GPA Calculator
The GPA calculator gives your term and cumulative GPA, unweighted or weighted for honors and AP courses, and the term GPA you need next to hit a target.
Term GPA
- Working
- (4.0 x 3 + 3.3 x 4 + 3.7 x 3 + 3.0 x 3 + 4.0 x 1) / 14 = 49.3 / 14 = 3.521
- Cumulative GPA 59 credits in total, 202.3 quality points. Moved +0.029 from 3.40.
- 3.429
- Why one term moves it so little
- this term is 24% of your record
- Term GPA needed for a 3.50 cumulative (3.50 × 74 credits - 202.3 quality points) ÷ 15 credits.
- 3.78 over the next 15 credits
- Credits of straight As to reach 3.50 (3.50 × 59 - 202.3) ÷ (4.0 - 3.50), rounded up to the half credit. The fastest any record can get there.
- 8.5 credits
- Heaviest course Worth 29% of the term.
- Course 2 at 4 credits
- One 3-credit course a third of a grade better Moving a B to a B+ in a three-credit course.
- +0.064 on the term GPA
| Grade | Standard | Honors | AP or IB |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 4.0 | 4.5 | 5.0 |
| A- | 3.7 | 4.2 | 4.7 |
| B+ | 3.3 | 3.8 | 4.3 |
| B | 3.0 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| B- | 2.7 | 3.2 | 3.7 |
| C+ | 2.3 | 2.8 | 3.3 |
| C | 2.0 | 2.5 | 3.0 |
| C- | 1.7 | 2.2 | 2.7 |
| D+ | 1.3 | 1.8 | 2.3 |
| D | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.0 |
| D- | 0.7 | 1.2 | 1.7 |
| F | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
How the GPA Calculator works
A grade point average is a weighted average, and the weighting is the whole point. Each letter grade maps to a number on a 4.0 scale, that number is multiplied by the course's credit hours to give quality points, and the GPA is total quality points over total credits.
An A in a 4-credit course contributes 16 quality points. A B in a 1-credit course contributes 3. Averaging the letters, treating the A and the B as equally important, would give 3.5, while the real GPA of those two courses is 19/5 = 3.8. The credit hours are what make a GPA different from a grade average, and they are why a bad grade in a heavy course hurts disproportionately.
The standard unweighted US scale runs from A = 4.0 to F = 0.0 in steps of about 0.3, and some schools drop pluses and minuses. A weighted high-school scale adds half a point for an honors course and a full point for AP or IB to any passing grade, so an A in AP Calculus is worth 5.0 and an F is 0.0 at every level.
The cumulative GPA is the same calculation run over every course ever taken, so each new term is a smaller fraction of the record. After 90 credits at a 3.4, a perfect 4.0 term of 14 credits moves the cumulative only to 3.48, and recovering from a poor first year takes longer than most people expect.
Working backwards to a target is the useful direction. To reach a target T over the next C credits, you need (T x (existing credits + C) - existing quality points) / C. If that comes out above 4.0, the target is not reachable in that many credits.
Transfer credits often count for graduation but not for GPA at the receiving institution, which is why a transfer student's cumulative GPA can reset. Repeated courses are handled differently everywhere: some institutions replace the original grade, some average the two, and some count both.
One caution about precision. Institutions differ on whether they truncate or round, and on how many decimal places are official. A 3.4950 might be a 3.50 or a 3.49 depending on the registrar, and honors cutoffs are frequently decided at exactly that boundary. Anything closer than about 0.01 to a threshold is worth confirming against your own institution's published policy rather than any calculator.
GPA Calculator FAQ
How is GPA calculated?
Multiply each course's grade points by its credit hours to get quality points, add those up, and divide by total credit hours. An A (4.0) in a 4-credit course and a B (3.0) in a 1-credit course give (16 + 3) / 5 = 3.8, not 3.5, because the credit hours weight the average.
Does an A+ count as more than 4.0?
It depends on the institution. Many cap A+ at 4.0, which is what this calculator does; some award 4.3, which allows an unweighted GPA above 4.0. Check your registrar's published scale, because the difference compounds across a transcript.
How much can one term change my cumulative GPA?
Less than you would hope, and less each term. With 45 credits at 3.4, a perfect 4.0 over 14 more credits lifts the cumulative to about 3.54. The cumulative is weighted by every credit taken, so its inertia grows. That makes early terms far more valuable than late ones.
Do pass/fail courses affect GPA?
Normally no. They earn credit toward graduation without contributing grade points. Withdrawals usually do not count either, while failures do. Transfer credits often count for graduation but not for GPA.