With the introduction of Choice Based Credit System (CBCS), the marksheet presented to us contain our marks in seemingly encrypted forms. When I came across my result in Semester I, I had no clue what these so-called¬†’credits’ represented!
What exactly is a credit?
As per the UGC, a credit is a unit in which course work is measured. I’ll make it simpler: a credit is a unit of time (hours generally). Thus, if a subject has 2 credits, it means that it requires two hours of teaching per week. Thus, credits basically determine the number of hours of instructions required per week.
The case is a little different with subjects that also include practicals. In that respect, one credit is equivalent to one hour of teaching and two hours of practical per week. Consider the following sample marksheet:
[table id=26 /]
As you can see, the 3 core courses have 6 credits each. This generally means that each course would require 4 hours of theory (4 credits) and 4 hours of practical (2 credits) per week.
Just next to the credit column is present the Grade letter column. It is the same as you had in the CCE system: it is simply a key to the marks obtained. The Grade Point is a number allotted to each grade letter. Thus O is the best grade in a paper, equivalent to 10 Grade points.
The Credit Point is Grade Point multiplied by Credits. For example in the Biodiversity paper (6 credits) in the table above, the Grade point is 7. Thus, Credit Point will be 6×7=42.
CALCULATING SGPA
[table id=28 /]
To calculate SGPA, the Total Credit Points are divided by the Total Credits. For example, in the above table, the SGPA is 162/22= 7.36.
The CGPA is simply an average of the SGPAs.
The University Grants Commission guidelines for the adoption of the Choice Based Credit System can be downloaded from here.
I hope that next time when you see your results, you know what those figures actually represent. If you have any query, feel free to drop them in the comments section below!
