GPA Calculator
Calculate your grade point average by entering your course grades and credits in the GPA calculator below.
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How to Calculate Your GPA
A grade point average (GPA) is a standard way of measuring academic achievement in the U.S. A GPA is a numerical representation of a student’s average performance across all of their classes.
To calculate a GPA, you need to follow a few steps.
Step One: Assign A GPA to Each Grade
The first step is to assign each grade a point value. The point values used in most systems are:
| Letter Grade | GPA |
|---|---|
| A | 4.0 |
| B | 3.0 |
| C | 2.0 |
| D | 1.0 |
| F | 0.0 |
In institutions that use a plus (+) or minus (-) with the grade, you can find the GPA for each course using this chart:
| Letter Grade | GPA |
|---|---|
| A+ | 4.33 |
| A | 4.0 |
| A- | 3.67 |
| B+ | 3.33 |
| B | 3.0 |
| B- | 2.67 |
| C+ | 2.33 |
| C | 2.0 |
| C- | 1.67 |
| D+ | 1.33 |
| D | 1.0 |
| D- | 0.67 |
| F | 0.0 |
You can also use our letter grade to GPA converter to find the point value for each course.
Step Two: Find the Weighted Grade
The next step is to multiply each course’s point value by the number of credit hours to calculate a weighted grade for that course. This step is only necessary for institutions where each course has a varied number of credits or hours.
Step Three: Calculate the GPA
The final step is to calculate the GPA using the weighted grades. To do this, add all the weighted grade points found in step two (above) together.
Then, divide this by the total number of credit hours. This is essentially the weighted grade formula:
Thus, the GPA is equal to the sum of the products of each course’s GPA and its credit hours, divided by the total number of credit hours.
Weighted GPAs
While the basic grade point average is straightforward, many high schools and universities use a weighted GPA. This takes into account the difficulty of the courses.
For instance:
- Regular course: A = 4.0
- Honors course: A = 4.5
- Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) course: A = 5.0
When calculating a weighted GPA, you’d follow the same process but using the weighted values. Generally, you can add 0.5 points to the GPA for honors courses and 1 point for AP or IB courses. Keep in mind that different institutions may use a different scale for this.
Difference between High School and University GPAs
There are a few differences when calculating a high school GPA versus a college GPA.
- Scale Variance: While many high schools and universities use a 4.0 scale, some universities use different scales, such as a 4.3 or 5.0.
- Course Rigor: As mentioned earlier, high schools often factor in the rigor of courses (like honors or AP courses) into the GPA, leading to a weighted GPA. While some colleges use weighted scales for honors courses, many do not.
- Credit Hours: University courses often have different credit hours depending on the course’s workload. This means some courses can impact your GPA more than others.
For example, let’s calculate the GPA for a student who has completed three courses:
- History (3 credit hours) with a grade B (3.0 points)
- Math (4 credit hours) with a grade A (4.0 points)
- English (3 credit hours) with a grade C (2.0 points)
Start by multiplying each course’s grade points by its credit hours:
- History: 3.0 × 3.0 = 9.0
- Math: 4.0 × 4.0 = 16.0
- English: 2.0 × 3.0 = 6.0
Then, add all the grade points together:
9.0 + 16.0 + 6.0 = 31.0
Finally, divide by the total number of credit hours taken:
31.0 ÷ 10 = 3.1
In this example, the student’s GPA is 3.1.