GPA and WAM in Australia: how each one is calculated

Short answer first: a WAM is a weighted average of your marks out of 100, and a GPA is a weighted average of grade values on a 4.0 or a 1 to 7 scale. Melbourne, UNSW, Sydney and Macquarie publish a WAM. Monash publishes a GPA on 4.0, and UQ and Adelaide University on 7. Every published formula weights each result by the credit points of the unit, so a 25 point subject counts double a 12.5 point one. Fails count, credited units usually do not, and the number that matters is whichever one the thing you are applying for asks for.

Every formula below is taken from the university that publishes it. Yours may use different words for a unit, a course or a subject, and the arithmetic is still the same shape. Read your own university's page before you quote a number to anyone.

What is the difference between a GPA and a WAM?

A WAM keeps your marks. A GPA converts each mark to a band first, then averages the bands. That one step is where the two numbers part company, and it is the reason a student can look better on one scale than the other. If you are still working out what the grades themselves mean, how assessment works at an Australian university covers the bands and the pass marks.

• A WAM is a mark out of 100. Macquarie, which replaced its GPA with a WAM from 2020, puts the case for it in one line: a mark anywhere within 50 to 64 gives you a P, and in a GPA calculation everyone who falls into that range is given the same value. A WAM keeps the 64 and the 50 apart.
• A GPA is an average of grade values. Monash assigns 4.0 to a High Distinction, 3.0 to a Distinction, 2.0 to a Credit and 1.0 to a Pass, then averages those numbers rather than your marks.
• The scales are not comparable by eye. A GPA of 4.0 is a perfect score at Monash and a plain Pass at Adelaide University, where a High Distinction is worth 7.
• Some universities publish both. Adelaide University's grading procedure sets out a GPA formula and a WAM formula side by side, on the same set of course units.

So when an application asks for a number, it is asking for one specific number defined by one specific institution. Sending the other one, or converting it yourself, is how people end up disqualified on a technicality.

How is a WAM calculated at Melbourne, UNSW and Sydney?

All three publish the formula, and all three weight by credit points.

• Melbourne. The WAM is the sum of mark times credit points for subjects, divided by the sum of total credit points for subjects. The university spells out the consequence: a subject worth 25 points is weighted double a 12.5 point subject. Its own example takes 76 and 67 in two 12.5 point subjects and 81 in a 37.5 point subject, which gives 4825 divided by 62.5, a WAM of 77.200.
• UNSW. The formula is the sum of MU divided by the sum of U, where M is the mark received in a course and U is the units of credit. UNSW's worked example takes marks of 80, 81 and 82 in 6 unit courses and 83 and 84 in 3 unit courses, and arrives at 81.625. UNSW keeps three versions: a term WAM from a single term, a cumulative WAM across the program, and a faculty WAM used to decide eligibility for a University Medal.
• Sydney. Each mark is weighted according to the unit's credit point value and, in some cases, the level of study. Sydney also names several averages that are not the plain WAM: an Annual Average Mark for one year, a Semester Average Mark for one semester, and a CSAM calculated over the block of time it takes to complete at least 48 credit points.

The practical point is that credit points, not the number of units, decide how much a result moves the average. A 12 point capstone and a 6 point elective are not the same event.

A worked example you can run on your own transcript

Take four units of 6 credit points each, with marks of 78, 64, 55 and 81. Multiply each mark by 6, add them, and divide by 24 credit points. That is 1668 divided by 24, a WAM of 69.5.

Now replace the 55 with a fail of 42. The marks add to 265 instead of 278, so the WAM is 1590 divided by 24, or 66.25. One failed unit in a set of four has cost 3.25 marks. That is the number to hold on to when you are deciding whether to sit a unit you are behind in or withdraw from it before the census date.

How is a GPA calculated at Monash, UQ and Adelaide University?

The shape is identical. Only the grade values change.

• Monash, on four points. The formula is the sum of grade value times unit credit points, divided by the sum of unit credit points, calculated to three decimal places. The grade values are High Distinction 4.0, Distinction 3.0, Credit 2.0, Pass 1.0, near pass 0.7, fail 0.3, hurdle fail 0.3 and withdrawn fail 0.0. Monash's published example works out to 229.80 divided by 78, a GPA of 2.946.
• UQ, on seven points. The Assessment Procedure defines the GPA as the average of the grade of results obtained in all courses, weighted by the unit value of each course, written as the sum of grade times unit value over the sum of unit values. If you are enrolled in a course and get no result, the grade counts as 0.
• Adelaide University, on seven points. The grading procedure gives a High Distinction of 85 to 100 a grade point of 7, a Distinction of 75 to 84 a 6, a Credit of 65 to 74 a 5 and a Pass of 50 to 64 a 4. A fail is 1.5. The GPA is the sum of course grade points times course units over the sum of course units, and the WAM is the same calculation with the percentage in place of the grade point.

Running the four point and seven point scales by hand

Five Monash units of 6 credit points each, graded High Distinction, Distinction, Credit, Pass and fail, give grade values of 4.0, 3.0, 2.0, 1.0 and 0.3. Those add to 10.3, multiplied by 6 credit points each is 61.8, divided by 30 credit points is a GPA of 2.060.

At UQ, two courses worth 2 units graded 6 and 5, plus two courses worth 1 unit graded 7 and 4, give 12 plus 10 plus 7 plus 4, or 33, over 6 units. The GPA is 5.5. Note what the single 1 unit course graded 7 is worth against a 2 unit course: half as much.

Which universities publish what, and how is it rounded?

