How to Calculate Your GPA in South Africa – A Step-by-Step Guide
South Africa has its system of grading. It’s called the Grade Point Average (GPA). For international students coming to study in South Africa, it might be a little tricky to calculate your GPA. In this article, we will cover every detail you need to know about how to calculate your GPA in South Africa.
What is a GPA?
A GPA is the average of all the marks you’ve received throughout your tertiary education. This includes your marks in compulsory and elective subjects and your influences in mandatory and elective examinations.
Your GPA serves several vital functions in your life. First, it determines the minimum level of study you must complete to earn a degree, diploma, or some qualification.
Your GPA will also determine how competitive your courses will be and what kind of job you can hope to get after graduation. For instance, if you’re an engineering student and your cumulative GPA is 2.0, then you need to complete at least another course to get a degree.
How to Calculate Your GPA in South Africa
South African universities and tertiary institutions use a slightly different grading system than universities in most other parts of the world. This can be a little confusing if you’re coming from another country and want to find out how to calculate your GPA.
However, it is essential to note that the GPA system used in South Africa is linked to tertiary education. So, if you’ve completed a high school diploma in South Africa, you can use this system to calculate your GPA.
What does a Good GPA Look Like?
A good GPA varies depending on your discipline and your university. Engineering and medicine are very competitive, and so are the courses in law and accounting. It would be best if you had an excellent GPA to find a job after graduation in these disciplines. In general, your GPA should be between 3.0 and 3.5. That’s the mark you want to get in each subject if you want to graduate with a university degree.
Recognizing an Improvement or Drop in Your GPA
If you’ve taken a course in a different country, you can use the GPA system of your home university. And if it’s not too difficult to adjust to the new system, you can use your home university’s GPA calculation method. To be on the safe side, it’s a good practice to get a foreign degree evaluated by a South African GPA expert before starting your degree. This way, you’ll be sure that the foreign GPA experts correctly calculated your GPA. There’s also the possibility that you’ve dropped a course and have to add a retake. You can do this easily by simply calculating a new GPA.
What does a Good GPA Look Like?
A good GPA from your home university looks something like this:
- B average in your standard compulsory subjects (maths, English, and natural science)
- C average in your standard elective subjects
- An average in your examinations
- A- average in your elective subjects that are not counted in your GPA
