GPA calculator. Semester, cumulative and the GPA you need.

A GPA is an average of grade points, weighted by credits. Each letter grade has a point value. Multiply it by the course's credits to get that course's quality points, add up the quality points, then divide by the credits you were graded in. A four-credit class moves the result more than a one-credit lab, because it carries four times the weight.

Here's the example the calculator opens with. Calculus I is 4 credits with a B+ (3.3), so it earns 4 × 3.3 = 13.2 quality points. English Composition is 3 credits with an A: 12.0. Intro to Psychology is 3 credits with an A−: 11.1. Biology is 3 credits with a B: 9.0. That's 45.3 quality points over 13 credits, and 45.3 ÷ 13 = 3.4846, which rounds to a 3.48 semester GPA.

Most US colleges, and many high schools, use the same plus/minus points: 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 and F 0.0. The A+ is where schools split. Many cap it at 4.0, which is the calculator's default, while others give it 4.3. Some don't use pluses and minuses at all, so a B+ is simply a B. Your registrar or student handbook has the table your school actually uses.

If you only have a percentage, the calculator converts it with the common cut-offs: 93 and up is an A, 90 an A−, 87 a B+, 83 a B, 80 a B−, 77 a C+, 73 a C, 70 a C−, 67 a D+, 63 a D, 60 a D−, and anything lower an F. Schools and even individual instructors draw these lines differently, and some round 92.5 up to an A, so look at the syllabus when a grade sits near a line.

An unweighted GPA treats every class the same: an A is a 4.0 in regular English and in AP Chemistry alike. A weighted GPA, which many high schools report, adds a bonus for harder classes. A common version adds 0.5 for honors and 1.0 for AP or IB, so an A in an AP class counts as 5.0. A failing grade earns no bonus.

Take five one-credit classes: AP Biology with a B+, Honors English with an A−, Algebra II with a B, Spanish II with an A and Health with an A. Unweighted, that's (3.3 + 3.7 + 3.0 + 4.0 + 4.0) ÷ 5 = 3.60. Weighted, the AP grade becomes 4.3 and the honors grade 4.2, so it's (4.3 + 4.2 + 3.0 + 4.0 + 4.0) ÷ 5 = 3.90. The calculator shows both side by side when weighting is on.

Weighting rules vary from school to school and district to district. Some add a full point for honors, some weight only certain grade levels, and some cap how many bonus points count. Colleges may also recalculate an applicant's GPA their own way, for example by stripping the weighting or keeping only core academic classes. Report the GPA on your transcript, and treat the weighted figure here as an estimate of it.

Your semester (or term) GPA covers one term's courses. Your cumulative GPA covers every graded course on your record. To combine them, don't average the two numbers. Turn each back into quality points, add those, and divide by all the credits together.

Say your GPA before this term was 3.20 over 45 credits. That's 3.2 × 45 = 144 quality points. Add this term's 45.3 quality points over 13 credits and you have 189.3 over 58 credits, a 3.26 cumulative GPA. Averaging 3.20 and 3.48 would give 3.34, which overstates it, because this term is only 13 of your 58 credits.

The more credits already behind you, the less one term can move the total. With a 3.00 over 90 credits, a perfect 4.0 across 15 credits lifts you to 330 ÷ 105 = 3.14, and a rough 2.0 term pulls you down to 2.86. Compare a first-year student with a 3.00 over their first 15 credits: the same perfect term takes them to 3.50. Early terms set the direction; late ones mostly fine-tune it.

The "What GPA do I need?" panel runs this backward. From a 3.00 over 90 credits, reaching a 3.20 with 30 credits left means averaging (3.2 × 120 − 270) ÷ 30 = 3.80 on those credits. A 3.30 would need 4.20, which a 4.0 scale can't give you; even averaging 4.0 it would take about 39 more credits. When the answer is out of reach, set a closer target. If a single course is the problem, the final grade calculator shows what you need on its exam.

Counting pass/fail classes. A pass earns credit but usually no grade points, so most schools leave pass/fail courses out of both the quality points and the credits. Withdrawals (W) and incompletes are usually left out too, and at many schools so are transfer credits. How a failed pass/fail course counts differs by school. In the calculator, choose P/F - not counted, or remove the row.

Assuming a retake replaces the old grade. Repeated-course policies vary a lot. Some schools replace the first grade, some average the attempts, and some count both. If yours replaces it, enter only the new grade. If it counts both, enter both attempts as separate rows.

Ignoring credits, or rounding too early. A plain average of your letter grades only works when every class has the same credits. Rounding each step also drifts, so keep full numbers until the end, which is what the calculator does before it shows two decimals. A previous GPA you type in is already rounded, so a cumulative built from it can differ from your transcript in the last digit.

Treating any calculator as official. Your registrar's figure is the one that counts. If it disagrees with what you worked out, check the scale and the policies above before you doubt the arithmetic.