This is effectively how much a subject is worth to your degree, i.e. how much "credit" you should get for finishing that subject. So what determines credit? Well it varies by subject, but this is a rough benchmark :
1 scheduled hour of theory classes (Lecture and/or Tutorial) per week = 1 credit
1.5 scheduled hour of lab (practical) classes per week = 1 credit
Each credit usually needs 1-2 hrs of self study per week, but this is highly variable based on your strengths & subject difficulty, so don't use this as a bench-mark.
[Tutorial : Classes that are taken along with Teaching Assistants primarily to solve problems. The problems given for practice are also called tutorial problems]
Examples :
Many theory subject (like Maths-1, Electrical Tech, etc.) will have 3 hours of Lectures, and 1 hour of tutorial a week. So in L-T-P format, they are 3-1-0. These classes have 4 credits.
Some theory subject like PDS are 3-0-0 under L-T-P, i.e. only 3 hours of lectures a week. These have only 3 credits.
Pretty much all lab subject have a 0-0-3 under L-T-P, i.e. 3 hours of LABS a week. Given that 1.5 hrs of lab is 1 credit, and not 1 hour, most lab subjects are only 2 credits.
EAA is an exception and is 1 credit subject, and the requirements vary by your choice in EAA. See its page for more info.
Each Sem usually has a requirement of completing about 20-24 credits (most of the times, 22/23) in its most basic form. Given you're freshers, you will have basically no control over this in the first 2 sems (all your subjects & credits will likely be pre-assigned), and control over you subjects & credits start to come in later years.
I can't believe I can't find the exact value, but the number of credits required to get a BTech or BS (Hons) comes to about 160-180 credits, which effectively to comes about 20-24 credits a sem over 4 yrs/8 sems.
In your first year, 23 credits comes to about 4-5 theory subjects, 2-3 Labs, and 1 EAA per sem.
Still, here's a brief overview of how credits vary by optional programs :
Dual Degrees are basically converting your UG degree (4 year) into 5 year UG-PG (Bachelors & Masters) degree. These can be within your department, or an inter-disciplinary Masters, provided you satisfy the academic requirements.
Double Major requires an extra 40 credits in whatever field you have selected, which come to about 2-3 extra subjects per sem (from 2nd/3rd year) if you want to complete your degree in 4 years, or 1-2 subjects if you take an extra year.
Minors come to about extra 24 credits, but with no extra year.
Micro-specialization is something smaller than a minor, and involves specializing in something that's part of a department, instead of the department itself (For example, Photonics in Physics, instead of just Physics). These come to about 10-14 credits with some extra rules ( See here )
Micro-credits are single credit courses (That last for 3-14 days) that are available at various points in the semester. They will also count towards your required credits.
Extra credits, i.e. taking more than the required number of credits you need to have in a semester is also allowed. I'm not sure about this, but I believe upto 33% more credits required can be taken provided you meet the CGPA Criteria (I believe 7.5). You can drop the extra credit subject before midsems if needed, but no later.
The marks awarded in each subject for ecams varies, but this is the rough distribution which every theory subject has to follow (with exceptions) :
End-Semester Exams - 50%
Mid-Semester Exams - 30%
Teachers' Assessment - 20%
EndSems & MidSems are fixed for all theory subjects.
Teachers' Assessment, by its very name, is variable, and it's upto the Prof of that class to decide how to give that remaining 20%. Here's a typical list of methods they use, though a combination of these is also very common :
Class Tests (Written or Computer Based), can be Section-Wise, or all sections.
Attendance
Interactions within class (usually only if it's a small class)
Tutorials - Attendance & tests
Projects/Assignments (very rare in 1st year)
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Lab distribution varies a lot from lab to lab, but typically, the final lab exam & the lab notebooks usually have the highest marks.
Like most indian colleges, IITKGP uses a 10 point Grading Scale, going from Fail (at 0) to Ex (10), See nearby:
There are two systems of grading a subject within the college:
Absolute Grading
Relative Grading
In this system, the grade you get is directly based on only your final marks in the subject, with anyone else's performance not influencing your grade.
