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Ask HN: What does it mean to have a 4.0 GPA?

3 points by maxklein ↗ HN
As a person who studied in the European system, I'm having some difficulty understanding the GPA concept in America. Whenever I read an article about some smart person, there is usually a line that says - he graduated with a 4.0 GPA. My understanding from Wikipedia is that he either scored a perfect value on all his tests, or he got above a 90% on all his tests.

What does a 4.0 mean? Does this mean the person never failed to get below a 90% on every single test that he ever took at the university? Is this a linear system where 90% actually means that 9 out of 10 questions were correct?

What's the perception of other scores like 3.7 or 3.5? Are those considered low?

Do people have the chance to go back and correct an exam where they scored less than 90% or are these 4.0 people really that smart?

4 comments

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jaekwon
4.0 means he got the best grade for each class that he took. You can fail a test and still get an A, depending. I believe you can retake a course to get a better grade in my school. 3.5 is fine. 3.0 I guess might be average or not stellar.
jaekwon
In my school career fair, ratheon or some weapons manuf acturing company only accepted candidates with GPA 3.8 or higher. I thought that was high, but I guess those companies want straightedge people.
th
The letter grades A and A+ are equivalent to 4 "grade points." A- is 3.7, B+ is 3.3, B is 3.0, B- is 2.7 and so on. If someone has a 4.0 this means they received an A/A+ in every class.

Depending on the university and the professor, this can mean different things. If the class is curved, one third of the class will probably receive A-/A/A+ range grades. If the class is not curved, anywhere from 85% to 95% may be considered an A depending on the professor, class, and university. Most commonly a 90% range is considered A- and up and 80% range is B- and up (assuming no curve).

The overall GPAs themselves are usually calculated by taking specific units of each class into account to give some classes more weight than others. For a 4.0, all grades must have been A anyways so this detail is insignificant.

3.7 and 3.5 are often considered very good GPAs in university. Receiving an overall 4.0 GPA is fairly rare at many schools as an receiving even one A- or below would ensure less than 4.0.

lsemel
4.0 means you got an A in every course, and in each course the grade is usually based on a weighted average of tests and papers. You usually don't have the opportunity to redo work or retake tests.

I spent 2 years at a good state university and 2 years at a top private university, getting 4.0 and 3.97 respectively. I think getting the 4.0 at the state school was harder as there was less grade inflation.

You do not need to be a super genius to get a high GPA. It's a combination of intelligence, interest in the subject matter, hard work, and priorities. Looking back, I thought getting a very high GPA was essential, but now I don't think it matters all that much, nor was it worth the effort.