How to Compute GWA (General Weighted Average) — Formula, Examples & Latin Honors Cut-offs

Your General Weighted Average decides scholarships, Dean's List, shifting, Latin honours and a lot of job applications — and people still compute it wrong by averaging grades as if every subject counted the same. Here is the formula, a worked example, how the 1.00–5.00 and 4.0 scales differ, and the honours cut-offs the big universities actually publish. The free GWA Calculator does the arithmetic.

The Formula

GWA = Σ(grade × units) ÷ Σ units. Multiply each subject's grade by its units (credit hours), add those products, and divide by the total units. A 5-unit subject therefore moves your GWA five times as much as a 1-unit one.

Worked Example (1.00–5.00 scale)

GWA = 27.00 ÷ 17 = 1.5882 → reported as 1.59. A plain average of the five grades would give 1.50 — different, and wrong for honours purposes.

Which Scale Are You On?

• 1.00–5.00 (UP, UST, PUP, most state universities): 1.00 is highest, 3.00 is usually passing, 4.00 conditional, 5.00 failed. Lower is better.
• 4.0 scales (DLSU CGPA, Ateneo QPI): 4.0 is highest, 1.0 passing, 0 failed. Higher is better.
• Percentages: some schools and most high schools. Convert with the percentage-to-GWA converter — typically 97–100 = 1.00, 94–96 = 1.25, 91–93 = 1.50, 88–90 = 1.75, 85–87 = 2.00, 82–84 = 2.25, 79–81 = 2.50, 76–78 = 2.75, 75 = 3.00, below 75 = 5.00.

Latin Honours Cut-offs

Sources: UP Diliman Faculty Manual (honours are the weighted average of all subjects including electives, with residency and unit rules), UST academic policies, DLSU Student Handbook, Ateneo QPI guidelines. PUP and other schools set their own cut-offs — check the student handbook. Pick your school in the calculator and it tells you which range you are in.

Common Mistakes

• Ignoring units. The whole point of "weighted".
• Including subjects your school excludes. Some schools leave NSTP or PE out of the honours GWA; check your handbook and set those units to 0 if so.
• Rounding too early. Keep the full decimals until the end; schools typically report two decimals but compare honours on the unrounded value.
• Mixing scales. Convert everything to one scale before averaging.
• Counting INC or dropped subjects. Incomplete grades have no numeric value until resolved.

Quick Reference

• GWA = Σ(grade × units) ÷ Σ units
• 1.00–5.00: lower is better, 3.00 passing · 4.0: higher is better, 1.0 passing
• UP honours: 1.20 / 1.45 / 1.75 · UST: 1.200 / 1.450 / 1.750 · DLSU: 3.8 / 3.6 / 3.4 (HM 3.2) · Ateneo: 3.87 / 3.70 / 3.50 (HM 3.35)