<p>I understand how to calculate GPA at the end of a school year, when courses have been completed and final grades have been earned. But how is the mid-year GPA typically calculated? </p>
<p>Should the student's first-semester grades in year-long courses be factored into the GPA that appears on the mid-year report to colleges, even though no credit will be awarded until the full course is complete?</p>
<p>Are these half-completed courses weighted at one-half their full value and then figured into the GPA? Are they weighted at full value even though they are only half complete? Is it better simply to show the midterm grades on the transcript but not calculate any change in GPA until the courses have been completed?</p>
<p>If anyone has already been through this, I'd be interested to hear how you handled it.</p>
<p>I broke each year on the transcript down into semesters. I did it this way initially because that’s how our virtual school did it. I generally calculated a new GPA and assigned credit whenever the semester work was finished. The semester based transcript worked well when I needed to fit community college courses on–they were all one semester with either 1/2 or 1 high school credit. In cases when a semester was not complete and I needed to send a transcript, I did not assign credit or a grade on the transcript. I had only an IP (In Progress) note in the grade spot. However, as I said above, I did update the cumulative GPA each time credit and a grade were assigned.</p>
<p>On my son’s transcript, I have the senior year broken into three categories – first-semester dual-enrollment courses, second-semester dual-enrollment courses, and full-year courses.</p>
<p>The dual-enrollment classes are easy to handle. For the mid-year report, the first-semester courses will be finished, so those grades will go into the GPA. The second-semester courses won’t even have started, so those won’t have any grades to report.</p>
<p>It’s the full-year courses that raise questions for me. I suppose the schools want to see grades in these classes for the first semester. That would seem to be the entire point of asking for a mid-year report. Okay, so I can show the grades earned so far in each of those classes. No problem there.</p>
<p>I just don’t know how (or whether) to reflect those grades in the overall GPA. These are not the type of courses where you take one semester and get a half-credit and then take the other semester and get the other half-credit. It’s all or nothing. Therefore, zero credits will have been awarded for them.</p>
<p>Maybe the thing to do is to show the first-semester grades on the transcript but just not calculate these grades into the GPA at all, since the credits are not complete.</p>
<p>My son took Calc BC this year as a full year course from an online school. I remember worrying about the same thing, especially when he didn’t take the semester exam until mid January. While most of his first semester coursework had been completed by the time I had to send in his first transcript (with the original paperwork), the Calc BC was sitting on the transcript minus a grade or credit; it was marked as an IP course. I worked with his teacher to get a grade to put on our master transcript for the mid-year report. Assigning a mid-year grade wasn’t something they normally did, but they were very homeschool friendly and willing to help me assign a semester grade. Anyway, I did calculate the GPA and credit count, minus that Calc BC grade the first time, but was able to add it in for the mid-term report. </p>
<p>I think, as you suggest, you’d be okay to show the first semester grade without re-calculating the GPA and credit total for those courses until they were completed. On the other hand, if you are comfortable assigning a grade, then you should be able to factor it into the GPA. At any rate, I suspect the most important part of the senior high school year on the transcript is showing colleges that the student is taking the most demanding coursework available and not slacking off.</p>