GPA calculation

GEMSAS  will generally use the GPA from the most recently completed qualifying/key degree. This may include a degree you will complete in the year in which you’re submitting your GEMSAS application. 

Exception:

The University of Western Australia considers the most recent three years Full time equivalent (FTE) of valid study (complete or incomplete). 

Please see the Medical School Entries in the Medicine Admissions Guide for more details. 

An Honours Degree is a research-intense award classified as Level 8 in the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). 

One-year honours programs are a specialised year of study undertaken as an extension to an undergraduate degree – this is a ‘standalone’ Honours award.  

Some four-year (or more) undergraduate programs have honours embedded within their structure, this is an ‘embedded’ Honours award.  

We include Honours degrees in GPA calculations if they are complete or will be complete by the end of the year of application (other than the exceptions below). Typically, most Honours results are only available at the end of the Honours year, and GEMSAS complete a GPA calculation for allocating applicants to interviews in the middle of the year.  If you are currently studying an Honours year then, when assessing the interview score, a Final GPA year will only be included if sufficient results are available at the time of assessment. The GPA will otherwise be calculated from the prior two years of available results and, when they become available, the Honours results will be used to confirm any conditional offer you have been made. If you do have results for Honours from Semester 1, these may be used in your GPA calculation together with results from the previous two years of your study. 

Exception:

For Griffith, University of Melbourne and UQ, if a standalone Honours degree is not completed by 31 July, it will not be used.

For UWA, if a standalone (or embedded) Honours degree is not completed by mid-year in the year of application the honours level study will not be included in GPA calculations.

For Macquarie University, if there are less than 0.5 FTE of results in the standalone Honours degree from Semester 1 completed, the Bachelor degree will be used to calculate the GPA.  The Honours degree will be the key degree and a conditional offer will be issued on completion of Honours.

Please see the Medical School Entries in the Medicine Admissions Guide and the Medical School’s websites to determine if your current Honours will be used in the calculation.

For Australian qualifications, where a Standalone Honours year is eligible to be included:

• if your Honours year consists of subjects which have results (and no classification is available) then these will be used to calculate your GPA. If there are no subject results, and only an overall Honours grade, then that will be used (refer to the GPA Conversion Table in Appendix B of the Medicine Admissions Guide).

If both subject results and an overall Honours classification are available:

• ANU, Griffith*, Notre Dame, UWA, Wollongong the honours classification GPA and subject results GPA will be compared and the higher value will be used.
• Deakin, Macquarie, the University of Melbourne will use Honours subject results only.

• UQ will use the final Honours classification (as per the conversion table) for both standalone and embedded honours programs.

*Griffith will also use this method for the Honours year of an embedded honours degree.

Only UQ and Griffith will consider the Honours Classification for an embedded program. All other institutions will use subject results only.

The below table outlines the minimum graded results required for any GPA year to be calculated. If the minimum graded requirement threshold is not met, that GPA year will be left blank. For current study, if insufficient results are available at time of assessment then Final year will not be included in the GPA until additional results are received.

*There are minimum requirements for current Honours in order for it to be used in the interim GPA.

The below rules apply to all applicants consistently. GEMSAS is unable to make amendments to our process to account for any perceived impact of COVID-19 on your results. Therefore, any potential changes made to your grades to compensate for COVID-19 disruptions will need to be discussed with your teaching university.

• For ANU, Macquarie, Notre Dame, Wollongong, UWA and UQ, all 2020 results will be used in GPA calculations. 
• For Deakin, all 2020 results will be excluded from GPA calculations.
• For Griffith, 2020 results will be used in GPA calculations. Applicants may request to have ALL Semester 1/Trimester 1 grades from 2020 disregarded. Please refer to the Griffith Medical School entry section for more details.
• For the University of Melbourne, results for 2020 subjects completed before the COVID-19 pandemic (i.e. January 2020 to March 2020) and results for standalone honours subjects completed in 2020 will be included in the GPA calculations for entry to the Doctor of Medicine program. All other 2020 subject results (i.e. completed from April 2020 to December 2020) will be excluded for entry. This is applicable from 2022 for all forthcoming intakes.

Where 2020 results were excluded, GEMSAS will not seek to include earlier results in their place.

