How Cumulative GPA is Calculated for UPNG Transcripts
The University of Papua New Guinea’s University Information System (UIS) uses the same formula for grade point average (GPA) for a single academic year’s GPA and the cumulative GPA (CGPA) which accounts for courses and grades for the student’s first year to final year.
Where GP is the grade point of the grade scored for a course and CP is the credit points for the course.
Read the article below for an explanation of UPNG GPA calculation.
It is important to note that for the cumulative GPA or CGPA, there are special cases that have to be considered in the logic before calculating.
Here are the most common cases.
Special Cases and Logic Applied for CGPA
NG Grade Awarded for Course
A course with an NG grade will not be considered in the CGPA calculation.
W Grade Awarded for Course
A course with a W grade will not be considered in the CGPA calculation.
X Grade Awarded for Course
A course that a student is exempted from and awarded an X grade will not be considered in the CGPA calculation. But the course’s credit points will be awarded (and count toward the 96 credits required to graduate for most degree programs at the Waigani campus)
Course Repeated, Different Grade Awarded
When a course is repeated with different grades awarded, use the higher grade, and disregard the lower grades.
Example 1: A student took 1.10801 Foundation Mathematics 1 in 2018/S1 and scored an F. The student repeated the course in 2020/S1 and scored a CR. The higher grade CR will be used in CGPA calculation, the first grade F will be disregarded.
Example 2: A student repeated 1.10821 Computer Literacy and Numeracy four times in different semesters 2015/S1, 2016/S1, 2018/S2, and 2020/S1 and scored F, F, CP, and PA respectively. Only the highest grade PA will be considered in the CGPA calculation. The other three grades and credit points will be disregarded.
Course Repeated, Same Grade Awarded
When a course is repeated and the same grade is awarded, use any one of the grades, and disregard the other repeated grades and credit points.
Example 1: A student took 4.13902 Communication and Life Skills in 2017/S1 and scored a CP. The student repeated the course in 2019/S1 and scored a CP again. Here, only one of the CPs will be counted and used in the CGPA calculation. The other CP and course credit points will be disregarded.
Example 2 A student repeated 1.10821 Computer Literacy and Numeracy in three different semesters 2020/S1, 2021/S1, 2022/S2 and tried to improve but still scored F, F, F. Here, only one F will be considered in CGPA calculation. The other F grades and credit points will be disregarded.
Example to Verify CGPA Calculation
Let us look at an actual transcript to verify CGPA.
You will notice some courses are repeated.
In the transcript above, the CGPA is 2.11
If I try to verify on a spreadsheet as it is, the calculated CGPA will be 1.68
The pink highlights are repeated courses, so we will take only one instance of each and remove the others.
Special Cases for CGPA logic:
- 1.10801 Foundation Mathematics I is done 4 times — in 2017/S1, 2019/S1, 2021/S1, and 2022/S1 and awarded F in all. Take the 2022/S1 F and disregard the other records.
- 1.10105 Biology 1B is repeated — in 2017/S2 and 2018/S2, and awarded F and PA. Take the higher grade 2018/S2 PA and disregard the other record.
- 1.10821 Computer Literacy & Numeracy is repeated — 2017/S2 and 2018/S2 and awarded F and CR. Take the higher grade 2018/S2 CR and disregard the other record.
- 1.10903 Physics IB is repeated — 2017/S2 and 2018/S2, and awarded F and CP. Take the higher grade 2018/S2 CP and disregard the other record.
- 1.32306 Introduction to GIS and Remote Sensing is repeated in 2021/S1 and 2022/S2 and awarded F twice. Take the 2022/S2 F and disregard the other record.
- 1.41002 Research Techniques and Skills is repeated in 2021/S1 and 2022/S1 and awarded F and PA. Take the higher grade 2022/S1 PA and disregard the other record.
- 1.42384 Migration in the 21st Century is repeated in 2021/S1 and 2022/S1, and awarded F and CR. Take the higher grade 2022/S1 CR and disregard the other record.
When we apply these changes to the spreadsheet we will have this result:
The CGPA calculated on the spreadsheet is 2.11 which matches the CGPA on the transcript.
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