Typically, it goes:
90-100 : EX
80-90 : A, and so on till ...
... 40-50 : P
<40 : F (Varies, certain classes have it as low as 30)
Don't quote me on this, but I believe if your mark is on the edge, say 90, then the higher grade is considered (so EX).
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This system typically happens in subjects where there is 1) A large number of high scorers (>10% 90+ and similar) and/or 2) A small class size.
I believe this is the default for 1st year subjects, unless there are very little high scorers.
In this system, the grade you get is based on your relative ranking within the subject, i.e. how your (absolute) marks compares with everyone else in class.
Typically, the mean mark is awarded C, or B if the course is seen as hard, and the rest of the grades are set based on that. So your usual distribution becomes:
EX <= 10%
A : 10 – 20%
B, C, D : 20 – 35%
P : 10 – 25%
F <= 5 % (Usually 30-40 marks is needed to pass even if relative, so sometimes fail is much higher)
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This system typically happens in subjects where there are 1) Very few or no high scorers (90+) and/or 2) A large class size.
This is common in many first year courses. For example, Last year, the following course had confirmed Relative grading :
BEM (confirmed in Sem-2)
PDS (confirmed in Sem-1)
Basic Elec (confirmed in Sem-1)
Do note that relative grading only happens if most people don't perform well in a class, and is not considered the default. Many subjects which were relative in one sem/year, became absolute next year with better performance / easier papers.
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For theory subjects, the relative grading system is done across all sections/depts having that theory class in that sem. So for example, if half the freshers have PDS in Sem-1, Relative grading will see your marks relatively across the 900 freshers (and not around just the 150 freshers present in your class/section).
For practical/lab subjects, the relative grading system is done across each section having that lab individually. So for example, let's take PDS Lab (in my sem at least) : your grade will be given relatively to the 100 or so freshers in your section, and NOT all 900 students having PDS lab that sem.
This is because most theory subjects have a unified syllabus & exam paper; but lab subjects often have different papers/questions between sections.
I lied saying there are only two grading systems. This 3rd kind of system is used for an unique situation in which the subject had a couple hard questions & assignments, such that the marks of most high-scorers dropped by a few points. Note that, the entire subject itself wasn't hard, so it doesn't become relative.
Then, they might still use absolute grading, but with the cut-off shifted. That is,
EX : 90 -> 85
A : 90 - 80 -> 85 - 75
and so on (though fail grade will not go below 30).
This did happen for Math - 1 (Advanced Calculus) in Autumn 2024.
Your torturer, your lover, your best friend, your enemy. One of the most important numbers in college.
A good GPA will help in placements, course changes, research, internship, etc. more than anything else. Not that you can't manage without one, but having one will make your life so much easier.
You will need a 6 CGPA for graduating.
[Grade Points on the right for Reference]
"Semester GPA"
Your semester GPA is calculated pretty simply, just a weighted average of your grades in each subject by the number of credits. That is
SGPA = [Sum of (Credit*Grade)] / Total number of credits in that sem .
If you fail a subject in a semester, it will be considered 0 for that sem, even if you pass the subsequent retry. Though, the grades will be added to SGPA in whatever semester you pass said subject.
"Cumulative GPA"
Similar to SGPA, but calculated over your full tenure at college (i.e. all semesters). It's weighted average by credits, and NOT a simple average of SGPAs. So CGPA = [Sum of (Credit*Grade)] / Total number of credits completed.
If you fail a subject, your CGPA will be initially calculated with a 0 in said subject. Whenever you pass that subject, the CGPA will be recalculated with your new grade, and your 0 will be removed from CGPA calculations. Deregistered subjects will not be considered here or in SGPA calculations.
For the longest time, the CGPA to % conversion was a direct conversion (% = 10*CGPA), but things changed from 2021. The new format is the following
Percentage = (20/7) x [ (4xCGPA) - 5 ]
So what does this mean? Very roughly these are the new corresponding %:
10 = 100%
9 = 88.57%
8 = 77.14%
7 = 65.71%
6 = 54.28%