How to Read Your Grade Sheet

By the Toolbench team · Updated September 2026

The first grade sheet a student receives is often confusing, mostly because several related but distinct numbers appear together: grade points, credits, SGPA, and CGPA. Here is how they connect.

Grade point

Each course grade (A, B, C, and so on) maps to a numeric grade point on a fixed scale, commonly out of 10 or out of 4 depending on the institution. This number represents performance in that single course.

Credits

Each course also carries a credit value reflecting its weight or workload relative to other courses — a heavier lab-based course might carry more credits than a shorter elective. Credits are what let the system fairly combine grades from courses of different sizes.

SGPA: this semester's average

Semester Grade Point Average multiplies each course's grade point by its credits, adds those up, and divides by the total credits for that semester. This produces a single weighted number representing the semester as a whole, rather than a simple average of grades.

CGPA: the running average

Cumulative Grade Point Average performs the same weighted calculation, but across every semester completed so far rather than just one. It updates each time a new semester's results are added, and it is what most institutions and recruiters look at as the overall academic summary.

Why this design makes sense

Weighting by credits ensures that a strong result in a light 2-credit elective does not carry the same influence as a strong result in a heavy 6-credit core course, which more fairly reflects the actual academic workload behind each grade.

Calculate your own

Use the GPA Calculator for a single semester, or the CGPA Calculator to combine several semesters into your cumulative score.