 The GPA is calculated from the last three ‘GPA years’ of the key degree/s, where a ‘GPA year’ is the equivalent of one year of full-time study (except for UQ as detailed below). This may not necessarily be the same as a calendar year or all the units at one level of study. You must determine the standard full-time load per year for your institution. One way to determine this is to take the number of credits required for degree completion and divide that by the standard duration of the program. This will give you the required credits to assign to each GPA year.

We allocate by the order in which subjects were taken and not by the level of the subjects. The most recent study is attributed to Final year before working back to F-1 and F-2 GPA years until 3FTE of study is included in the GPA. Should there be a choice between two or more subjects of equivalent credit points which were studied concurrently, the subjects will be distributed with higher subject results going to the more recent GPA year.

For non-standard teaching periods, subjects are still allocated chronologically. If you have undertaken any non-standard teaching periods outside of the standard Semester 1 and Semester 2 teaching periods offered at most institutions, where possible the dates of these teaching periods will inform how they are incorporated into your GPA calculation. You may be contacted for further clarification via email by the GEMSAS assessment team. If you do receive an email you will be required to attach evidence from your Institution that shows the semesters in which subjects were taken, and the overall chronology of semesters (e.g. unofficial transcript or enrolment record) via email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

Example:

Assume that all the units you did were of equal credit point value.

If the normal program requirement is to do 32 units in a 4-year degree you would allocate 8 units a year.  

Working backwards chronologically take the 8 most recently completed units and allocate them to the Final GPA Year.  Then take the next 8 units and allocate them to the Final-1 GPA Year and the remaining 8 units will be the Final-2 GPA Year. The first 8 units would not be used.

Exception: For The University of Queensland (UQ), the GPA is calculated over the entire duration of the degree and is not divided into years. Please check UQ’s entry in the Medicine Admissions Guide for further information.

For further information on GPA calculation, please refer to the GPA calculation section of our website and the schools’ entries in the Medicine Admissions Guide. A GPA calculator is also available for use on our application page.

GEMSAS uses an Australian 7-point grade point average scale to calculate GPAs. As many other countries use a different grading system, we may need to convert applicants' grades to a 7-point GPA scale before their GEMSAS GPA can be calculated.

GEMSAS will take the actual results from applicants’ overseas university transcripts and use the institution grading information provided on the transcript to convert these grades to a 7-point GPA scale. To do this, we need to know the minimum required pass marks and the maximum achievable mark. GEMSAS will generally use the percentage mark where a transcript shows both an exact percentage mark and a letter grade.

If there is no information on a transcript regarding the grading scale, GEMSAS assessors may take further steps, such as researching the institution and checking the grading system on the institution’s official website, or using guidelines provided by The Department of Education (DE). In some cases, we may request applicants provide further documentation that confirms the grading system used by their institution.

If you know the minimum and maximum marks you can use the GPA Calculator on the GEMSAS website. 

The way in which credit from prior study is used in GPAs varies based on several factors. Some key points are given below, but please see the GPA calculations section on our website for further details and refer to the Medicine Admissions Guide for school-specific calculation information.

If results for specified credit are shown and they were studied within an eligible key degree, they will be included in GPA calculations. However, specified credit, as per the definition, requires the key degree record to show the subject codes, names, weightings and results. Most results retrieved through ARTS do not show this information. 

If prior credit does not meet this definition, it is treated as unspecified credit, i.e. we will use the most recent eligible prior study up to the number of credit points awarded as credit for prior study.  Please note that we do not use hard copy transcripts where results are available via ARTS, and we will not accept transcripts provided as clarification regarding specified credit not shown in ARTS.

For UWA, the calculation is from units taken in chronological order, regardless of exemptions, credit or advanced standing which may have been applied to the most recent degree.

Not all institutions will include study from AQF level 8 and above in the GPA as credit to an AQF level 7 program.

Programs below AQF Level 7 (such as Diplomas, Advanced Diplomas, and Associate Degrees) are typically not factored into GPA calculations.

Which universities use postgraduate study in GPA calculations?

