Pre-PA students frequently worry about their GPA since it’s hard to make major progress. If it does, nevertheless, make you more competitive, then it is worth concentrating on. It is essential to comprehend the computations used by CASPA and the possible effects of adding more credits.
So how is GPA calculated by CASPA?
Every college-level course completed, including those retaken for grade replacement or averaging, is used by CASPA to compute GPAs. Standardization of the GPA Calculator computation ensures uniformity among candidates. Credits are added, multiplied by the grade numeric, and divided by the total number of credits tried to determine each category. The two primary categories are science GPA and cumulative GPA (cGPA) (sGPA).
- cGPA is the sum of all the college-level courses you have completed.
- sGPA is calculated using courses in biology/zoology, physics, organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, and biochemistry. (Excludes math, science, social science, and other non-science subjects.)
However, Caspa gpa calculator can help you easily calculate your gpa.
Should you retake a course?
The majority of schools demand a cGPA of 3.0 or higher; others have a 2.75 minimum.
The average cGPA for the incoming PA class of 2015 was 3.58, per the PAEA Matriculating Student Survey.
- Let’s examine the previous example one more. In this example, we’ll expand the transcript to reflect a 120-credit total and a 3.0 cGPA for the student. The total credits increase to 123 if the student retakes the chemistry course and receives an A rather than a D. Compute the 3.0 GPA (previous) x 120 credits + (new course) 3 credits x 4.0 GPA / (120 + 3) = 3.02.
- The calculation for the sGPA can be simplified to 3.23, given that 80 out of 120 total science credits apply to the sGPA, and an A in a chemistry course.
- Avoid repeating genetics courses to impress a PA program, as it costs money, time, and effort, and has minimal effect on sGPA or cGPA.
- Remember that programmes usually require prerequisite courses to be completed with a grade of B or C. It is therefore advisable to aim for at least Bs in these courses. However, that is not the same as deciding to retake a course in an attempt to raise your GPA.
- Enrolling in challenging classes can significantly increase your GPA, as demonstrated by taking an extra 28 credits and receiving all As, resulting in a new GPA of 3.19 cGPA.
- If your additional courses are mostly in the sciences and your previous course credits (the original 120 in this example) are not mostly in scientific courses, the influence on your sGPA may be greater than the cGPA.
- It’s critical that you consider the broad picture and determine whether enrolling in extra classes to prepare for your pre-PA exam would likely have a discernible effect on your GPA.
Retaking a non-essential course for the sole purpose of improving your GPA shouldn’t be motivated by feelings alone. Finding out if pursuing more credits is the right course of action won’t become clear until you’ve examined the data.
