Graduation Requirements

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Transcripts and Graduation Requirements

1Q:  What is an Honor Graduate?

1A:  A student who graduates with an overall GPA of 90 or above.

2Q: What is an Honors Graduate with highest honors?

2A:  A Student who graduates with an overall GPA of a 93 or above.

3Q:  What is a rigor course?

3A:  A rigor course is a course identified on the Academic Rigor Course List.  A student meeting the requirements to be a HOPE Scholar at the time of high school graduation must earn a minimum of four full rigor credits from the Academic Rigor Course List prior to graduating from high school.  

4Q.  What is a CORE course?

4A:  A CORE course is one classified by the Ga DOE as a "c" in the registration course guide.  These are your English, Math, Science and Social studies classes.  

5Q:  What is the difference between my overall GPA, my Academic GPA and my HOPE GPA?

5A:  Averages may appear on a 100 point scale or a 4 point scale (e.g.   86.686,  3.345).                                                                    

•        Cumulative GPA includes ALL coursework (CORE and elective classes) 9-12 grade.

•        Academic GPA also includes 9-12 grades, but only in these areas: (English, Math, Science, Social Studies, Foreign Language)        

•        HOPE GPA is figured by the Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC). Your academic GPA is a good approximation. 

•       Find your student specific HOPE GPA at your GAfutures.org student account 

6Q:  What is an elective course?  

6A:   An elective is a class on your schedule/transcript that does not count as a CORE class.  Courses on your transcript might include PE, Audio Video Technology, Journalism, US History in Film, World Geography, Public Administration, Intro to Software Tech, etc.  Please refer to this WGHS Elective Classification List to see how your electives might be classified.   

7Q:  What does CTAE stand for?

7A:  CTAE stands for Career, Technical, Agriculture and Education and these types of electives are courses that are aligned with a career pathway to provide students with the necessary tools to be successful at the next level of their educational career.  For example, the Health Science Pathway Courses offered at WGHS helps you learn more about direct patient care, including the nursing field.  Please refer to WGHS CTAE Pathways Infographic and the CTAE Pathway Chords Infographic for more information on the CTAE pathways offered at WGHS.  ***Please note that Law Enforcement Services and Public Administration are not represented on these infographics at this time.***  

8Q:  What does a "pathway" mean?

8A:  A pathway is a sequence of classes that you can take in order to prepare students for education and career success in a particular career cluster.  Example:  Audio Video Technology Pathway - Students take AVT I, AVT II and Broadcast Applications.   In order to be a "pathway completer" students also have to take all three courses in a pathway and complete an end of pathway exam.  

9Q:  Do I have to take Government and Economics to graduate from high school?  

9A:  Yes, Government and Economics are required courses, along with world history and united states history. Those four courses are the requirements for the 4 credits of social studies that students must take in order to graduate.

10Q:  How many CTAE or Fine Arts classes do I need to graduate?  Do I have to take 4 CTAE AND 4 Fine arts classes?

10A:  Students only have to have 4 total credits from the CTAE/Fine Arts/Foreign Language Requirement.  Some students graduate with all 4 CTAE courses to fulfill this requirement, some have all 4 fine arts classes.  Some have a combination of CTAE, Fine arts and/or Foreign Language.  

11Q:  Do I have to take health and personal fitness?

11A:  Yes, this is a graduation requirement.   No, General Physical Education and Weight training do not fulfill this requirement.

12Q:  What if I meet my graduation requirements before the Spring of my senior year, can I graduate early?

12A:  No, students must take courses all the way to the spring of their senior year.  Students that wish to graduate from high school early, please see your counselor to discuss alternate paths to graduation.

13Q: Do I have to take 4 courses each semester?

13A:  Yes, students must have a full schedule each semester, which means 4 courses each semester, or 8 total for the school year.

14Q:  Do I have to physics? Chemistry?

14A:  Yes, students must take physics.  Students must take chemistry or environmental science.  Students planning on going to a University System of Georgia School (ie. 4 year) will need to take chemistry.  Students must also take biology and one more science to make a total of 4 science credits needed for graduation.  The student's 4th science must come from the GaDOE's Fourth Science List* 

*Note that the first page of this list does not guarantee admission into a Georgia four-year college or university.

15Q:  I took physical science at my previous high school, does this count in place of physics? Or, I took physical science in middle school and earned HS credit (it is listed on my transcript), does this still count?

15A:  Yes, physical science can count in place of physics.

16Q:  Do I have to take a foreign language to graduate from high school?

16A:  Foreign Language is NOT a requirement to graduate from high school.  However, students wanting to head straight into a 4 year college or university immediately after HS graduation will need 2 credits of a consecutive foreign language (ex. Spanish I and Spanish II).   

16Q:  I heard that some computer science courses can count as foreign language requirements, is this true?

17A:  Yes, two computer Science Courses from the same pathway will satisfy two years of sequenced foreign language courses. AP Computer Science Principles, Computer Science Principles are examples of courses that can be counted as foreign languages for high school graduation purposes, however, it is up to the receiving college that the student wants to attend after high school as to whether they count them as such. Please refer to the Staying on Course Guide (page 4) for more courses that satisfy this requirements.

**Please reach out to your alpha-assigned counselor for any other questions you have regarding your transcript, or for further clarification on any answers posted on this website.