GPA Calculator
Weighted GPA from courses, credits, and grades
Add each course with its letter grade and credit hours, and this computes your GPA as a credit-weighted average on the standard 4.0 scale. A 4-credit A and a 1-credit A do not count equally toward your GPA — credit hours are the weight, which is the detail a simple average of letter grades gets wrong.
To calculate a cumulative GPA across multiple semesters, add every course from every semester into the same list; to check a single semester in isolation, only add that semester's courses.
Grade points, credit hours, and quality points
Each letter grade maps to a grade point value (A = 4.0, A- = 3.7, B+ = 3.3, B = 3.0, and so on down to F = 0.0 on the standard scale used by most US institutions). Multiplying a course's grade points by its credit hours gives its "quality points." GPA is the sum of quality points across all courses, divided by the sum of credit hours — not a plain average of the grade points themselves.
Some schools use a 4.3 scale where A+ = 4.3; others cap A+ at 4.0. Check your institution's official scale before treating this as a final, transcript-matching number.
The formula
GPA = Σ(grade points × credit hours) ÷ Σ(credit hours)
This is a weighted average, which is why a single low grade in a high-credit course (like a 4-credit lab science) pulls the overall GPA down more than the same grade in a 1-credit seminar would.
Worked example
| Course | Grade | Credits | Quality Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calculus | A- (3.7) | 4 | 14.8 |
| History | B+ (3.3) | 3 | 9.9 |
| Chemistry Lab | B (3.0) | 1 | 3.0 |
| Writing Seminar | A (4.0) | 3 | 12.0 |
Total quality points: 39.7. Total credits: 11. GPA = 39.7 ÷ 11 = 3.61.
Scale differences and what this doesn't handle
Grading scales are not universal: some schools give no credit for a plus/minus distinction (a straight 4.0/3.0/2.0/1.0/0.0 scale), some cap GPA at 4.0 even for an A+, and some use entirely different scales outside the US (a 10-point or percentage scale, for instance). This calculator uses the common US 4.0 scale with standard plus/minus increments; if your institution's scale differs, the arithmetic (weighted average) is the same but the grade-to-point mapping needs to match your school's official conversion table. Pass/fail, audit, and withdrawn courses are typically excluded from GPA entirely — don't include them here unless your school's policy says otherwise.
Semester GPA vs. cumulative GPA
A semester GPA reflects only the courses taken in one term — useful for tracking whether you're improving term over term, or checking eligibility for a scholarship or dean's list cutoff that's evaluated per-semester. A cumulative GPA is the credit-weighted average across every term you've completed, which is what usually appears on a transcript and what graduate programs and employers typically ask for. To go from a known prior cumulative GPA to a new one after this semester, add a single "course" row representing all prior credits, with the prior cumulative GPA as its grade point value.
Frequently asked questions
Why isn't my GPA just the average of my letter grades?
Because GPA is weighted by credit hours, not a plain average. A 4-credit course affects your GPA four times as much as a 1-credit course with the same grade.
How do I calculate my cumulative GPA if I only know last semester's GPA?
Add a row representing all your prior credits as one entry, using your existing cumulative GPA as its grade point value and your total prior credit hours as its credit hours, then add this semester's individual courses alongside it.
Does a pass/fail class count toward GPA?
Usually not — most institutions exclude pass/fail, audited, and withdrawn courses from the GPA calculation entirely. Check your school's academic policy; if excluded, leave those courses out of this calculator.
What's the difference between a 4.0 scale and a 4.3 scale?
Some schools cap the highest grade (A or A+) at 4.0 grade points; others award 4.3 for an A+. Both are common — use whichever your institution's official grading policy specifies.
Sources and further reading
Figures and definitions on this page are drawn from the following primary sources. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will correct it.