Weighted by credit hours, on the 4.0 scale
Weighted by credit hours, on the 4.0 scale
Grade point average is a weighted mean, not a simple one. Each course contributes in proportion to its credit hours, so a four-credit course affects your GPA twice as much as a two-credit one.
GPA = Σ(grade points × credits) ÷ Σcredits
Enter one course per line as a letter grade followed by credit hours. The calculator converts each grade to points, weights it, and divides by total credits.
Most institutions use these values, though variations exist:
Some schools award 4.3 for an A+; many cap at 4.0. A few use plus and minus grades only in some departments. Your institution's published scale is authoritative — this calculator uses the most common convention.
Five courses: A in a 3-credit, B+ in a 4-credit, B in a 3-credit, C+ in a 4-credit, A− in a 2-credit.
Grade points: (4.0×3) + (3.3×4) + (3.0×3) + (2.3×4) + (3.7×2) = 12 + 13.2 + 9 + 9.2 + 7.4 = 50.8
Total credits: 3 + 4 + 3 + 4 + 2 = 16
GPA = 50.8 ÷ 16 = 3.175, usually reported as 3.18 or 3.17 depending on rounding convention.
Notice that the unweighted average of those five grades would be 3.26 — higher, because the weaker grades happened to fall in the larger courses. This is exactly why the weighting matters.
Unweighted GPA caps at 4.0 regardless of course difficulty. An A in introductory algebra and an A in advanced calculus both count as 4.0.
Weighted GPA, used by many high schools, adds a bonus for honours, AP, or IB courses — often 0.5 or 1.0 extra — which can push the scale above 4.0. A 4.3 weighted GPA is possible and common.
Cumulative GPA covers every term taken. Term GPA covers one only. Because cumulative GPA averages across an increasing number of credits, its momentum grows: a strong single term moves it substantially in year one and barely at all in year four.
Universities receiving applications generally recalculate GPA using their own scale, so a weighted figure from one school is not directly comparable to another's.
The arithmetic is unforgiving in a useful way. With 60 credits completed at a 2.8 GPA, reaching 3.0 requires enough high grades to shift 168 total grade points to at least 180 across a larger denominator — achievable, but it takes sustained results rather than one strong term.
Three practical points. Credit-heavy courses move your GPA most, in both directions. Retaking a failed course sometimes replaces the original grade and sometimes averages with it — policies differ and the distinction matters enormously. And courses graded pass/fail usually contribute credits without grade points, which neither helps nor harms the average.
Above all, the earlier in a programme a poor grade occurs, the more time there is to dilute it. The same grade in a final term is much harder to offset.
Multiply each course's grade points by its credit hours, add those products, then divide by total credit hours. It is a weighted average, so larger courses count for more.
Unweighted GPA caps at 4.0 regardless of course difficulty. Weighted GPA adds a bonus for honours, AP, or IB courses, which can push the total above 4.0.
A 3.0 corresponds to a B average and is generally considered solid. Expectations vary widely by institution, programme, and purpose - competitive graduate programmes often look for considerably higher.
Usually not. They typically award credit hours without grade points, so they neither raise nor lower the average. Policies differ by institution, so check yours.