Grade & GPA
GPA Calculator
Your grade point average from course credits and letter grades, on the 4.0 or 5.0 scale.
GPA Calculator
About the GPA Calculator
Your grade point average is a credit-weighted average, not a plain one. A five-credit course pulls your GPA more than a two-credit course does, so you cannot simply add up your grades and divide by the number of classes. This calculator does the weighting for you. Enter each course with its letter grade and its credit hours, pick the 4.0 or 5.0 scale, and you get the term GPA along with the numbers behind it.
Add your previous GPA and previous credits, and the tool rolls this term into a cumulative GPA — the running average across everything you have completed. That is the figure on your transcript, and the one most scholarship and graduate applications ask for.
Everything runs in your browser. Nothing you type is uploaded or stored. If your school uses a scale this tool does not cover, the working is shown in full so you can check it against your registrar's own published rule.
How to use the GPA Calculator
- Choose the scale your institution uses.
- Enter each course with its grade and credit hours.
- Use + Add course for more rows.
- To roll this term into a cumulative figure, add your previous GPA and credits.
- Select Calculate GPA.
How GPA is calculated
Every letter grade carries a point value. Multiply that value by the course's credit hours and you get quality points. Add the quality points for all your courses, divide by the total credits, and that is your GPA.
GPA = total quality points ÷ total credit hours
where quality points = grade points × credit hours, for each course
Worked example
Four courses in one term: an A in 3-credit Biology, a B+ in 4-credit Calculus, a B in 3-credit History, and a C+ in 2-credit Statistics.
Biology: 4.0 × 3 = 12.0. Calculus: 3.3 × 4 = 13.2. History: 3.0 × 3 = 9.0. Statistics: 2.3 × 2 = 4.6.
Quality points total 38.8. Credits total 12.
38.8 ÷ 12 = 3.23 GPA
Notice what happened. Calculus was not the best grade, but at four credits it contributed the most quality points of any course. That is credit weighting at work.
Grade points on the 4.0 scale
These are the values this calculator uses. They match the plus/minus system that most US colleges publish.
| Letter | Grade points | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| A+ | 4.0 | 97–100% |
| A | 4.0 | 93–96% |
| A− | 3.7 | 90–92% |
| B+ | 3.3 | 87–89% |
| B | 3.0 | 83–86% |
| B− | 2.7 | 80–82% |
| C+ | 2.3 | 77–79% |
| C | 2.0 | 73–76% |
| C− | 1.7 | 70–72% |
| D+ | 1.3 | 67–69% |
| D | 1.0 | 63–66% |
| D− | 0.7 | 60–62% |
| F | 0.0 | Below 60% |
Some schools award 4.3 for an A+, and a few ignore plus and minus entirely. Check your student handbook. If your school differs, the arithmetic is identical — only the point values change.
Cumulative GPA versus term GPA
Your term GPA covers one semester. Your cumulative GPA covers every graded credit you have ever taken at the institution. They are rarely the same number.
To combine them, the calculator converts your old GPA back into quality points, adds this term's, and divides by the new credit total:
Cumulative = (old GPA × old credits + new quality points) ÷ (old credits + new credits)
This explains something that frustrates a lot of students. A student with 90 credits at a 2.8 who earns a perfect 4.0 across 15 credits finishes at 2.97 — still under 3.0. The more credits already on your transcript, the less any single term moves the average. Our GPA planner works out exactly what you need from here.
Weighted and unweighted GPA (weighted GPA meaning)
An unweighted GPA caps every course at 4.0, no matter how hard it is. A weighted GPA adds a bonus for honours, AP or IB courses, which is the only way a GPA climbs past 4.0.
High schools usually report both. Colleges usually recalculate their own version anyway, using only core academic subjects, so treat a weighted GPA as a rough signal rather than a fixed fact. For the weighted version, use the 5.0 scale calculator.
What counts as a good GPA
- 3.5 and above — competitive for most graduate programmes and honours standing.
- 3.0 to 3.5 — solid. Meets the cutoff for the majority of scholarships and internships.
- 2.0 to 3.0 — passing, but below the bar for many selective programmes.
- Below 2.0 — most institutions place you on academic probation here.
Context matters more than the number alone. A 3.2 in engineering reads differently from a 3.2 in a lighter course load, and admissions committees know it.
Mistakes that throw the number off
- Averaging the grades instead of the quality points. This ignores credit hours and is the single most common error.
- Counting pass/fail courses. They earn credit but carry no grade points, so most schools leave them out of the GPA entirely.
- Including transfer credits. Transferred courses usually count toward your degree but not toward your GPA at the new school.
- Forgetting repeated courses. Some schools replace the old grade; others average both attempts. The policy changes your result.
