Most university students I know are very concerned with their GPA. In fact, ultra concerned. To the motivated student, and especially for those who plan to further their education, the Grade Point Average is the holy grail which needs to be upheld at all costs.

However, does the GPA really say anything about a student’s academic abilities?

Let’s take a look.

In the tertiary education world, there are general 2 types of universities. One type grades students based on their academic performance according to a well defined set of performance criteria.  For example, “a student will be granted an ‘A’ if the student demonstrates outstanding understanding and application of the concepts within this course. The student’s score should typically fall within the range of 85 and above.”

In simple terms, here are the standards for this course, and your grades depends on your achieving the standards. Your grades are criterion-referenced, so to speak.

The other type of university grades students based on their relative performance within the cohort.  This means that there are no standards drawn out for the grading but an arbitrary bell-curve (i.e. statistical normal distribution) percentage is used.

In simple terms, a certain percentage of the cohort of students taking a course is allocated for each grade. Example, the top 10% will be given an “A”, the next 40% a “B”, the next  20% a “C”, the next 20% a “D”, and the remaining will be given an “F”.

With such a relative grading scheme, you may still get an “A” even if you scored 60/100 overall as long as your score is within the top 10% of your class. This means that your grade is given to you IN COMPARISON to your classmates. It effectively does not care about what you are really capable of since there is no independent standard drawn out. In other words, your grades are curve-referenced.

In the current tertiary education world, there are VERY FEW universities progressive enough to be criterion-referenced. Most universities are curve-referenced.

What does this mean, then?

It means that the GPA you scored in a curve-referenced university has no bearing whatsoever on your actual performance as it indicates only how you performed compared to your classmates. Simply put, you may score an “A” (i.e. GPA 4.0)  but all that means is that you scored better than 90% of your class. It does not say, at all, how well you have achieved the learning objectives of the course.

Curve-reference exhibits the big-fish-in-small-pond phenomenon. It’s just like me owning a motorbike in a village where most others are using bicycles and that makes me rich.

So, my point is this: GPA in a curve-reference university doesn’t really mean much. This is why although the same term (i.e. GPA) is used throughout the world, they are not equal.

The next time you apply for university, make sure you check whether their grading system is criterion-referenced or curve-referenced.