Following is an overview of typical terminology and practice used at the undergraduate level of U.S. higher education. For further detail, see the Glossary of U.S. Educational Terminology and Structural Outline of U.S. Education.

The academic periods or "terms" used by U.S. colleges and universities vary in length. Most institutions use the semester system, in which the academic year is divided into fall and spring semesters of roughly 15 weeks in length. Universities using the semester system will often have a 8 week summer session as well. Some institutions have an one-month "Winter Term" between the fall and spring semesters. However, some institutions do not use "semesters," but divide the academic year into trimesters or quarters of equal length.

Traditionally, the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) or Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degrees require roughly 124-127 credit hours of coursework, divided among various subject, field and optional requirements. The four-year Bachelor's degree is divided into two years of lower-division studies (background or distribution courses in a wide range of subjects), followed by two years of upper division studies (mainly courses required by one's major subject. Students apply for admission to a major subject at the end of their second year.

Full-time students generally complete the Bachelor's degree in eight semesters (four academic years) of study, and would average a course workload of roughly 16 credit hours per semester, or 5-6 classes simultaneously. A full-time student is usually defined as one who takes (and passes) a minimum of 12 credit hours of courses per semester. The maximum number of credit hours students are allowed to attempt per semester is usually 20, unless special permission is granted.

A typical U.S. college course is worth 3 credit hours. Such a class would generally meet for 3 contact hours per week over a 15-week semester, totalling roughly 45 hours of "contact" with the instructor(s) per course. Such classes may meet 3x1 hour weekly (for example Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between 0900-1000), 2x1.5 hours weekly (for example Tuesdays and Thursdays from 0800-0930), or 1x3 hours weekly (generally advanced seminar-type classes). The "academic hour" in the U.S. is generally 50 minutes, as opposed to 45 in Finland.

Courses may also be worth more or fewer credit hours. For example, science courses which have required "laboratory periods" may be worth 4 or 5 credit hours. Typically there would be 3 contact hours of lecture per week, with each 3-hour-long lab session being worth one additional credit hour. A chemistry course with 3 lecture hours and one 3-hour lab period per week would be worth 4 credit hours; a course with two 3-hour labs would be worth 5 credit hours, etc. Conversely a required physical education course may be worth only 1 or 2 credit hours.

The contact hours of a typical "3-hour course" would consist of lectures and/or class discussion and/or field trips or other options. In addition to lectures, one or several textbooks would be required reading, and there would often be recommended supplementary reading as well. Evaluation is either by a 2-3 hour mid-term exam and 2-3 hour final exam, or else class-length exams roughly 1/3 and 2/3 of the way through the course, with the final exam during a special exam week at the end of the term. In many courses, term papers may be required in addition to the exams, lectures, and readings. Generally, exams may be attempted only once, and cannot be "re-taken."

Most colleges use a 5-stage letter grade system in which the letters are worth a certain number of "points":

A -- highest grade -- worth 4 "points"
B -- above average grade -- worth 3 points
C -- average passing grade -- worth 2 points
D -- minimum passing grade -- worth 1 point
F -- failure (no credit) -- zero points

On this basis, a student's grade point average (GPA) is calculated. The GPA is calculated for each academic term, but it is also cumulative; it will reflect every course on the student's transcript, or official register of all courses taken at an institution.

The term GPA is calculated by adding together the "points" earned for one's grade in each course multiplied by the number of credit hours each course was worth, with the total points then divided by the total number of credit hours passed that term. On the 4-point system (where A is the top grade, worth 4 "points"), a perfect GPA would be 4.0, reflecting an "A" for each course passed.

However, a more varied example would be the following, where the student has passed five courses worth varying numbers of credit hours, also with varying grades:

Chemistry 101 -- 4 credit hours -- B (12 points)
English 127 -- 3 credit hours -- B (9 points)
Sociology 111 -- 3 credit hours -- C (6 points)
Astrophysics 101 -- 5 credit hours -- D (5 points)
Music Appreciation -- 3 credit hours -- A (12 points)
----------------------------------------------------
Total Credit hours passed:  18
Total Grade Points achieved: 44
G.P.A. for this term: ca 2.4 (total points divided by total credit hours)

In calculating the above, the "Chemistry 101" course was worth 4 credit hours, and the student got a grade of "B", which is worth 3 points. Then the 4 credit hours the course was worth was multiplied by 3, representing the "B" grade, which yielded a total of 12 "points" for the course. Similar calculations are done for the other courses, with the points for the five courses added together and this total divided by the number of credit hours attempted.

Thus in this example, the student (presumably a first-year student since all the subjects were "100-level" courses) has passed 18 credit hours for the term, which is slightly above average. However, even if the student's grades in 3 of the 5 courses were well above average (one A and two B's), the overall GPA was lowered by the C and especially the D -- in a course worth 5 credit hours. The resulting 2.4 GPA for the term is "average" or perhaps slightly above average for a first-year student, but not more than that.

Note that if the student had failed a 2-hour course attempted in addition to the 18 credit hours of courses which were passed, for example, then there would have been the same 44 total points for grades in courses passed, but these points would have been divided by 20, the number of credit hours attempted, with a resulting lower GPA of 2.2.

As a student progresses through his or her studies, the total number of credit hours attempted and total points achieved for each term are combined to produce a cumulative grade point average which reflects the student's performance throughout his or her degree studies.

The GPA is used for several types of "eligibility." First-term students must often have a GPA of roughly 1.8, with at least 12 credit hours passed, in order to continue to study at the institution. Students with a lower GPA would usually be put on academic probation or if the GPA is significantly lower, expelled from the college. The GPA required to continue studying at an institution generally rises a bit each successive term. Thus a first-year student who was on academic probation for the fall term would have to achieve higher than average grades during the spring term in order to bring the cumulative GPA for both terms up to the higher minimum GPA required by the end of the spring term.

A certain level of GPA, which is defined differently by different institutions and for different levels of study, is thus required to simply continue to study at an institution. More prestigious institutions often require higher GPAs. Private universities often require higher GPAs than public state universities (but usually also provide more individualized services to help students). When a student applies for admission to a major subject, generally at the end of the second year of study, a certain level of GPA will also be required for admission into a particular "major program."

Finally, one's GPA determines whether one is eligible to participate in certain extracurricular activities, or obtain scholarships, awards, or other academic honors. It also determines how competitive one would be when applying to a graduate program (study toward a Master's Degree). Being on the Dean's List in some institutions, for example, would usually require a GPA of 3.5 or higher for the term in question, and eligibility for competitive Graduate Programs may require a cumulative GPA of 3.6 or higher.