Comparison of Final Average Method and the Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) Method

Abstract

The Quality Assurance and Accreditation Council has proposed a common credit and qualification framework for Sri Lankan University system in order to maintain the consistency and comparability of university level qualifications, and to promote student mobility by creating more flexible arrangements for students learning. To minimize the drastic variations, all degree programmes were categorized in to six and the framework reworded for each. This study only focuses on the framework developed for Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences degree programmes. This study was mainly based on generated data. The marks of students were generated from a multivariate normal distribution to accommodate the correlation of the marks. Marks of thousand students for fourty subjects were generated using Minitab 14 and then they were converted into grade points. Final results, (class/pass) obtained under Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) method and final average method were then compared. The reason behind using hypothetical data instead of having actual data was the inability of obtaining actual results data. The research findings illustrate the inefficiency of the proposed new method as it always underestimates performance of students, relative to the existing final average method of deciding on final class/pass of student. The cut-off CGPA values were redefined so as to maintain consistency with existing method of Final Average.