Its putting all of your marks/scores for subjects in a single 'grade'
pass - 4
credit - 5
distinc - 6
HD - 7
some uni's have a diff scale. eg,
1-pass
2-credit
3-d
4-hd
but they both mean the same thing.
It also takes into account the credit points associated with your subject (so a subject with higher cp's associated with it would have a larger effect on your gpa). But you wont really need to worry about your credit points as in undergrad your subjects will all contribute an equal amount to your degree.
This is absolutely correct.
Since you have tertiary experience, medical/dental schools would like to know how you have performed academically.
For universities such as University of Sydney, they use a system of giving out: FAIL (0) - less than 50
PASS (4) - 50 to 65 (65 is not included)
CREDIT (5) - 65 to 75 (75 not included)
DISTINCTION (6) - 75 to 85 (85 not included)
HIGH DISTINCTION (7) - 85 to 100
for each subject that you have studied. For example, during the first year of pharmacy, you would have studied about 8 subjects (4 in the first semester, and 4 in the second).
Graded Point Average (GPA) is the average of your subjects. To give you a simple example ... if you received 1 fail (ouch), 1 pass, 2 credits, 3 distinctions and 1 high distinction (awesome!), then your GPA (an average) would be calculated by:
GPA = (0+ 4 + 2x5 + 3x6 + 1 + 7)/8 = 5, which equates to a "credit average."
Now, this was only a simple hypothetical for a first year student. Other factors such as a student who has studied more than one year and part-time students will have a "weighting" applied. My understanding is that if you have studied many years [say] four, then the last few years will have a greater weighting on your GPA.
In regards to this
Weight Average Mark (WAM) business, this is simply another scoring system used by universities such as UNSW. Again, it is based on the principle of averages. For example, in first year Medicine, there are three courses that count . If you got marks such as 60.1, 75.3 and 82.95, then your WAM would be calculated as:
GPA = (60.1 + 75.3 + 82.95) / 3 = 72.78. WAM prefers to use the 72.78, rather than calling it a Distinction.
Good luck with your studies. Hope this made sense!