Weighted GPA?

[bhanson]

I've never been exposed to weighted GPAs. From what I've gathered, it really does not make any sense at all.

Can someone please explain the merits of such a system, and why it is better than a normal unweighed system?

 

[sigs3gv]

AP and honors classes have more weight.

For example in an honors/AP course, an A is 4 unweighted and 5 weighted.
In a normal course, an A is 45 both unweighted and weighted.

The weighted scores can differentiate whether or not the student took harder courses.

This is at least how it seems to work in my HS.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Weighted is designed to prevent people in pre algebra have a higher GPA than those in Calculus.

 

[BW86]

Grade point average

Grade point average (GPA) is a number that represents the average of a student's grades during his or her time at an institution. Usually it is weighted by number of credits given for the course.

Most high schools and nearly all colleges in the United States use a "four-point" system. Universities in Hong Kong also use this system. Numerical values are applied to grades as follows:

* A = 4
* B = 3
* C = 2
* D = 1
* F = 0
* FF/G (if given) = -1

This allows grades to be easily averaged. Additionally, many schools add .3 for a "+" grade and subtract .3 for a "-" grade. Thus, a B+ yields a 3.3 whereas an A- yields a 3.7. A+'s, if given, are usually assigned a value of 4.0 (equivalent to an A) due to the common assumption that a 4.00 is the best possible grade-point average, although 4.3 is awarded at some institutions. In some places, .33 instead of .3 is added for a "+" grade and subtracted for a "-" grade.

Some high schools, to bolster their students' chances in college admissions, will give higher numerical grades for difficult courses, often referred to as a weighted GPA. For example, two common conversion systems used in honors and advanced placement courses are:

* A = 5 or 4.6
* B = 4 or 3.5
* C = 3 or 2.1
* D = 1
* F = 0

Sometimes the 5-based weighting scale is used for AP courses and the 4.6-based scale for honors courses, but often a school will choose one system and apply it universally to all advanced courses.

Source

 

[her209]

Is when one grade is weighed heavier than compared to another grade of the same letter.

 

[bhanson]

Surely there are not honors/AP level classes for everything. Wouldn't that discourage a student from taking anything but an advanced class in the interest of his or her GPA? That doesn't make sense. If they should take the class anyway, then that just retracts from the validity of GPA as a whole.

 

[KingofCamelot]

Originally posted by: bhanson
Surely there are not honors/AP level classes for everything. Wouldn't that discourage a student from taking anything but an advanced class in the interest of his or her GPA? That doesn't make sense. If they should take the class anyway, then that just retracts from the validity of GPA as a whole.

Why would it be a bad thing if someone only took advanced classes?

 

[Imdmn04]

If they do it like that, then they should make worthless classes like PE and Home EC not count for any GPA.

Getting a 4.0 GPA in PE should not have the same weight as getting 4.0 in MATH, AP or not.

 

[bhanson]

Originally posted by: KingofCamelot

Originally posted by: bhanson
Surely there are not honors/AP level classes for everything. Wouldn't that discourage a student from taking anything but an advanced class in the interest of his or her GPA? That doesn't make sense. If they should take the class anyway, then that just retracts from the validity of GPA as a whole.

Why would it be a bad thing if someone only took advanced classes?

Let me clarify.

Suppose a student is taking AP(X,Y,Z). If he or she just takes these classes, then the highest possible GPA is a 5.0 on a weighted scale. If he or she took AP(X,Y,Z) and a regular class, then the new highest possible GPA that student can achieve is a 4.75.

So with the addition of another class (adding workload), the validity of the their grades goes up, but the possibility of their GPA goes down.

 

[Reel]

Originally posted by: bhanson
Surely there are not honors/AP level classes for everything. Wouldn't that discourage a student from taking anything but an advanced class in the interest of his or her GPA? That doesn't make sense. If they should take the class anyway, then that just retracts from the validity of GPA as a whole.

At my school, the way they calculated bonus GPAs was (if you got an A or B) adding 2 points for every AP class and 1 point for every honors class. Then they divided it by some arbitrary number and added that to your unweighted GPA. In my year, I took an afterhours honors course and because of that I had the most bonus points in my graduating class and even though my unweighted GPA was not as high as many people in the rankings, I was near the top of my class. The two top students were decided by a fraction of a point because one too a higher level language that did not have AP at our school and the other could take an AP language.

The year after me, the valedictorian took every AP class she could find even those she had no aptitude in or skill. She was a gung-ho Korean that worked real hard while still finding time to be a top-level pianist and ballet dancer. She had so many bonus points that everyone else was no where close to her.

It is not uncommon with our weighting system to see students in the top have around a 6.0. My class max was probably 5.7. The IB program weights like an AP class so their GPAs are more like 7.0. It makes it really tough to compare the schools even within Miami. As a college applicant, one hopes that the colleges are truly capable of comparing the schools on an individual basis not the arbitrary weighting system offered by the schools.

 

[mugs]

"Weighted GPA" is a bit of a misnomer. All GPAs are "weighted" GPAs in that they are a weighted mean of the student's class grades (on a 4 point scale, weighted by credits). What is called a weighted GPA is more of an... increased GPA.

 

[Drakkon]

Originally posted by: bhanson

Originally posted by: KingofCamelot

Originally posted by: bhanson
Surely there are not honors/AP level classes for everything. Wouldn't that discourage a student from taking anything but an advanced class in the interest of his or her GPA? That doesn't make sense. If they should take the class anyway, then that just retracts from the validity of GPA as a whole.

Why would it be a bad thing if someone only took advanced classes?

Let me clarify.

Suppose a student is taking AP(X,Y,Z). If he or she just takes these classes, then the highest possible GPA is a 5.0 on a weighted scale. If he or she took AP(X,Y,Z) and a regular class, then the new highest possible GPA that student can achieve is a 4.75.

So with the addition of another class (adding workload), the validity of the their grades goes up, but the possibility of their GPA goes down.

but you have to remeber...the GPA isnt based around 1 semester alone...its a culmination of all semesters combined. you amy take more classes now but you mgiht only take a couple later. In the long run the validity of the grades balances out with your peers...onces that do take AP classess...and those that do not...thus putting your extra effort in play (so long as you do decent in the aP classess)

 

[bhanson]

Originally posted by: Drakkon

Originally posted by: bhanson

Originally posted by: KingofCamelot

Originally posted by: bhanson
Surely there are not honors/AP level classes for everything. Wouldn't that discourage a student from taking anything but an advanced class in the interest of his or her GPA? That doesn't make sense. If they should take the class anyway, then that just retracts from the validity of GPA as a whole.

Why would it be a bad thing if someone only took advanced classes?

Let me clarify.

Suppose a student is taking AP(X,Y,Z). If he or she just takes these classes, then the highest possible GPA is a 5.0 on a weighted scale. If he or she took AP(X,Y,Z) and a regular class, then the new highest possible GPA that student can achieve is a 4.75.

So with the addition of another class (adding workload), the validity of the their grades goes up, but the possibility of their GPA goes down.

but you have to remeber...the GPA isnt based around 1 semester alone...its a culmination of all semesters combined. you amy take more classes now but you mgiht only take a couple later. In the long run the validity of the grades balances out with your peers...onces that do take AP classess...and those that do not...thus putting your extra effort in play (so long as you do decent in the aP classess)

The same concept applies to your cumulative GPA. I suppose I can understand comparing AP to non-AP students, but what about comparing AP to AP students? The student who opted not to take that extra regular class could end up being valedictorian (or GPA based equivalent) over a student who took a greater load but did just as well.