How is GPA calculated?

Convert each letter grade to grade points on the 4.0 scale, multiply by the course's credit hours to get quality points, add up all the quality points, and divide by the total credits. An A in a 3-credit course is 4.0 x 3 = 12 quality points. The calculator shows every one of those steps with your own courses in it.

How do I calculate my cumulative GPA?

Switch to cumulative mode and enter your GPA so far along with the credits behind it. The calculator converts that history back into quality points, adds this term's, and divides by the combined credits. It also shows the ceiling and the floor, which is the part most GPA calculators leave out.

How much can one semester change my cumulative GPA?

Less than most people expect, and the results calculate it exactly. A perfect 15-credit term added to a 3.10 across 45 credits reaches 3.33 and no higher, a gain of 0.23, because 45 credits of history are already on the books. At 90 prior credits the same perfect term is worth only 0.13. It is much better to know that ceiling in week one than to discover it in week fifteen.

What is the difference between weighted and unweighted GPA?

An unweighted GPA is the plain 4.0 scale with no bonus for course difficulty, which is what this page calculates. A weighted GPA adds half a point for honors and a full point for AP or IB, which is how GPAs above 4.0 appear on high school transcripts. Our high school GPA calculator computes both side by side.

Do pass or fail courses count toward my GPA?

Usually not. A pass or fail course typically earns credit toward your degree without carrying grade points, so it belongs in neither total and should be left out here. Withdrawals normally carry neither grade points nor credits. Your registrar's policy is the authority on both.

Why does my calculated GPA differ from my transcript?

The usual causes are courses that sit outside the arithmetic. Transfer credits often bring the hours across without the grade, so they move your progress toward a degree without touching your GPA. A repeated course may replace the original grade, average with it, or leave it standing, entirely depending on school policy. Pass or fail courses and withdrawals are the other two. Work down that list before assuming either number is wrong.

GPA Calculator: Term and Cumulative GPA on the 4.0 Scale

Q: What are quality points?

Grade points multiplied by credit hours, and they are what a GPA is actually made of. They are why a 3-credit A and a 1-credit A are not the same event: one is worth 12.00 quality points and the other 4.00. A single heavy course can outvote two light ones, which is the part people miss when they estimate a GPA in their head.

Q: Is an A+ worth more than an A?

It depends on your school, and this is the one cell that genuinely varies. Most cap an A+ at 4.0, which makes it worth the same as an A and means an unweighted GPA can never exceed 4.0. A minority award 4.3. The calculator asks which one applies, because on a transcript full of A+ grades the choice moves the number noticeably.

Pick a grade and enter the credit hours for each course. This calculator returns your term GPA on the 4.0 scale with the working shown, and if you add your GPA so far it will combine the two and show you exactly how much a single term can move a cumulative average.

How GPA is calculated

A GPA is a weighted average where the weights are credit hours. Each letter grade converts to grade points on a 4.0 scale, that number is multiplied by the course's credits to give quality points, and your GPA is the total quality points divided by the total credits.

The credits are the part people forget. A 3-credit A and a 1-credit A are not the same event: one is worth 12.00 quality points and the other 4.00. That is why a single heavy course can outvote two light ones, and why the same set of letters can produce two different GPAs depending on which courses they landed in.

The formula

GPA = Σ ( grade points × credits ) ÷ Σ credits

Grade points come from the standard 4.0 conversion: A = 4.0, A- = 3.7, B+ = 3.3, B = 3.0, B- = 2.7, C+ = 2.3, C = 2.0, C- = 1.7, D+ = 1.3, D = 1.0, D- = 0.7, F = 0.0.

Worked example

Five courses: an A in 3 credits, a B+ in 4, a B in 3, an A- in 3, and a C+ in 2.

Quality points: (4.0 × 3) + (3.3 × 4) + (3.0 × 3) + (3.7 × 3) + (2.3 × 2) = 12.00 + 13.20 + 9.00 + 11.10 + 4.60 = 49.90.

Credits: 3 + 4 + 3 + 3 + 2 = 15. GPA = 49.90 ÷ 15 = 3.33.

Cumulative GPA, and the thing nobody tells you about it

Switch to cumulative mode, add your GPA so far and the credits behind it, and the calculator combines the two. But it also does something most GPA calculators do not, which is show you the ceiling.

Take that same term, added to a 3.10 across 45 credits. The new cumulative GPA is 3.16. Now the part worth knowing: if that term had been a flawless 4.0 in all 15 credits, the cumulative figure would have been 3.33. Not 3.7, not 3.5. A perfect term, all fifteen credits, moves a 3.10 by 0.23 points and no further, because 45 credits of history are already on the books and history does not move.

Students routinely aim a whole semester at a cumulative number that a single semester cannot reach, and then treat the shortfall as a personal failure when it was arithmetic all along. It is much better to know the ceiling in week one than to discover it in week fifteen.

The same inertia protects you

This cuts both ways and the second direction gets far less attention. The results include a floor as well as a ceiling: what your cumulative GPA would be if this term went as badly as it possibly could. On the example above, an entire term of F grades takes a 3.10 down to 2.33. That is a bad outcome and nobody is pretending otherwise, but it is a long way from the catastrophe the number feels like at two in the morning during finals week.

The more credits sit behind you, the less any single term can do in either direction. At 90 credits, a perfect 15-credit term moves a 3.10 by only 0.13. Inertia is frustrating when you are climbing and it is a safety net when you are struggling, and it is the same property both times.

What about the A+?

This is the one cell schools genuinely disagree on, so the calculator asks. Most cap an A+ at 4.0, which makes it worth exactly the same as an A and means an unweighted GPA can never exceed 4.0. A minority award 4.3, which is the only way an unweighted GPA above 4.0 happens. Everything below A+ is the same nearly everywhere. Check your registrar's page or your transcript key, because on a transcript full of A+ grades this single choice moves the number noticeably.

Weighted, unweighted, and which one people mean

This page calculates an unweighted GPA, which is the standard 4.0 scale with no bonus for course difficulty. High schools frequently publish a weighted GPA as well, adding half a point for honors classes and a full point for AP or IB, which is how GPAs above 4.0 appear on high school transcripts. If that is what you are after, our high school GPA calculator computes both side by side.

Courses that do not count

A few things sit outside the GPA arithmetic entirely, and leaving them in is the most common reason a calculated GPA disagrees with a transcript. Pass or fail courses usually earn credit without grade points, so they belong in neither total. Withdrawals normally carry no grade points and no credits. Transfer credits often bring the credit hours across without the grade, which means they change your progress toward a degree without touching your GPA at all. And a repeated course may replace the original grade, average with it, or leave it standing, depending entirely on your school's policy. When in doubt, your registrar decides all four of these and this calculator cannot see any of them.

GPA Calculator