CGPA Calculation for Engineering Students: All of us have heard the term CGPA many times in our life and have wondered what it meant. Nowadays, most engineering colleges follow the CGPA system as it is a globally recognized system as it assists a person in understanding where they stand in comparison to their classmates.
Many colleges nowadays demand that students produce their cumulative averages during the entrance process. Here, we have a guide on how to calculate CGPA in engineering if you want to get admitted to one of the engineering branches.
- Advantages of CGPA
- How to Calculate Overall CGPA in Engineering?
- How is CGPA Calculated in India?
- How to Calculate CGPA from SGPA?
- How to Calculate CGPA from SGPA?
- How do the Engineering Colleges Abroad Award/ Calculate CGPA / GPA?
- How do the Indian Engineering Colleges Calculate CGPA?
- What are the disadvantages of using the CGPA or Cumulative Grade Point Average system?
- What is the difference between CGPA and GPA?
- What is the difference between CGPA and SGPA?
What is CGPA?
CGPA refers to ‘Cumulative Grade Point Average.’ It is used to denote a student’s total average performance throughout their academic programs. CGPA is accepted in a high school, Bachelor’s Degree and also in Master’s Degree programs.
The CGPA system is one of the most common evaluation ways, even though the criteria might vary from one country to another. So, it is essential to understand how to calculate CGPA in engineering. CGPA is the total of all your credit points.
Advantages of CGPA
There are various benefits of calculating CGPA, so you should be aware of how to calculate CGPA in engineering. Here are some of the benefits of having the CGPA system of evaluating and grading your results:
- The pressure of marks reduced: The grading standard of education has decreased students’ scoring pressure, which in turn makes them learn without any pressure.
- Identification of Strengths and Weakness: The grading standard of education helps students identify their strengths and weaknesses.
- Grading Pattern is advanced: The grading standard of education is based on a progressive marking pattern.
- Studies become simpler: The grading standard of education has made education more straightforward and more accessible in various ways.
- It also helps the colleges and universities accurately analyze where one stands in comparison to the other students.
How to Calculate CGPA in Engineering?
To calculate CGPA, the students also need to know about the GPA- Grade Point Average. The value represents the average value of the accumulated final grades scored in courses over time. This means that all of your grades are combined altogether, and then they are divided by the total subjects you had in that semester. Engineering students can also convert CPI to a percentage, CGPA to a percentage, and CGPA to marks to get clarity.
CGPA = total of GPA in all semesters/ Total Number of Credit Hour
If you are thinking about how much CGPA you should score to be considered as good CGPA in engineering, the CGPA of 8 or above is usually considered the best. As the competition for studying abroad can be extreme, one should aim for a slightly higher CGPA.
Also, Read:
How is CGPA Calculated in India?
As the CGPA grading system varies from one country to another, the Indian grading system that is CGPA to percentage conversion differs from other countries and varies from one university to another. Here, we have laid out the general way to calculate CGPA in Engineering or any other courses in India:
CGPA = Percentage/9.5
For instance, the total marks you score in a total of five subjects in a particular semester add up to 250.
How TO Calculate CGPA in University
Step 1: At first, you need to calculate the total percentage you got, that is,
250/500 = 50%
Step 2: Then, you need to calculate the CGPA from percentage; you need to divide your percentage by 9.5 that is,
50/9.5= 5.26 CGPA approximately.
How to Calculate SGPA?
A student’s performance in a semester is indicated by a number called the Semester Grade Point Average or SGPA. The SGPA is a weighted average of the grade points obtained in all the courses, projects, and seminars registered by the student. It can be calculated by simply adding up all the credit points allocated for the subjects and dividing it by the total credits awarded to that semester.
For instance, in a total of 4 subjects, one scored the following grade points:
Subject 1: 9
Subject 2: 6
Subject 3: 8
Subject 4: 7
Let’s say that the total credit for each subject is 10.
Step 1: At first, we will multiply the grade point with the total credit point for each subject:
Subject 1: 9 * 10 = 90
Subject 2: 6 * 10 = 60
Subject 3: 8 * 10 = 80
Subject 4: 7 * 10 = 70
Step 2: To calculate SGPA here, you need to get the total of all the grade points and then divide it by the total credits, that is,
Total grade points: 310
Total credits: 40
To get SGPA, divide the grade points by total credits,
= 310 / 40
= 7.75 SGPA
How to Calculate CGPA from SGPA?
After the universities release the results in the form of CGPA, one still has to convert that CGPA to a percentage if you want to pursue your further studies in a foreign country, as there shall be the requirement for the scores to be in percentage.
Because of this reason, we have given out the pathway of transforming your CGPA to a percentage:
- At first, you need to find the SGPA of all the semesters.
- Once you have the SGPA of all the semesters, add them.
- Divide the addition of the SGPAs by the Number of the semester you have given.
- The Number you get is your CGPA.
For instance, the SGPA of a student for six semesters is,
- Semester I: 8.0
- Semester II: 7.0
- Semester III: 7.4
- Semester IV: 6.8
- Semester V: 7.8
- Semester VI: 7.2
Add all of the SGPA, i.e.,
8.0 + 7.0 + 7.4 + 6.8 + 7.8 + 7.2 = 44.2
Divide the addition by the Number of semesters, i.e.,
44.2 / 6 = 7.37 (CGPA).
How do the Engineering Colleges Abroad Award/ Calculate CGPA / GPA?
