How To Calculate CGP and CGPA In Nigerian Universities

This article will explain in details how to calculate CGP and CGPA in Nigerian Universities. Are you currently a Varsity student? Would you like to know how to calculate your CGP and CGPA?

Our interactions with most students show that most of them do not know nor understand how their class of degree come about not until final year, this is very disheartening.

Knowing how to calculate your CGP and CGPA enables you to know whether you are going to graduate with a first class, second class upper, second class lower, third class, pass or certificate of attendance, as in the case of the university graduates.

Every student who successfully gain admission into the higher institution hopes to come out with a very good degree, in line with this, we would like to point you to a tool that can guide you to achieving your dream.

Firstly we would like let you have an understanding of what CGP and CGPA stands for respectively, in every academic calendar, there is a session and there is a semester, there are two semesters in a session, the first semester and the second semester, a session comes to an end at the end of the second semester, where you move from year one to year two as the case may be.

CGP is used for a semester while CGPA is used at the end of a session, CGP stands for CUMULATIVE GRADE POINT, on the other hand, CGPA stands for CUMULATIVE GRADE POINT AVERAGE.

 

Effective Ways to Boost Your CGPA in Nigerian Universities

As we all know, students in tertiary institutions especially universities are evaluated using the Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA).

This system measures academic performance over time and serves as a key determinant for the class of degree a student eventually earns.

It is often observed that the foundation of a strong CGPA is laid in the early stages of university life, particularly at the 100 and 200 levels.

At these levels, academic workloads are generally less demanding compared to the more rigorous requirements of the 300 and 400 levels (and even 500 level for certain specialized programs).

Therefore, students who perform exceptionally well early on are better positioned to maintain a high CGPA throughout their academic journey.

As a student, several important factors contribute to achieving an outstanding CGPA, one that can secure a First Class or at least a Second Class Upper Division. These include:

1. Diligence: Success requires consistent effort. Attending lectures, completing assignments on time, and engaging in regular study habits are essential. Hard work remains one of the strongest predictors of academic excellence.
2. Discipline: Self-control and time management are crucial. Avoiding distractions, maintaining a study schedule, and prioritizing academic responsibilities over less important activities will significantly improve performance.
3. Ability to Identify Academic Weaknesses: Recognizing areas of difficulty allows you to seek help early whether through lecturers, classmates, or additional resources. Addressing weaknesses promptly prevents them from affecting your overall results.
4. Participation in Extra Classes: Attending tutorials, revision sessions, or private coaching can deepen your understanding of complex topics and give you an academic edge.
5. Clear Goals and Focus: Setting specific academic goals keeps you motivated and driven. When you remain focused on achieving a high CGPA, your actions naturally align with that objective.

Therefore, building and maintaining a strong CGPA is not accidental, it requires intentional effort, discipline, and strategic planning. By taking advantage of the early years and developing the right habits, any student can achieve academic excellence.

 

How To Calculate CGP and CGPA In Nigerian Universities

Now, the school system uses the CGP and CGPA to determine what class of degree you graduate with at the end of your course of study in the higher institution.

How To Calculate CGP

The two important parameters used in the calculation of CGP is the credit unit and grades,

The grading system ranges from A, B, C, D, E and F, if you score an A in a course, you have made 5 points, B is 4 points, C is 3 points, D is 2 points, E is 1 point and F is 0(zero) point. At the beginning of academic any session, you are allotted with a number of courses for the semester, each of the courses has what is called a credit unit or credit load, now, credit unit simply means the number of hours a course is taken per week, it could be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 respectively.

Your CGP is calculated based on the categories of grades you obtain as well as the credit load of the courses you have undertaken for the semester, now, once the results of your examination are released, and you have seen all your grades, we are going to give an example down where you can easily follow and calculate your CGP.

How To Calculate CGP and CGPA In Nigerian Universities

See example below:

Take for instance if you are offering five courses and your scores are as laid down below;

Courses                     Grade     Point     Credit unit     Total points

Maths 101                         A            5            3              15

Use of English                 B            4            2              8

Philosophy and logic     A             5            5             25

History of science          C            3            1              3

Intro to Economics        D            2            4              8  Total 59

now, let’s explain the above before I finally give you the CGP for the scores obtained.

The simplest formula for calculating CGP is;

total points obtained divided by the total credit unit

like in the example above, the total point is gotten by multiplying the credit unit of the course by the grade point obtained in the course,

for Maths 1101, total point(15) = grade point(5)*credit unit(3)

now, sum up all the credit load of all the courses, do the same with all the grade points of the five courses,

u can see from the above, total credit units=15 and total points obtained =59.

your CGP =total points obtained/total credit units

therefore, 59/15=3.93 approximately.

here CPG =3.93

If this was your CGP, I would say a big congratulations to you, but that is not all of it, I did mentioned earlier on that the CGP is mainly used per semester.

Now this is how to calculate CGP and CGPA in Nigerian Universities,

We told you CGPA means CUMULATIVE GRADE POINT AVERAGE, this is obtained by taking the average of your CGP of both first and second semester, that is adding the CGP of your first and second semester and dividing by two, and usually used at the end of an academic session, which in turn determine if you are making positive progress in your academic carrier or not.

From the calculation above, if you had made 3.93 in first semester and equally make same in your second semester,

Let me drop this guide first before I calculate the CGPA, your CGPA helps you know your class of degree. for the university system for a student to make a first class, he or she must have obtained a CGPA of 4.5 and above, for a second class upper the student must have obtained a CGPA between 3.5-4.49, second class lower ranges from 2.5-3.49, third class ranges from 1.5-2.49, if you score from 0.99-1.49 you will be graduating with a Pass degree.

Let us now show you how to calculate the CGPA from the scores we obtained above,

CGPA=CGP(First semester)+CGP(Second semester)/2

CGPA =3.93+3.93/2, 7.86/2=3.93

From the above calculation, you discover that you have obtained at the end of the session a CUMMULATIVE GRADE POINT AVERAGE of 3.93 which automatically place you on a second class upper division, that means if you were a final year student, you are going to be graduating with a second class honours, upper division, some students who would want to graduate with a first class would never be satisfied with 3.93 as a CGPA, so that is the essence of knowing how to calculate your CGP and CGPA to enable you sit up.

Moreover, we would not have you ignorance of this, it is in the place of the examination officer to calculate the CGP and CGPA but it is pertinent that you also calculate your CGP/CGPA yourself because there is every tendency your examination officer may make a mistake thereby denying you of your earned class of degree.

We hope this piece was helpful to you and will enlighten you on how to calculate CGP and CGPA in Nigerian Universities.