U.S. colleges employ a system of continual assessment and assign grades for each course taken. Tests, essays or written assignments, laboratory work and class participation are all used to determine the final grade. You need to keep up with the reading and course work and to attend classes on a regular basis.

The students' academic performance is reflected in their grade point average (GPA), Romanian equivalent media generala.

The following is a general GPA conversion chart for classes taken at U.S. colleges:

100 – 90% A 4

89 – 80% B 3

79 – 70% C 2

69 – 60% E,F 0 (failure)

Visit www.princetonreview.com or www.wes.org/gradeconversionguide/index.asp for a detailed GPA conversion chart. It is for your reference only; you don't need to make the conversion of your grades from the Romanian system into the American one when you submit the official transcripts to the US schools!

The credit system

Each course earns a specified number of credits/hours/units (usually three or four).

Students in U.S. programs complete their degrees when they accumulate a certain number of "credits." It usually takes between 130 and 180 credits to complete an undergraduate program.

Explanations of terms is available in the Glossary section.