Generally, to calculate the SGPA, candidates have to multiply by 10. On the other side, CGPA is calculated with the assistance of credit points. Let us understand how to evaluate CGPA in engineering with the support of an example.
Example: The following scorecard represents the credits and grades scored by a student in a semester. Let us be aware of the process of calculating CGPA in a specific semester.
| Subjects | Grade | Credits |
| Subject 1 | A | 2 |
| Subject 2 | B | 2 |
| Subject 3 | B | 4 |
| Subject 4 | B | 4 |
| Subject 5 | B | 4 |
| Subject 6 | B | 5 |
| Subject 7 | A | 3 |
| Subject 8 | S | 4 |
Average Overall grade: 8.04
Where the grading scale is,
S: 10, A : 8.5, B : 7.5, C : 6.5, D : 5.5, E : 4.5
For each subject, the students are awarded credit and a grade. We multiply the credits with the grades’ allocated score points and divide the result by the total number of credits to get the SGPA. In this case, SGPA is, = 8.04
Now coming on to how to calculate CGPA, it is nothing but the average of all the SGPAs. You can add the SGPA earned in each semester and divide them by the total number of semesters. CGPA can either be calculated out 4 or 10, depending on the university. Let’s say that a person gets the following SGPAs in 6 semesters:
| Semesters | SGPA |
| I | 7 |
| II | 8 |
| III | 9 |
| IV | 8 |
| V | 6 |
| VI | 5 |
In this case, the CGPA for the course be: = 7.17
One should also note that CGPA can be obtained out of 4 or 10 depending upon the educational university system. Out of 10 can be altered to out of 4 by efficiently dividing the subtotal by ten and multiplying it by 4.
One can also calculate their CGPAs or percentage by calculating the Percentage CGPA calculator for engineering for which you need to know your CGPA (for percentage) or percentage (for CGPA).
How do the Indian Engineering Colleges Calculate CGPA?
There are two ways used when we talk about the evaluation system that is used in India, namely the Relative and Absolute Grading System. Although the latter is the total percentage obtained irrespective of how many students score the same marks, the former highlights the student’s performance compared to others. We have given an example to help you understand how to calculate CGPA in engineering through the relative grading system.
Let’s say that the marks out of 100 are allocated to a certain bracket of grades and numeric values. These are put in a table form below:
| Grades | Numeric Value |
| A+ | 10 |
| A | 9 |
| B | 8 |
| C | 7 |
| D | 6 |
| E | 5 |
| F | 0 |
Like we already stated, SGPA is first evaluated, and then the final CGPA is calculated. Following this logic, if we consider that chemistry and maths are awarded a total of 4 credit points each by your university. Thus, the marks and the grade point as per the table given award will be:
90-100 is a ten that is an A+
80-89 is a nine that is an A
70-79 is an eight that is a B
And so on.
So, if someone scores 78 in their chemistry and 98 in their maths, they will get an eight and a 10 for chemistry and maths, respectively. Their CGPA will be:
(The credit allotted to the subject * the point received) / The total credit points
= = = = 9
The final step in calculating CGPA in Engineering can be done through a statistical method. Let us consider that there is X number of students in a class. Students’ means can be denoted by Y and Z and can be known as the standard deviation. Then,
| Lower Range of Scores | GRADES | Upper Range of Scores |
| – | A+ | > (Y + 1.5 Z) |
| (Y + 1.0 Z) < | A | Less than equal to (Y + 1.5 Z) |
| (Y + 0.5 Z) < | B+ | Less than equal to (Y + 1.0 Z) |
| Y | B | Less than equal to (Y + 0.5 Z) |
| (Y – 0.5 Z) < | C+ | Less than equal to Y |
| (Y – 1.0 Z) < | C | Less than equal to (Y – 0.5 Z) |
| (Y – 1.5 Z) < | D | Less than equal to (Y – 1.0 Z) |
| – | F | Less than equal to (Y – 1.5 Z) |
FAQ’s on CGPA Calculation For Engineering Students
Question 1.
What are the disadvantages of using the CGPA or Cumulative Grade Point Average System?
Answer:
Some of the disadvantages of using the CGPA system are given below:
- Demotivation: The CGPA system of education sometimes demotivates the students who can achieve higher.
- Result accuracy: The CGPA system is found deficient in showing the accurate results of students.
- Increase in laziness: A CGPA in the education system has separated the marks among various tasks like presentations, assignments, and final examinations; there is an increase in lethargy due to students’ laziness.
- Performance decreased: Due to the CGPA system of education, students are likely to perform less.
Question 2.
What is the difference between CGPA and GPA?
Answer:
CGPA and GPA are both the calculation of the performance of a person in a course. But the main difference between CGPA and GPA is that CGPA measures the performance throughout the course, including all semesters and units. In contrast, GPA measures the performance of a single semester or unit.
Question 3.
What is the difference between CGPA and SGPA?
Answer:
Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) is used to measure the overall student’s academic performance in schools and universities, and it is for a more extended period. Semester Grade Points Average (SGPA) is an average grade point calculated at the end of an academic session, such as a semester at college, and it is for a shorter period.
Although we have provided you with every necessary information about calculating CGPA in engineering, we realize that the entrance process can get confusing and tiring. We can help you make the perfect application for your dream college, including your CGPA and SOP and essays, as we know that you would not want to risk any aspect of the entrance procedure.