The cumulative grade point average is every graded course taken at an institution, weighted by credit hours. It is the number an employer, a graduate school and an honours committee read, and it behaves differently from a term average in one important way: the denominator only grows, so the same effort moves it less every term.
What it includes
Graded courses taken at the institution, weighted by their credit hours. Marks with no grade point and no credit hours, such as pass, withdrawal and audit, are usually excluded entirely rather than counted as zero. A failure is the exception: no grade points and the credit hours still counted, which is why one failed three-credit course moves the figure further than one excellent one.
What changes it most
Two registrar policies rather than any single grade. Whether a repeated course replaces the original or is averaged with it, and whether transfer credit counts toward the average as well as toward the degree. Both are published on the registrar's pages, both differ between institutions, and both are worth reading before planning a recovery or an honours run.
Why it slows down
After 60 credit hours at 3.20, a further 15 credit hours of straight A grades produces about 3.36. The same 15 credit hours at the start would have produced 4.0. That is the arithmetic of a weighted mean rather than a rule anyone chose, and it is the reason honours candidates watch the figure from the second year rather than the last.
Questions people ask about cumlative gpa
What does cumulative GPA include?
Every graded course taken at the institution, weighted by credit hours. Pass, withdrawal and audit marks usually carry no grade points and no credit hours, so they leave it untouched.
Do repeats change it?
Considerably, where the institution replaces the original grade rather than averaging it. That policy is on the registrar's page and it is the largest lever most students have.
Why is it so hard to raise later on?
Because the denominator grows with every term. A strong term early sets the figure; a strong term late adjusts it by hundredths.