The rounding is published too, and not in your favour. Melbourne calculates the WAM to three decimal places and Monash calculates its GPA to three decimal places. Adelaide University truncates GPAs and WAMs to two decimal points when published, so a 6.799 is shown as 6.79 rather than rounded up to 6.80. UAC usually takes its standardised GPA to two decimal places.

Quote the number your transcript or student portal shows, digit for digit. A cut-off of 65 means 65, and a 64.98 that you have rounded yourself is still a 64.98 to the person reading the application.

Does a failed unit sink the average?

It counts, but the size of the damage depends on the scale. On a WAM, a fail is whatever mark you actually got, so a 48 costs much less than a 20. Melbourne states directly that the percentage mark obtained for a failed subject contributes towards the WAM. Sydney tells you to include the marks for the failed attempts and the mark if you retake the unit and pass, so a repeat does not erase the first attempt.

On a GPA, the fail is flattened to one value. Monash scores any fail at 0.3 out of 4.0 regardless of whether you missed by one mark or thirty, and UQ counts a non-graded fail as a grade of 2. UNSW sits in between, because it uses nominal marks for results recorded without a number: a fail is scored at 25, a Pass at 55, a Credit at 70, a Distinction at 80 and a High Distinction at 90.

Repeated fails also have a second life outside the average. They are the usual trigger for a progress review, which is the subject of academic probation and show cause in Australia.

Do credited and cross-institutional units count?

Mostly not, and this catches transfer students every year.

• Melbourne excludes subjects with no recorded mark, subjects marked pass or fail only, subjects with a withdrawn status, and any subject you were awarded advanced standing for at another institution.
• UNSW does not include marks for courses completed at other institutions, because the grading systems differ. Since Semester 1 2016, transfer credit for courses you completed at UNSW under a different program does count towards the new program's WAM.
• Sydney excludes units credited from another institution and units completed on exchange or study abroad, along with any result recorded as a grade with no mark. Units you received specific credit for that carry a mark are included.
• Adelaide University calculates from courses that have been completed with a grade recorded and were enrolled in under the relevant program, and states that non-graded courses do not contribute at all.

If half your degree is credited in, the average is built on the other half. That is worth knowing before you assume a strong first year elsewhere is protecting you.

Does the level of a unit change its weight?

Usually not in the headline number, and always check before you assume.

Sydney is the clearest case of the exception: it says each mark is weighted according to the unit's credit point value and, in some cases, the level of study, and names the Engineering Integrated Honours Weighted Average Mark as a faculty calculation that applies a weighting to units depending on their level of study. UNSW says each faculty has its own method of calculating a faculty WAM for honours, medals and other recognitions, and tells you to contact the faculty. Those faculty numbers are the ones that decide an honours class, which the honours year in Australia sets out school by school.

At the other end, the Universities Admissions Centre states that weightings are not applied to a subject based on its level, so an introductory and an advanced subject of the same credit value are treated as equal. Your third year results are not automatically worth more than your first year results.

Where does your GPA or WAM actually get used?

Honours entry, postgraduate entry, scholarships and graduate programs, and they do not all want the same number.

• Honours entry. Schools set their own threshold, usually on a subject-specific average rather than your whole transcript.
• Postgraduate entry. For courses processed through the Universities Admissions Centre, UAC converts grades into numerical values and calculates a standardised GPA on a 7 point scale, where 7 is the highest and 0 the lowest, so it can compare applicants from different universities. Academic fail grades are assigned a value of 0 and a load value, and are always included, even if they do not appear on the transcript UAC receives. A combined degree such as an Arts and Law double is treated as one qualification with one GPA.
• Scholarships and medals. UNSW's faculty WAM exists specifically to decide eligibility for a University Medal.
• Graduate programs and employers. Melbourne notes that the WAM is sometimes used to assess applications for further study, employment and scholarships, and tells you to ask the organisation whether it uses one.

Before you quote a number in an application

Read the criteria for the word, not the concept. If it says WAM, a GPA will not do. Monash will convert an outside GPA to its own four point scale with its calculator, but tells you to contact the other institution if you want your Monash GPA converted the other way, and UNSW says plainly that because it does not use a GPA system it cannot help you calculate one. Nobody will do the conversion on your behalf mid-application.

Which number should you be working on?

Neither, directly. Both are outputs. What you can move is the mark in the unit with the most credit points that you are currently behind in, and the surest way to move it is to be tested on the material every week instead of reading it again. Active recall is the mechanism, and the credit point weighting tells you where to point it first.

Two hours a week of self-testing in a 25 point subject is worth more to a WAM than the same two hours in a 6 point elective, purely because of the arithmetic above. Work out the weights once at the start of semester, write them on the same page as your assessment dates, and let the formula decide where the time goes.

Where Notibo fits

The weekly testing is the part that slips first. Notibo records a lecture on your computer, or takes an audio file you upload, and returns a transcript, structured notes and flashcards with spaced repetition, so the questions for a heavy 25 point unit exist before the week you need them. It turns PDF, PPTX and DOCX files into notes and flashcards as well, which covers slides and set readings. It transcribes 89 languages, and the transcript is in the language spoken. Uploads are capped at 50 MB and one recording can last up to two hours, with long recordings saved in smaller parts as they run and joined into one transcript. Notes can be exported as PDF or Word.

The first 14 days of Pro are free, with 240 minutes of recording and no card. When the trial ends, the free plan gives 30 minutes of recording a month. Pro is 9.99 euro a month or 88.99 euro a year, and checkout shows the local amount. Files are stored in the EU on Supabase in Frankfurt, and transcription and the AI notes run on US processors under standard contractual clauses. Ask before you record anyone, and check each unit's rule on generated material before you use it in assessed work. Flashcards shows how the spacing side works.