What Is the CAP Scale?
Singapore's public universities use a Cumulative Average Point (CAP) scale to measure student academic performance. NUS (National University of Singapore) and NTU (Nanyang Technological University) both use a 5.0 maximum, while SMU (Singapore Management University) uses a 4.0 maximum, a difference that matters significantly for international comparisons and graduate applications.
CAP is a weighted average calculated across all graded modules. Like the US GPA, it applies a grade-point value to each letter grade, multiplies by the module's credit units, sums those products across all modules, and divides by total credit units attempted.
NUS and NTU Grade Scale (5.0 Maximum)
| Grade | Description | Grade Points | |---|---|---| | A+ | Exceptional | 5.0 | | A | Excellent | 5.0 | | A− | Very Good | 4.5 | | B+ | Good | 4.0 | | B | Above Average | 3.5 | | B− | Slightly Above Average | 3.0 | | C+ | Average | 2.5 | | C | Slightly Below Average | 2.0 | | D+ | Below Average | 1.5 | | D | Minimum Pass | 1.0 | | F | Fail | 0.0 |
Note that both A and A+ map to 5.0 at NUS and NTU, the A+ designation recognises exceptional performance but does not elevate the numerical score above 5.0.
SMU Grade Scale (4.0 Maximum)
SMU uses a 4.0 maximum scale, making direct comparisons with NUS/NTU non-trivial:
| Grade | Grade Points | |---|---| | A+ | 4.0 | | A | 4.0 | | A− | 3.7 | | B+ | 3.3 | | B | 3.0 | | B− | 2.7 | | C+ | 2.3 | | C | 2.0 | | D | 1.0 | | F | 0.0 |
An SMU student with a 3.5 CAP is in a different position from an NUS student with a 3.5 CAP, the scales are not directly comparable.
Honours Classification at NUS
NUS awards honours based on CAP thresholds at graduation:
| Classification | CAP Range | |---|---| | First Class Honours | 4.50 – 5.00 | | Second Class (Upper) Honours | 4.00 – 4.49 | | Second Class (Lower) Honours | 3.50 – 3.99 | | Third Class Honours | 3.00 – 3.49 | | Pass | 2.00 – 2.99 |
Not all NUS programmes offer Honours, some four-year programmes lead directly to a degree without a separate Honours classification. Students must check their specific programme's requirements.
Satisfactory Academic Progress and CAP Thresholds
NUS requires students to maintain a minimum CAP of 2.00 to remain in good standing. Students whose CAP falls below 2.00 face academic probation and may be placed on a reduced course load. Students who fail to recover their CAP may be asked to withdraw from the programme.
For competitive programmes such as Medicine, Law, and Engineering, programme-specific thresholds apply, and the competitive nature of bidding for elective modules means that CAP affects not just graduation classification but also module access within the programme.
Converting Singapore CAP for International Applications
Overseas graduate programmes and employers frequently request a US GPA equivalent. Common conversion benchmarks:
- CAP 5.0 (NUS/NTU) ≈ 4.0 US GPA (A grade, exceptional)
- CAP 4.5 (NUS/NTU) ≈ 3.7–3.8 US GPA
- CAP 4.0 (NUS/NTU) ≈ 3.3–3.5 US GPA
WES and other credential evaluators apply their own conversion formulas, the resulting US GPA may differ from student-calculated estimates. For SMU, the 4.0 scale is closer in structure to the US system, though the grade boundaries differ.
Managing CAP Calculations at Scale
For student information systems supporting Singapore-format grading, accurate CAP computation requires tracking credit units per module, applying the correct grade-point table (NUS/NTU 5.0 or SMU 4.0), excluding ungraded (S/U) modules from the calculation, and updating honours classification dynamically as grades are entered.
OpenEduCat's Gradebook module supports configurable grade scales and weighted GPA calculations, allowing institutions to implement CAP-style grading rules with automatic classification thresholds, ensuring academic records reflect the correct honours standing for every student at every point in their programme.