Cumulative GPA calculator: combine old and new grades
Your cumulative GPA is your GPA across every term so far, not just this one. To find it, you need your current cumulative GPA and the credits behind it.
New cumulative GPA = (old GPA × old credits + term GPA × term credits) ÷ total credits
Worked example
You have a 3.2 GPA over 60 credits. This semester you earned a 3.8 over 15 credits.
3.2 × 60 = 192 points. 3.8 × 15 = 57 points. Total: 249 points over 75 credits.
249 ÷ 75 = 3.32 cumulative GPA
Notice how little one great semester moves things once you have many credits. The GPA planner shows what you need to reach a target.
GPA calculator without credits
No credit hours? Many high schools and middle schools count every class the same. In that case, give each class 1 credit. The GPA becomes a plain average of your grade points.
Example: A, B+, B, A− = 4.0 + 3.3 + 3.0 + 3.7 = 14.0. Divide by 4 classes and your GPA is 3.5.
High school GPA calculator tips (HS GPA calculator)
- Use semester grades, not quarter or progress grades, unless your school says otherwise.
- Weighted or unweighted? Weighted GPA adds a bonus for honors and AP classes, so it can go above 4.0. Unweighted GPA tops out at 4.0. Colleges often recalculate on their own scale.
- Pass/fail classes usually do not count toward GPA.
For AP and honors weighting, use the weighted GPA calculator (5.0 scale).
Science GPA for medical school (AMCAS)
US medical schools look at a separate science GPA, called BCPM: biology, chemistry, physics and math. To estimate it, enter only those courses above. Leave out everything else. AMCAS uses its own grade conversion, so treat your result as an estimate.
How to calculate overall GPA
Your overall (cumulative) GPA uses every graded credit you have taken, not an average of your term GPAs. Add the grade points from all terms, then divide by all the credits. Two terms of 3.5 over 15 credits and 3.0 over 12 credits give (52.5 + 36) ÷ 27 = 3.28 — not 3.25, because the first term carried more credits.
Use this page to calculate your GPA online any time: no sign-up, nothing stored. Run it each term and it doubles as a simple GPA tracker. To turn a weighted GPA into an unweighted one, try the GPA table converter; to change a GPA into a percentage, use the percentage to GPA converter.
Other ways to use this calculator
Your GPA can be worked out and converted in several ways.
- GPA estimator and semester GPA calculator — enter this term's classes for a semester GPA.
- Science GPA (BCPM) calculator — enter only biology, chemistry, physics and maths courses.
- Weighted to unweighted GPA converter — enter your letter grades without honours or AP bonuses.
- Percentage to GPA calculator — use the percentage to GPA converter.
- College GPA calculator — credit hours GPA, the same method colleges use.
- How to find cumulative GPA — add every term’s grade points and divide by all credits.
Related guides
Frequently asked questions
Multiply each course's grade points by its credit hours to get quality points, add all the quality points together, then divide by your total credit hours. An A in a 3-credit class gives 4.0 × 3 = 12 quality points. Do that for every course, add them up, and divide by the credits. The division by credits — not by the number of courses — is what makes GPA a weighted average.
Quality points are the grade points a single course earns, scaled by how much that course is worth. The formula is grade points × credit hours. A B (3.0) in a 4-credit course produces 12 quality points; the same B in a 1-credit course produces 3. They are the numerator of the GPA formula, and they are why a heavier course affects your average more than a lighter one.
Enter your previous GPA and the credits it covers in the optional fields, then add this term's courses. The calculator converts your old GPA back into quality points, adds the new ones, and divides by the combined credit total. Doing it by hand: multiply old GPA by old credits, add this term's quality points, then divide by all credits together.
Yes, and more than most students expect. Credit hours are the weights in the average. Scoring an A in a 5-credit course lifts your GPA considerably more than an A in a 1-credit elective, and a poor grade in a heavy course does correspondingly more damage. When you are choosing where to spend study time, the high-credit courses are where it pays off.
Cumulative GPA is your grade point average across all terms combined, weighted by credits. It differs from term or semester GPA, which covers only one term. Transcripts and applications usually ask for the cumulative figure.
Give every class the same weight. Add the grade points for each class and divide by the number of classes. A, B+, B and A− give 14.0 points over 4 classes, a GPA of 3.5.
Sources and further reading
- College Board — How to calculate GPA on a 4.0 scale — the standard 4.0 scale and grade point values
- Stanford University — How do I calculate my grade point average? — quality points and the credit-weighted method
- Washington State University Registrar — Grades and GPA — cumulative GPA, repeated courses and pass/fail policy
- University of Illinois Registrar — Calculate your GPA — worked institutional example of the same formula