GPA Calculator
Weighted grade point average from courses, credits, and grades.
This GPA calculator computes your grade point average as a credit-weighted average of grade points across all the courses you enter — the same method used by most colleges and universities operating on a 4.0 scale. Add each course’s credit hours and letter grade, and the tool handles the weighting automatically.
GPA compresses an entire transcript into a single, easily comparable number, which is why it carries real weight in scholarship applications, academic probation decisions, and graduate school admissions — even though admissions committees also look closely at course rigor and trends over time.
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The Credit-Weighted GPA Formula
GPA = (Σ (Grade points × Credit hours)) ÷ (Σ Credit hours). Each course contributes to the average in proportion to how many credit hours it carries, so a 4-credit core course affects your GPA more than a 1-credit lab, even with the same letter grade.
For example, an A (4.0) in a 3-credit course and a B (3.0) in a 4-credit course gives GPA = (4.0×3 + 3.0×4) ÷ (3+4) = (12 + 12) ÷ 7 ≈ 3.43, which is closer to the B than a simple unweighted average of 3.5 would suggest, because the B course carried more credit weight.
Standard Grade Point Scale
Most US institutions use a 4.0 scale with plus/minus increments, though exact mappings can vary slightly by school — always check your own institution’s official scale before relying on results for an actual transcript decision.
- 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
Semester GPA vs Cumulative GPA
Semester GPA uses only the courses taken in one specific term. Cumulative GPA weights every graded credit hour completed toward your degree so far, across all semesters. Registrars typically report both, and they can diverge noticeably if one recent semester was unusually strong or weak compared to your overall record.
To calculate a new cumulative GPA after adding a semester, treat your prior cumulative GPA and total credits as one "combined course," then apply the same credit-weighted formula alongside your new semester’s courses.
Scholarships with minimum GPA requirements often specify cumulative GPA, while dean’s list honors usually reference semester GPA. Knowing which number a particular application asks for saves last-minute transcript surprises.
Planning a GPA Recovery
If a difficult semester pulled your cumulative GPA down, you can estimate how many future credit hours at a higher grade average are needed to reach a target cumulative GPA, using the weighted formula in reverse. This kind of forward planning helps set realistic course loads and grade targets rather than guessing.
Before finals week, the Grade Calculator can show what score you still need on a remaining exam to hit a target course grade — useful when one class is dragging the semester average down more than the others.
What GPA Does and Does Not Measure
GPA summarizes graded performance but does not capture course difficulty, improvement over time, or non-academic strengths. Admissions readers often weigh an upward trend — a weak freshman year followed by strong junior and senior terms — more favorably than a flat record with no context.
Pass/fail courses, withdrawals, and incompletes are handled differently at every institution. Some schools exclude pass grades from GPA entirely; others count a pass as a neutral 4.0 that does not help or hurt. Always read your registrar’s policy before entering those credits here.
Retaking a course may replace the original grade, average both attempts, or leave both on the transcript with only the higher grade counting toward GPA. The same letter grade in a remedial course and an honors seminar carries identical grade points in a simple GPA formula, even though the academic challenge differed — which is why selective programs also review transcripts course by course.