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Real-Life Math

A new message pops up in your email inbox. Marianne, a music education student at Tundra University, is emailing you with an inquiry. She is moving south this year, and wants to complete her degree at Cerus University.

"Do I have the right credits, and will my courses transfer?" she asks in the message.

"The grading system is different at a lot of universities," says Sandy Ho, a university admissions officer. "We use math to figure out the different grade point averages."

Below are music classes that Marianne has taken at Tundra University. This university uses the 9-point grade system, which means a class is marked out of 9 instead of 10. Two of her courses, music 300 and music 301, are marked out of 9. The other 2 of her courses haven't been converted to the 9-point system.

Look at Marianne's course results and convert them all into percentages. In order for her courses to be transferable to Cerus University, she must have a Class 2 percentage in each course.

  1. Which of her courses are transferable?

    Marianne's grades:

    Music 300: 5.9
    Music 301: 6.0
    Music elective (philosophy 101): 80 / 130
    Class instrument studies: 75 / 125

    Cerus University standards:
    Class 1: 80 percent
    Class 2: 65 percent to 79 percent
    Pass: 50 percent to 64 percent

  2. Universities give credits for each course that is completed. If Marianne obtains 6 credits for each course that is transferable, how many credits will she start Cerus University with?
  3. If she needs 54 credits in total over the next 2 years (including her transferred credits), how many more courses does she need to take?

Contact

  • Email Support
  • 1-800-GO-TO-XAP (1-800-468-6927)
    From outside the U.S., please call +1 (424) 750-3900
  • North Dakota Career Resource Network
    ndcrn@nd.gov | (701) 328-9733

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