her 100-point average of final grades received in all completed courses.  To get this average, multiply the number of credits of a course times the final grade for each course.  Divide that number by the total number of credits.

4-point average                      

A student’s 4-point average is an unofficial average which Seton gives because some college scholarship applications require the student to enter a 4-point average.  Even though Seton gives a 4-point average, it is an unofficial average.  The student’s official high school average is the 100-point average.

To be as fair as possible to all students, Seton has recently changed the way in which we calculate 4-point averages. We did this because there are two main methods in which a 4-point average can be calculated from the 100-point average. One of these methods yields a higher 4-point GPA for about 1/3 of all students. The other method yields a higher GPA for another 1/3 of all students. The last 1/3 of all students have essentially the same GPA under either method. Since there is no strong reason to favor one method of calculation over the other, Seton now calculates the 4-point GPA using each method and gives the student the higher of the two calculations.

Note that for either method of calculation, the highest GPA is 4.000. Any GPA higher than 4.000 is rounded down to 4.000.

Method 1: Conversion of each course to a letter grade

This method converts the final numeric grade in each course into a letter grade, based upon the numeric to letter grade conversion scale found on page 7 of Seton's high school catalog. Each letter grade is assigned certain quality points. Quality points are as follows: A+ = 4.3, A = 4.0, A- = 3.7, B+ = 3.3, B = 3.0, B- = 2.7, C+ = 2.3, C = 2.0, C- = 1.7, D = 1.0, D- = .7, F = 0. The quality points are multiplied by the number of credits in each course, and then divided by the total number of credits.

Example: a student has final grades in 3 courses: 90 in English 9, 87 in Algebra I, and 85 in Shakespeare. 90 converts to B+ and is worth 3.3 quality points. 87 converts to B and is worth 3.0 quality points. 85 converts to B- and is worth 2.7 quality points. English 9 and Algebra I are full-credit courses, while Shakespeare is a half-credit course. The total quality points are: (3.3 * 1)+(3.0 * 1)+(2.7 * .5) = 7.65. We divide that number by 2.5, which is the total number of credits, giving a 4-point GPA of 3.060.

Method 2: Direct conversion from 100 point to 4 point

Using this method, a student’s 4-point average is determined after determining the student’s 100-point average.  On Seton’s grading scale, below 70 is an F and 95 and over is an A.  These two points correspond to 0 and 4 on the 4-point average.  There are 25 numbers between 70 and 95.  4 divided by 25 gives .16.  This means that for every point above 70 a student’s average is, the student receives .16 toward the 4-point average.  So, the basic formula for determing 4-point average is:

Subtract 70 from the 100-point average and multiply the remainder by .16.

 

Example: Sally has a 100-point average of 92.45.  Subtracting 70 gives us 22.45.  Multiplying 22.45 times .16 gives us 3.592 for Sally’s 4-point average.

You can use the converter below to see how any 100-point GPA converts to a 4-point GPA:

Enter 100 point grade:  

 

Why don't 4-point averages and letter grades always match up?

 

Using method 1, the letter grades listed in the high school catalog should exactly or very closely match a student's 4-point average.

 

Using method 2, 4-point averages and letter grades may be very dissimilar. This is because letter grades aren’t spaced at precise mathematical intervals.  If you look at the letter grade chart in the high school catalog, you’ll notice that some letter grades encompass three numerical grades and other letter grades encompass two numerical grades.   If the numerical ranges assigned to letter grades were to be standardized, then ranges could not be whole numbers.  You would end up with a chart where B+ was something like 89.348 to 91.739.  That would obviously be too confusing.  A 4-point average based upon a straight mathematical progression may be higher or lower than you might expect based upon the chart.