Sincerely a lot of students in tertiary institutions do not know what CGPA really means and how to calculate it. But as a university student, it is important for you to know how to calculate your CGPA so that you will know your performance at the end of the academic year.
Sometimes, students feel that the calculation of CGPS is a difficult task, which is why they don’t care to even know. But what I observe is that a large number of them have not been well tutored on how to calculate their CGPS and that is not a very good one as a student.
However, in this article, we are going to teach you the step to steps on how you can calculate your CGPS with stress or worry. So read this piece calculative in order to grab the full gist.
What is the full meaning of CGPA?
GPA stands for Grade Point Average, while CGPA, stands for Cumulative Grade Point Average. GPA stands for Grade Point Average. It is the total measure of a student’s academic achievement in the university for a particular Term or Semester in a particular Academic Session. It is calculated by dividing the total number of Grade Points obtained by the total number of Course Units offered.
CGPA means Cumulative Grade Point Average. CGPA is the total measure of a student’s academic achievement in the university for the whole years a student spends in getting their degree in a tertiary institution. Your Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) acts as a determinant of your Class of Honor. For instance, a student can graduate with: First Class, Second class lower or upper, third class, etc
Scalings in Nigerian Universities
- A mark of 70% and above is equal to the letter grade A or 5.00 Grade Points.
- The mark of 60-69% is equal to the letter grade of B or 54.00 Grade Points.
- The mark of 50-59% is equal to the letter grade of C or 3.00 Grade Points.
- The mark of 45-49% is equal to the letter grade of D or 2.00 Grade Points.
- The mark of 40-44% is equal to the letter grade of E or 1.00 Grade Points.
- The mark of 0-39% is equal to the letter grade of F or 0.00 Grade Points.
How to calculate CGPA at Nigeria University
Now that you know what CGPA stands for, let us look at the Nigerian university grading systems. Here, we will tell you how you can calculate your CGPA from sampled marks. To achieve success in the calculation of your CGPA, you need the Credit units of each of the courses, and you will also need your grade points for each of the five subjects.
NOTE: To help you flow along with the exercise, let us remind you of some abbreviations that you may come across throughout the calculation process so that you will not be confused.
- CU—Represent/Stands for Course Unit (also means credit hour)
- EXS—Represent/Stands for Examination score
- GD—Represent/Stands for Grading Letter (A, B, C, D, E, F)
- GP—Represent/Stands for Grading Point (5, 4, 3, 2, 1,0)
- QP—Represent/Stands for Quality Point/Total Point (GP multiplied by CU).
Nigerian Universities Grading System
Here is the new grading system on which a student’s performance in the University is determined with. Look at it below:
The latest Grading System Table
| Percentage Scores | Letter Grads | Points | Rating/ Remarks |
| 70 – 100 | A | 5 | Excellent |
| 60 – 69 | B | 4 | Very Good |
| 50 – 59 | C | 3 | Good |
| 45 – 49 | D | 2 | Pass |
| 0 – 40 | F | 0 | Fail |
All the students should note that 45% is the new minimum pass score, and the minimum passing grade for all courses is now D, for both General Studies
Electives as well.
NOTE; before we calculate the CGPA, let us first look at the data we will be using for the practical, and we will start with the GPA before the CGPA.
The Grade Point Average (GPA)
Let’s assume that at the end of each semester, a student’s grade point average (GPA) is calculated thus, using the above grading system, if the student offered the following courses in the first semester:
| Course Code | Course Title | Credit Unit |
| GSP 101 | The Use of English | 2 |
| GSP 111 | Use of Library | 2 |
| COS 101 | Introduction to Computer | 2 |
| GSP 105 | Natural Science 1 | 2 |
| GSP 201 | Social Science 1 | 2 |
| STA 131 | Inference | 2 |
| Math 221 | Real Analysis | 3 |
Total Credit Units = 15
If a student obtains C, A, D, A, D, B, and C respectively in the courses offered, with the following grade points 3, 5, 2, 5, 2, 4, and 3 accordingly. With the current grading system, this is how the total point of each of the courses will be calculated:
The credit unit of each course will be multiplied by the grade point that matches the letter grade of the course. That means that the total Point of a course is equal to the credit unit of the course multiplied by the Grade point of the course.
The same procedure will be followed for all other courses. Here is it:
First Semester GPA Calculation Table
| Course Code | Credit Unit | Letter Grade | Points Grade | Credit x points | Total points |
| GSP 101 | 2 | C | 3 | 2 x 3 | 6 |
| GSP 111 | 2 | A | 5 | 2 x 5 | 10 |
| GSP 105 | 2 | D | 2 | 2 x 2 | 4 |
| GPS 201 | 2 | A | 5 | 2 x 5 | 10 |
| COS 101 | 2 | D | 2 | 2 x 2 | 4 |
| STA 131 | 2 | B | 4 | 2 x 4 | 8 |
| MATH 221 | 3 | C | 3 | 3 x 3 | 9 |
Total points = 51
Now for you to calculate the grade point average, you will take the total number of points, which is 51, and divide it by the total number of credit units which is 15. The calculation of GPA here;
1st Semester GPA = total points (TP)/Total Credit Units(TCU) = 51/15 = 3.4
Calculation of Second Semester GPA
What we did in the first semester GPA calculation is what we will do also in the second-semester calculation.
Let’s assume a particular student obtains the following grades A, A, C, F, D, D, and B on the courses offered and has a total point of 48, and total credit units of 16, then the student’s second semester GPA calculation will be:
Second Semester GPA = Total points (TP)/Total Credit Units(TCU) = 48/16 = 3.0
Read also:
Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA)
Now, this is the point we were waiting for. At this moment, the student will calculate the Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) as the summation of the first semester GPA and second semester GPA divided by two (2). Hence, the student’s first-yearaaa CGPA is calculated thus:
Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) = First semester GPA + 2nd semester GPA / 2 = (3.4 + 3.0)/2 = 6.4 / 2 = 3.2.
If the student is running a four years program, the final year result will be calculated like this:
FCGPA = Summation of all the CGPA/Number of years (say 4 years) program. Let’s assume the student obtained GPA that looks like this:
1st Year CGPA = 3.2
2nd Year CPGA = 2.95,
3rd Year CGPA = 4.40 and
4th Year CGPA = 3.84
Then the FCGPA calculation will be = (1st Year CGPA + 2nd Year CGPA + 3rd Year CGPA + 4th Year CGPA) / 4 Years.
Therefore, the FCGPA = (3.2 + 2.95 + 4.40 + 3.84) / 4 = 14.39 / 4 = 3.5975 = 3.59
That means the student is graduating with a 2nd Class Honours Upper (2/1).
Conclusion
Now, you can see that calculating CGPS is not a difficult task. As you follow this article step by step you will become a genius in calculating CGPS. please drop us your comments here below.