Grade Computation
The official university grading system uses letter grades with pluses and minuses. Passing grades range from A+ to D-; F is failing. INC denotes incomplete, and R is the grade given at the end of the first semester of a year-long course. A grade of W (withdrawn) is automatically assigned when a student is given permission to drop a class after the drop deadline. The grades of INC, R, S, SX, U, UX, and W do not have quality point equivalents attached.
To compute a term average, add the products of hours x the associated quality points and divide by the number of credit hours taken (in the example below, 51.2÷16=3.2).
Cumulative average (averages taken for two or more terms) equals the sum of the products of all terms at Cornell divided by the total number of credits taken. A grade of F carries no quality points but the credits are added to the total credit hours, thereby lowering the average. Incomplete, S-U, and withdrawn grades are not calculated in the grade-point average.
Quality Point Equivalents:
| A+ = 4.3 | C+ = 2.3 |
| A = 4.0 | C = 2.0 |
| A- = 3.7 | C- = 1.7 |
| B+ =3.3 | D+ = 1.3 |
| B = 3.0 | D = 1.0 |
| B- = 2.7 | D- = 0.7 |
| F = 0.0 |
Example: Calculating a GPA
| Course | Grade | Quality Points |
Credit Hours |
Product |
| HADM 2236 | C+ | 2.3 | 4 | 9.2 |
| HADM 1115 | A | 4.0 | 3 | 12.0 |
| HADM 1174 | A- | 3.7 | 3 | 11.1 |
| HADM 1121 | B | 3.0 | 3 | 9.0 |
| GOVT 1110 | B+ | 3.3 | 3 | 9.9 |
| Total | 16 | 51.2 | ||
| 51.2/16 = 3.2 GPA | ||||