GPA Calculator

How to calculate your GPA

GPA — Grade Point Average — is a numerical summary of your academic performance, calculated on a 4.0 scale in the United States. Every letter grade you earn corresponds to a grade point value, and your GPA is the weighted average of those values across all your courses, weighted by the number of credit hours each course is worth. Courses with more credit hours have more influence on your GPA than courses with fewer.

The formula is: GPA = (Sum of Grade Points × Credit Hours) ÷ (Total Credit Hours). A student who earns an A (4.0) in a 3-credit course and a C (2.0) in a 4-credit course would have: [(4.0 × 3) + (2.0 × 4)] ÷ (3 + 4) = (12 + 8) ÷ 7 = 2.86 GPA. The C in the heavier-credit course pulls the average down more than the A pulls it up — which is exactly why credit hours matter in a proper grading calculator.

Unweighted GPA vs weighted GPA

An unweighted GPA treats all courses equally on the standard 4.0 scale regardless of difficulty. A student taking all Honors and AP courses and a student taking all regular courses would receive the same grade point value for getting an A in each. An unweighted GPA simply reflects the grades earned, not the difficulty of the courses taken.

A weighted GPA adjusts for course difficulty by adding bonus points for Honors, AP, and IB courses. Under the most common weighted GPA system: Honors courses add 0.5 to the grade point value (so an A becomes 4.5 instead of 4.0); AP (Advanced Placement), IB (International Baccalaureate), and dual enrollment courses add 1.0 (so an A becomes 5.0). The maximum weighted GPA is therefore 5.0 rather than 4.0. Most high schools that offer AP or Honors courses use weighted GPAs on transcripts, though colleges often recalculate on an unweighted basis for comparison purposes. This weighted GPA calculator computes both simultaneously so you can see both numbers at a glance.

Cumulative GPA — tracking multiple semesters

Your cumulative GPA is the GPA calculated across all courses and semesters to date — not just one term. It is the number that appears on your transcript and that colleges and employers see. The calculator above lets you add multiple semesters and calculates both the per-semester GPA and the cumulative GPA across all semesters simultaneously. High school students tracking their GPA across four years, and college students monitoring their standing from freshman year through senior year, can model everything in one place.

Complete GPA and grade scale reference (4.0 scale)

The standard US grading scale converts letter grades to GPA points. The table below shows every letter grade, its percentage range, and the corresponding 4.0 unweighted, 4.5 Honors weighted, and 5.0 AP/IB weighted GPA values. This is the scale used by the vast majority of American high schools and universities.

What is a good GPA? Benchmarks by level

GPA benchmarks vary by context — what's excellent for one application may be average for another. Here is a practical guide to what different GPA ranges mean for high school students, college students, and graduate school applicants:

Homeschool GPA calculator — how to calculate a homeschool GPA

Calculating a GPA for homeschool students follows the same formula as any other GPA calculation, but homeschooling parents have more control over both the grading scale and the credit hour assignments. If you use a structured curriculum, the publisher may assign grades. If you use a mastery-based approach, you convert assessment results to percentage scores, then to letter grades.

The most common credit assignment for homeschool transcripts is based on Carnegie units — the US standard for high school credit:

For college admissions, homeschool students should include a transcript that lists each course, the credit hours, the grade earned, and ideally a brief description of each course. Many admissions officers will also want to see standardised test scores (SAT, ACT, AP exams) to validate the homeschool GPA. Use the homeschool GPA calculator above — the "Add semester" feature works well for organising courses by grade level (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th) rather than semesters.

GPA to percentage and percentage to GPA conversion

Converting between GPA and percentage is not perfectly precise because both are rounded representations of academic performance, but the conversions are well-established. The GPA to percentage table follows a consistent pattern: each major grade point value corresponds to a percentage range, with the midpoint of that range as the reference. A 3.0 GPA corresponds to approximately 83–86% (B range), and a 3.7 corresponds to 90–92% (A- range).

The percentage to GPA calculator works in reverse: if you earned a 91% in a class, that corresponds to a 3.7 GPA (A-). An 85% is a 3.0 GPA (B). An 78% is a 2.3 GPA (C+). The Grade Converter tab in the calculator above handles all of these conversions instantly — enter any value in any format and see the equivalent in the other two.

Target GPA: what grades do I need?

The Target GPA feature in the calculator solves one of the most common questions students ask: "What grades do I need in my remaining courses to reach a specific GPA?" Enter your current GPA (populated automatically from the calculator tab), your target GPA, and the number of credit hours remaining, and the GPA estimator calculates the exact GPA you need to earn in those remaining courses.

This is particularly useful for students approaching graduation requirements, scholarship thresholds, graduate school applications, or academic probation situations. Note that if the required GPA comes back above 4.0, your target is mathematically unachievable with the remaining credits — you would need to either lower your target or find ways to increase remaining credit hours.

Frequently asked questions