METU Course Credit

Like all other departments, department of physics also uses a credit system in almost all courses. The credit of an individual course is calculated by adding the weekly theoretical class hours with half of the any applied, laboratory and/or internship work hours together. In example, if the course has 3 hours of theoretical and 2 hours of laboratory work per week, the total credit is 3 + 2/2 = 4. However, for some courses like Turkish and Turkish History, this method can not be applied because these courses are mandatory, non-credit course.

After the semester has been finished, two different averages will be calculated as GPA(Grand Point Average) and CGPA(Cumulative GPA) which GPA represents a specific semester and CGPA represents your whole academic performance. If your CGPAs are below 2,00 in two consecutive semesters, you are qualified as Probation student. The student with probation can not attend to any new courses, for example the courses for next semester. These students are expected to take the failed courses from before. However, the student can change a failed elective course with another elective course from the curriculum by the approval of the student’s consultant. Nevertheless, it is not possible to take the courses which have been withdrawn. After having a CGPA greater than 2.00, the probation status will be removed.

Letter Grades and Points

Letter Grade	Coefficient	Score Intervals
AA	4,00	90-100
BA	3,50	85-89
BB	3,00	80-84
CB	2,50	75-79
CC	2,00	70-74
DC	1,50	65-69
DD	1,00	60-64
FD	0,50	50-59
FF	0,00	0-49
NA	0,00	–

Both NA’s and FF’s coefficient is equal to 0. However, the difference between NA and FF is that NA represents that the student was not fulfilling the obligations like attending to the class or/and attending to the exams while FF just means that the student was not successful. The letter grade NA is not well-seen amongst professors. Moreover, the students who got FF are more priotised by the course selection system, that means if a course is reopened the system will firstly select the students who got FF. In short, if you have an NA, you may not able to select a course within a specific time, classroom/seminar room, or most important the course itself.

Letter Grade	Standing
S	Successful
U	Unsuccessful
EX	Exempt
I	Incomplete
W	Withdrawn

Standings

The letter grade “S (Successful) and U (Unsuccessful)” are used in courses which do not have any credits like Turkish and Turkish History.

“EX” means that you are exempted from that course, for example if you passed a proficiency exam for IS100 you are exempted from that course.

“I” stands for “Incomplete Grade”. This means that the instructor of that course has not finalized your grade yet. “I” also affects your grades as like FF does (the coefficiency is 0). If the instructor does not finalize your grade until the date which is stated in the academic curriculum, the letter grade “I” will be changed with FF or U (U is for classes without credits like Turkish and Turkish History). However, this case is rare, most instructors finalizes the grades in time.

“W” stands for “Withdraw”. It is possible to withdraw from a course until the 10th week, which is around after the first midterm. This option is generally used for a course that you think is not passable. However, this option is limited by a certain factors and times of use. It is not possible to withdraw from a course in the first two semesters. After the 2nd semester, it is only allowed to use it once every semester. That means you can only withdraw from a course once per semester between 3rd and 8th semester, in total six times. Moreover, it is not possible to withdraw from a course that you have got a letter grade before or withdrawn before.

A withdrawn course will not affect your transcript, but, the course will be marked as “W” in your transcript. It is also not possible to withdraw from a creditless or NI course.

How is GPA and CGPA Calculated?

The GPA is calculated by dividing the total point with the total credit amount of that semester. However, with CGPA, all semesters are used instead of a individual semester. In example:

Let’s imagine  grades like in table below(Table 3) for the 1st semester.

Courses	Course Credits	Letter Grades	Coefficients
Phys109	5	BA	3.5
Phys107	2	BB	3.0
Math117	5	CB	2.5
Chem101	5	DD	1.0
Eng101	4	BB	3.0
OHS101	0	S	–

Total Credit Point = Course Credit * Coefficiency of the Letter Grade = 5*3.5 + 2*3.0 + 5*2.5 + 5*1.0 + 4*3.0 = 53

Total Credit Amount = 5 + 2 + 5 + 5 + 4 + 0 = 21

GPA = 53/21 = 2.52

CGPA = 53/21 = 2.52 (keep in mind that the student is finishing the first semester)

After the 1st semester, let’s consider a transcript for the 2nd semester as below (table 4).

Courses	Course Credits	Letter Grades	Coefficients
Phys110	5	AA	4.0
Phys108	2	CB	2.5
Math118	5	AA	4.0
Chem102	5	CC	2.0
Eng102	4	BB	3.0
IS100	0	S	–

Total Credit Point = Course Credit * Coefficiency of the Letter Grade = 5*4.0 + 2*2.5 + 5*4.0 + 5*2.0 + 4*3.0 = 67

Total Credit Amount = 5 + 2 + 5 + 5 + 4 + 0 = 21

GPA = 67/21 = 3.19

CGPA = (53 + 67)/(21 + 21) = 2.86

After these calculations, we find that the CGPA is 2.86. While GPA is for specific semesters, CGPA represents the whole academic success for all semesters. Therefore, CGPA will be used for any applications after graduation. However, if your GPA for specific semester is higher than 3.00, you will granted a “Honor Student” status for that semester. Moreover, if your GPA is higher than 3.50, you will granted a “High Honor Student” status for that semester.

For more information in this topic, checkout the link given below. It is recommended to read it once(more specifically the 2nd and 3rd chapter). Getting informed about your rights and options will prevent any encountable problems.

Sources:

Middle East Technical University Rules and Regulations Governing Undergraduate Studies