What are Credit Hours in CGPA?
Credit Hours is simply the amount of time a student spends in class activities for a subject during a week. Typically, one credit hour corresponds to one hour of lecture per week. But that does not completely define it. It is actually the weightage a subject carries in grading. Major subjects carry more weightage and more credit hours than minor subjects.
So, it is important to keep it in mind while setting your study schedule. The more credit hours a course has, the more it impacts your CGPA. Courses that include labs, seminars, or practical might have different credit hour allocations.
Credit Hours Assigned to Each Grade on Different Grading Scales
The relationship between credit hours and grades significantly influences the calculation of CGPA. Here’s how credit hours typically align with grades on different scales:
Concept of Credit Hours in CGPA Calculation
To calculate CGPA, you need to multiply the grade points by the credit hours for each course. Add all the points and divide by the number of credit hours. Credit hours ensure that major courses, which typically have higher credit hours, have a proportionate influence on the CGPA. This makes CGPA a weighted average, rather than a simple arithmetic mean of grades.
Example: Calculating CGPA with Credit Hours
Let’s calculate CGPA for a student who has completed five courses with the following grades and credit hours:
| Course | Grade | Grade Points | Credit Hours | Total Points (Grade Points × Credit Hours) |
| Mathematics | A | 4.0 | 3 | 12.0 |
| English | B | 3.0 | 2 | 6.0 |
| Chemistry | A- | 3.7 | 4 | 14.8 |
| History | B+ | 3.3 | 3 | 9.9 |
| Physics | C+ | 2.3 | 3 | 6.9 |
| Total | 15 | 49.6 |
Now, the CGPA is calculated as:
CGPA = (49.6 Total Points) / (15 Total Credit Hours)
= 3.31
| Notes: Credit Hours: Credit hours represent the number of hours spent in class per week. The total credit hours determine the weight of the grade in calculating the CGPA. Grade Points (GPA): This is typically the value assigned to a specific grade (e.g., A = 4.0, B = 3.0, etc.). CGPA Calculation: CGPA is calculated by averaging the grade points weighted by the credit hours for all courses taken. |
Conclusion
As a university student, you should have a clear idea about the difference between grading systems. CGPA is the summary of academic performance, while grade points and credit hours are the factors influencing it. This makes CGPA an important factor in academic assessments, university admissions, job applications, and scholarships. Also, some job requirements need you to provide your academic performance in percentage scores. For that purpose, you may need to convert your CGPA to Percentage using our tool.