GPA Calculator
Calculate your weighted GPA on the 4.0 scale
Your GPA
0.00
Total Credits
0
A GPA is a credit-weighted average, which means a four-credit course moves your number roughly twice as much as a two-credit course. This calculator takes a list of courses with their credits and letter grades and returns the weighted GPA to two decimals plus the total credits counted, updating live as you edit the rows. It is useful for checking a semester before grades post, building a cumulative record, and running what-if scenarios for a target GPA.
How Your GPA Is Computed
Each letter grade is converted to a grade point value, multiplied by that course’s credits to produce quality points, and the quality points are summed. The GPA is then the total quality points divided by the total credits:
GPA = sum(points × credits) / sum(credits)
Rows are ignored when the credits are blank, zero, or negative, or when the grade is not in the supported list. If no row qualifies, the result is 0.00 with 0 credits rather than an error.
The calculator keeps the full fractional value internally and rounds only the final GPA to two decimals for display, so it does not accumulate the rounding error you get from a spreadsheet that rounds each course’s contribution first. The total credits figure is shown as a whole number when it is whole and to one decimal otherwise, which matters when half-credit labs are included. Because the divisor is the sum of the credits you actually entered, adding a row with a blank grade does not shift the result at all; the row simply does not exist as far as the math is concerned.
Grade Points at a Glance
| Letter | Points | Letter | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 4.0 | C+ | 2.3 |
| A- | 3.7 | C | 2.0 |
| B+ | 3.3 | C- | 1.7 |
| B | 3.0 | D | 1.0 |
| B- | 2.7 | F | 0.0 |
Credit hours accept half steps, so a 0.5-credit lab can be entered as 0.5. The scale is fixed, which keeps the output comparable across semesters but also means an A+ or a weighted honors course is not modeled.
Worked Example: One Semester
| Course | Credits | Grade | Points | Quality points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calculus | 4 | A | 4.0 | 16.0 |
| English | 3 | B+ | 3.3 | 9.9 |
| Physics | 4 | B | 3.0 | 12.0 |
| History | 3 | A- | 3.7 | 11.1 |
Total credits = 14. Total quality points = 16.0 + 9.9 + 12.0 + 11.1 = 49.0. GPA = 49.0 / 14 = 3.50. Notice that the two-credit difference between Calculus and English is what pulls the result up: English at a B+ contributes less than half of Calculus at an A despite being a strong grade.
To see the effect of credits directly, change English from a B+ to an A while leaving everything else alone. English then contributes 3 × 4.0 = 12.0 instead of 9.9, the total rises to 51.1, and the GPA becomes 51.1 / 14 = 3.65. Now make the same change to the three-credit History course instead and the total only reaches 50.2, a GPA of 3.59. The same letter-grade improvement is worth more in the course with more credits, which is the entire point of a weighted average.
Combining Semesters Into a Cumulative GPA
You can either enter every course from every term into a single list, or convert a previously computed GPA into quality points. To convert, multiply the GPA by the credits it covers. If your first year was 3.20 over 30 credits, that is 96.0 quality points. Adding this semester’s 49.0 points over 14 credits gives 145.0 points over 44 credits, or 3.30 cumulative. Averaging 3.20 and 3.50 would wrongly suggest 3.35, because the two terms carry different credit weights.
Planning a Target GPA
The same quality-points formula answers what grades you need going forward:
required future GPA = (target × total credits − current points) / future credits
If you currently hold 96.0 points over 30 credits and will take 30 more credits, reaching a 3.50 overall requires 3.50 × 60 = 210.0 points, so you need 210.0 − 96.0 = 114.0 points from the next 30 credits, an average of 3.80. Enter hypothetical rows in the calculator and watch the result move until it hits your goal.
Limitations and Common Mistakes
- Averaging GPAs instead of weighting by credits. This is the single most common error and it produces a different, usually wrong, cumulative number.
- Leaving a failed course off the list. An F counts for zero quality points but still adds its credits to the denominator, lowering the GPA. If you skip it, your result will be too high.
- Including pass/fail credits in the denominator. If the credits are entered but no letter grade is chosen, the row is skipped, which matches how most schools treat these courses.
- Using the fixed 4.0 table for a different scale. A+ = 4.3, A+ = 4.0, and 5.0 weighted scales are not supported.
- Forgetting that only the credits and grade matter. The course name is a label, not an input to the math.
Related Tools
- Grade Calculator — Turn raw scores into letter grades and percentages.
- Percentage Calculator — Calculate percentages, changes, and ratios.
- Average Calculator — Calculate mean, median, mode, and more.
- Unit Converter — Convert between different units of measurement.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is there no A+ option in the grade list?
This calculator uses a fixed 4.0 scale capped at A = 4.0, the most common unweighted scale in the United States. It has no A+, which some schools score at 4.3, and no D+ or D-. If your school publishes a different scale, the resulting number will differ, so check your registrar's official table before relying on it for an application.
Are pass/fail, withdrawn, or incomplete courses counted?
No. A course is included only when it has a grade from the supported list and a credit value greater than zero. Leave the credits blank or at zero for pass/fail, audit, withdrawn, or incomplete courses and the row is skipped entirely, exactly as most transcripts exclude them from the GPA.
How do I combine two separate GPAs into one cumulative GPA?
Do not average the two GPA numbers, because they probably cover different credit totals. Multiply each GPA by its credits to get quality points, add the quality points, add the credits, then divide. For example 3.20 over 30 credits gives 96.0 quality points, and 3.50 over 14 credits gives 49.0; together that is 145.0 over 44 credits, a cumulative GPA of 3.30, not the 3.35 you get from a plain average.
Do the course names I type affect the result?
No. The course name field is an optional label that only helps you keep track of which row is which. Only the credits and the letter grade are used in the calculation, and blank names are perfectly fine.
Can I use the calculator for a weighted 5.0 scale or an A+ = 4.3 scale?
Not directly, because the grade points are fixed to the 4.0 table shown below. If your school uses a 5.0 weighted scale for honors and AP courses, the tool cannot reproduce it. You can still use it for the unweighted portion, or convert your grades to the matching 4.0 letters first.
What average do I need next term to raise my GPA to a target?
Use the quality-points method. Multiply your target GPA by the total credits you will have after the new term to get the points you need in total, subtract the points you already have (current GPA times current credits), and divide the remainder by the new credits. The worked example below shows the arithmetic for a common case.
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