Academic Information

Academic Model

There are two semesters each year at AUS-fall and spring-and a summer session. Fall semesters usually start in September, spring in late January or early February, and the summer sessions in early June. Most undergraduate degree programs are completed within four to five years depending on the credit load taken each semester. Each semester is normally 15 weeks long and the summer session is five weeks long.

Credit Hours

A course is measured by its credit hours. Each credit hour is the number of hours you are in class per week during a semester. If a course is three credits, it converts to three hours of class time per week for that course. This may differ slightly in case of labs and studio courses.

Each degree plan has a certain number of credits you need to complete in order to graduate. See the catalog for details on your degree program. The number of credits assigned to each course are used in the calculation of your grade point average.

How Grades are Calculated

Grade Point Average (GPA)

The GPA is based on a four-point scale. The minimum passing grade for any course taken at AUS is C-. The following system is used at AUS:

Grades not calculated in the grade point average are:

Quality Points

The quality points earned in a course are calculated by multiplying the grade point value of the letter grade by the number of credits the course is worth.

Example:
Course 1: 3 credit hours, obtained grade is A (4.00), quality points: 3x4= 12
Course 2: 4 credit hours, obtained grade is B (3.00), quality points: 4x3= 12
Course 3: 3 credit hours, obtained grade is C+ (2.30), quality points: 3x2.30= 6.90
Course 4: 3 credit hours, obtained grade is F (0.00), quality points: 3x0.00= 0.00
Total attempted credits: 3 + 4 + 3 + 3 = 13
Total quality points: 12 + 12 + 6.90 + 0.00 = 30.90

Semester Grade Point Average (SGPA)

The semester GPA is used to calculate your standing each semester. It is calculated by dividing the sum of the quality points of courses taken in a particular semester by the total number of credits of the courses taken in that same semester.

SGPA=sum (quality points of courses taken in semester X)/sum (credit hours of courses taken in semester X)

Using the example above, the SGPA will be 30.90/13 = 2.37.

Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA)

The cumulative GPA (CGPA) is a calculation of your cumulative average starting at the end of the second semester and every semester thereafter. It is calculated by dividing the sum of the quality points of courses taken in all semesters by the total number of credits of all courses taken in all semesters.

CGPA=sum (quality points of courses taken in all semesters)/sum (credit hours of courses taken in all semesters)

An undergraduate student's academic standing is determined by his/her CGPA.

Academic Probation

An undergraduate student must maintain a CGPA of 2.00 to be considered in good academic standing. The same condition applies to be eligible for graduation. If the CGPA of an undergraduate student falls below 2.00 in any semester, then he/she is placed on academic probation. An undergraduate student who fails to remove his/her probation by the end of the second consecutive semester on probation is academically dismissed and will not be allowed to continue at AUS.

To find out more, click here.