GPA Calculator
An A in a 3-credit course and a B in a 4-credit course work out to a 3.43 GPA, not 3.5, because GPA weights every grade by its credit hours. This GPA calculator computes your weighted grade point average from any number of courses using grade points and credit hours. Enter the grade points you earned in each class on a standard 0.0 to 4.0 scale, add the credit hours for that class, and the tool multiplies the two together to get quality points before dividing the total by your total credits. It works for a single semester, a full transcript, or a quick projection of how an upcoming course might move your average, and it is built for students, advisors, and parents who need an accurate number without doing the multiplication by hand. Most schools already grade this way behind the scenes, so a plain average of your letter grades will not match your official GPA unless every course carries the same number of credits. A 4-credit lab and a 1-credit seminar do not count equally toward your average, and treating them as if they did is one of the most common self-calculation mistakes students make before checking their real transcript.
Quick answer
GPA is weighted by credit hours, not a plain average of your grades.
What this tells you
- •GPA is weighted by credit hours, not a plain average of your grades.
- •Quality points are grade points multiplied by credits for each course.
- •Final GPA is total quality points divided by total credit hours.
- •A higher-credit course pulls your GPA further in its direction than a lower-credit course with the same grade.
- •This estimate assumes your school uses a compatible 0.0 to 4.0 unweighted grade-point scale.
- •The calculator accepts as many course rows as you need, so a full semester or full transcript works the same way as a two-course check.
How to Use
- 1Convert each letter grade to its grade point value on your school's scale (A = 4.0, B = 3.0, and so on) before entering it.
- 2Enter each course's grade point value in the Grade points field, using a decimal between 0.0 and 4.0.
- 3Enter the matching credit hours for that same course in the Credits field.
- 4Add or remove course rows until every class you want included is listed.
- 5Click Calculate to see your GPA along with the total credits and total quality points used to compute it.
- 6If a course is pass/fail or otherwise excluded from GPA at your school, leave it out of the calculation entirely.
How It Works
Formula
GPA = Sum(grade points x credits) / Sum(credits)Each course contributes quality points, which equal that course's grade points multiplied by its credit hours. The calculator adds up every course's quality points, then divides by the sum of all credit hours to produce your weighted GPA. A course is only worth as much as its credit load. A 4.0 in a 1-credit seminar barely moves the total, while a 4.0 in a 4-credit core class carries much more weight. This is the standard weighted GPA method used by most US high schools and colleges, and it assumes grade points already sit on a 0.0 to 4.0 unweighted scale rather than a weighted or plus/minus scale with different maximums.
Calculation note: values are processed in the order shown above, using the current input units.
Worked Examples
Three-course weighted GPA
Quality points are 12.0 for the first course, 12.0 for the second, and 11.1 for the third, adding up to 35.1 across 10 total credits. Dividing 35.1 by 10 gives a 3.51 GPA. Notice the middle course carries the most credit weight, so its B grade pulls the average down more than either A-range grade pulls it up.
Four-course semester with a mix of grades
Quality points total 12.0, 9.9, 14.8, and 4.0 for a combined 40.7 across 12 credit hours. Dividing 40.7 by 12 gives a 3.39 GPA. The 4-credit A- course has the largest single impact on the result because it carries more weight than any other class this term.
Five-course semester including a weak grade
Adding up quality points gives 12.0, 9.0, 8.1, 6.9, and 2.0 for a total of 38.0 across 14 credits, which is 2.71 when rounded. Even though four of the five courses are C or better, the single D-range grade is enough to keep the semester average out of B territory. This is a realistic case where a student wants to see how much one weak grade drags down an otherwise solid term.
Recovering from a failed course
Three straight A grades produce 36.0 quality points across 9 credits, but a failed 4-credit course adds zero quality points while still counting toward total credits, bringing the denominator to 13. The result is 36.0 divided by 13, or 2.77. This shows why a single 0.0 grade in a heavy course can outweigh several strong grades in lighter ones.
Straight A's across different credit loads
When every grade point value is identical, the credit weighting has no effect on the outcome. Quality points are 12.0, 16.0, and 4.0 for a total of 32.0 across 8 credits, and 32.0 divided by 8 is exactly 4.00. This is the one case where a straight average and the weighted formula always agree.
Common Letter Grade to Grade Point Scale
A typical unweighted 4.0 grade-point scale used by many US high schools and colleges.
| Letter grade | Grade points | Typical percentage range |
|---|---|---|
| A | 4.0 | 93-100 |
| 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 |
| F | 0.0 | Below 63 |
Percentage cutoffs and plus/minus availability vary by school. Always check your syllabus or registrar's published scale before converting letter grades.
Weighted GPA vs. a plain grade average
A plain average adds up your grade points and divides by the number of courses, treating a 1-credit elective the same as a 5-credit lab science course. Weighted GPA instead divides by total credit hours, so heavier courses have a proportionally larger effect on the final number. This matters most when your credit loads vary from class to class, which is normal for almost every semester.
Two students can have the exact same list of letter grades and still end up with different GPAs if their credit hours are distributed differently. That is why comparing GPA across students, or checking your own GPA against a target for a scholarship or program, only works reliably when both numbers are calculated with the same weighted method.
This calculator does not apply the extra weighting some schools add for honors, AP, or IB courses, which can push grade points above 4.0 on a school-specific scale. If your school uses weighted-course bonuses, enter the grade points exactly as your school lists them for that course rather than the standard unweighted value.
Common mistakes
- Averaging grade points without credit weights, which treats a 1-credit course the same as a 4-credit course.
- Using letter grades directly instead of converting them to grade points first based on your school's official scale.
- Entering zero credits for a course, which the calculator rejects because it cannot divide by zero credit hours.
- Forgetting to include a failed or withdrawn course that your school still counts toward GPA.
- Mixing a weighted honors or AP scale with an unweighted 4.0 scale in the same calculation, which produces an inconsistent result.
- Rounding individual grade points before entering them, which introduces small errors that compound across multiple courses.
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