GPA Calculator
Calculate your semester and cumulative GPA from your courses, credit hours, and grades — with weighted Honors/AP support and a target-GPA planner.
How to use the GPA calculator
- 1
Pick the grading scale your school uses, and turn on weighted grading if you take Honors or AP/IB courses.
- 2
Add each course with its credit hours and grade. Use "Add another course" for as many as you need.
- 3
Optionally enter your prior GPA and credits to fold this semester into your overall cumulative GPA, and use the target-GPA planner to see what average you need going forward.
How GPA is calculated
GPA is a credit-weighted average, not a simple average of your letter grades. A 4-credit class counts four times as much as a 1-credit class, which is why two students with the same letter grades can end up with different GPAs if their course loads are weighted differently.
Quality points are the bridge between letter grades and a single number: each grade converts to a point value on your chosen scale (for example A = 4.0), multiplied by that course's credit hours. Add up every course's quality points, divide by total credit hours, and the result is your GPA.
Cumulative GPA works the same way across your entire academic history — this calculator converts your prior GPA back into quality points using your prior credit total, adds this semester's quality points, and divides by the new combined credit total.
Grading scales explained
| Scale | A+ | A | A- | B+ | B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard (whole letters) | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| 4.0 with +/- (A+ capped) | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.7 | 3.3 | 3.0 |
| 4.3 with +/- (A+ = 4.3) | 4.3 | 4.0 | 3.7 | 3.3 | 3.0 |
Your school's registrar or catalog states which scale applies — check your transcript or student handbook if you're not sure, since the difference only shows up on plus/minus grades.
Weighted vs. unweighted GPA
Unweighted GPA is the simpler, more portable number — every course counts the same regardless of difficulty, capped at 4.0. It's the version most often used to compare students across different schools.
Weighted GPA rewards harder course loads by adding bonus points — commonly +0.5 for Honors and +1.0 for AP/IB/college-level classes — which is why weighted GPAs can exceed 4.0. High schools use this to reflect that an A in AP Calculus took more work than an A in a standard-level class.
Many colleges recalculate applicants' GPA to their own unweighted or partially-weighted formula during admissions, so a high weighted GPA doesn't always translate one-to-one. It's worth knowing both your weighted and unweighted numbers — toggle the checkbox in the calculator above to see each. If you need a raw percentage-to-letter-grade conversion first, our Percentage Calculator can help before you enter a course here.
Need to convert a raw score or percentage into a grade first? Try the Percentage Calculator →
Frequently asked questions
Related guides
How GPA is actually calculated from grade points and credit hours, why it's a weighted average and not a simple one, and how to combine a new semester with your cumulative GPA.
Read the guide →Weighted and unweighted GPA can differ by a full point or more for the same transcript — here's exactly how the bonus points work and why colleges often recalculate both.
Read the guide →How to work backward from a GPA goal to figure out what average grade you need across your remaining credits — with the formula and a worked example.
Read the guide →