Grading system USA

One of things that confuses international students after coming to US is GPA ( Grade Point Average). In most of our home countries, we are used to percentage scale which ranges from 0 to 100. But, as soon as we come to US, the grading system changes to GPA system and the range is 0 to 4. Students often wonder how does this scaling work ? Also, How is the cumulative GPA calculated at the time of graduation? This article explains the GPA calculation in US schools with transcript screenshots.

Courses and Credits in US schools :

We are used to just taking a course or class in B.tech our home countries, though some of them have credits assigned we ignore the concept and just think of classes and percentages. Whereas in US, each course has a set of credits assigned to it. The number of credits determines the work load of a class. Typically, in graduate level, the courses are 3 credit classes and you meet once a week in class for three hours for lecture.

Importance of Credits break down :

As said before, the work load of the class depends on the number of credits. The concept of credits is important because, it gives you the flexibility to break down the a 3 credit class and instead take a 2 credit class and 1 credit class or just three one credit classes. For instance lets say, you get a 3-credit class waived in MS because you tell the advisor that you have experience and show that you have already done in B.tech, then you are given option to take that 3 credits in anyway depending on University. What you can do is, you can take a 1-credit Music class and 2 credits Writing class or you may take one credit Gym class, one credit leadership class and one credit modern art class. Do you get why Credits are important and not just classes ? it is much flexible.

Grading system in US Universities is as below