The inclusion of postgraduate study in GPA calculations differs by institution as follows:

• ANU will include Graduate Diploma and Masters by Coursework results in the 3-year GPA calculation if the degree is completed or due to be completed by COB 23 December in the year of application.
• Deakin will calculate the GPA on the most recently completed three years FTE of study, including Graduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma and Masters by coursework if successfully completed by 31 July 2025.
• Griffith will calculate the GPA using the most recently completed qualifying/key degree/s (a Combined Bachelor/ Masters, Combined Bachelor/Postgraduate Diploma, Masters by coursework; Masters by Research; or PhD) if completed by 31 July in the year of application. Griffith allocates an overall GPA of 7.00 for completed PhDs (when it is the most recent qualification) and a 7.00 for each full time year of a completed Masters by Research (up to a maximum duration of two years). To complete the 3-FTE years of study when using a Masters degree, the next most recent qualifying/key degree will be included as required.
• Macquarie will calculate a GPA including Graduate Diploma and Coursework Masters, if this degree will be completed by COB 23 December 2025 in the year of application. Completed Higher Degree Research Masters and PhD will be used in GPA calculations if completed at the time of application.
• Notre Dame will calculate the GPA on the most recently completed 3-FTE years of study including qualifications at Graduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma, and Masters by coursework level, if completed by 31 July 2025.
• UQ will accept completed Postgraduate Diplomas, Masters and PhDs as standalone qualifying/key degrees if successfully completed by the 31st of July in the year of application.
• UWA will use Graduate Certificates, Graduate Diplomas and Masters by Coursework in a 3-year GPA calculation whether complete or incomplete. Applicants with completed PhDs will receive a GPA of 7.00.
• Wollongong will include Graduate Diploma and Masters by Coursework results in the 3-year GPA calculation if the degree is completed or due to be completed by COB 23 December 2025 in the year of application.
• The University of Melbourne uses the most recently-completed undergraduate degree only in GPA calculations. 

For further information on GPA calculation, please refer to the GPA calculation section of our website and the schools’ entries in the Medicine Admissions Guide. A GPA calculator is also available for use on our application page.

If undertaken within a key degree, results for failed subjects will typically be included in calculation of the GPA for the year in which they were studied.

Failed subjects will be incorporated into the GPA with the credit weighting that would have been awarded if the subject had been passed.

Please refer to the schools’ entries in the Medicine Admissions Guide for school-specific rules and exceptions.

Schools will generally use the most recent three years full time equivalent (FTE) of subjects from completed qualifying/key degree/s and this may include a degree you will complete in the year in which you apply. Exceptions do apply, so please refer to the schools’ entries in the Medicine Admissions Guide for full details.

For applicants completing the final year of their key degree at the time of application, results up to and including Semester 1 of the current year will be used to calculate a provisional GPA, provided that an applicant has sufficient results available. If the available results are under the threshold required by the medical school, the Final Year GPA will be left blank and the applicant’s provisional overall GPA will be derived only from Final-1 and Final-2 years. Please refer to the schools’ entries in the Medicine Admissions Guide for minimum graded results thresholds, school-specific rules and exceptions.

Unless the study is credited towards your key degree, it typically will not be included in GPA calculations. Exceptions do apply. Please refer to the individual Medical Schools’ entries in the Medicine Admissions Guide for full details.

If a combined degree has been completed, the last three years of the combined degree will usually be used to calculate the GPA. Please note that there are some institution-specific rules for combined undergraduate/postgraduate degrees. Please refer to the individual Medical Schools’ entries in the Medicine Admissions Guide for further details. 

Typically, where ungraded subjects have been passed, they will be included in the GPA year (i.e. their credits will count towards the year of study), but they do not contribute a GPA value to the overall calculation.  Where an ungraded subject is reported as failed, it will be treated as a fail in a GPA calculation.

There are minimum graded results thresholds that apply to each GPA year for each institution. If a GPA year does not meet this minimum threshold, it will be disregarded for GPA purposes and will not contribute to the overall GPA.  Where, two or more GPA years do not each contain at least 0.375 FTE of graded study, the calculation will be referred to the relevant medical school for checking.

Please refer to the individual Medical  Schools’ entries in the Medicine Admissions Guide for minimum graded results thresholds, school-specific rules and exceptions.

If the late withdrawal is shown as a fail on the transcript (or in ARTS where available), then it will be considered as such. Otherwise, it will be ignored. 

'Withdrawn without fail' grades will be disregarded and will not affect your GPA. 

Programs below AQF Level 7 (such as Diplomas, Advanced Diplomas, and Associate Degrees) are typically not factored into GPA calculations. Exceptions do apply, so please refer to the individual Medical Schools’ entries in the Medicine Admissions Guide for full details.