Is an A+ worth 4.0 or 4.3?

It depends on the school. Most US colleges cap the scale at 4.0, so an A+ counts the same as an A, and that is the default here. If your school awards 4.3 for an A+, switch the grading scale to 4.3. A 4.5 scale, used by many Korean universities, is also available.

How do pass/fail courses affect my GPA?

Usually they don't. A pass earns credits toward graduation but no grade points, so it is left out of the GPA. Simply don't add pass/fail courses here. A failing grade in a pass/fail course is treated differently from school to school.

What if I retake a course?

Many colleges replace the first grade with the new one, or average the two. Check your school's repeat policy, then enter only the grade (or grades) that will count.

Does this work for weighted high school GPAs?

Not directly. Weighted GPAs add extra points for honors, AP or IB classes, often up to 5.0, and the bonus varies by district. This calculator gives an unweighted GPA on the scale you choose.

Why is my calculated GPA slightly different from my transcript?

Transcripts may round or truncate to two or three decimal places, use plus/minus values that differ slightly from the common scale, or exclude transfer credits. Small differences in the second decimal place are normal.

Can I use half credits?

Yes. Enter decimal credits such as 0.5 or 1.5 for labs, studios or short courses, and they are weighted accordingly.

How can I plan the grades I need for a target GPA?

Enter your current cumulative GPA and credits, add next term's courses, and try different grades until the new cumulative GPA reaches your target. The more credits you have already completed, the more slowly the overall figure moves.

GPA Calculator – Calculate Your College GPA (4.0 Scale)

Work out your semester and cumulative GPA on the 4.0 scale from letter grades and credits.

How to use

For each course, choose the letter grade you received or expect and enter its credit hours. Naming the course is optional.
Use "Add course" for more rows and "Remove" to delete one. Rows without a grade are ignored.
Read your GPA for these courses, together with total credits and quality points. It updates on every change.
To see your overall GPA, enter your current cumulative GPA and the credits you have completed so far in the optional section.

How GPA is calculated

GPA, short for grade point average, turns letter grades into a single number between 0 and 4 (or 4.3 / 4.5 on those scales). Each grade is worth a fixed number of grade points, and each course counts in proportion to its credit hours, so a four-credit course moves your GPA more than a one-credit lab. The calculation has three steps:

Quality points per course. Multiply the grade’s point value by the course credits. A B+ (3.3) in a 4-credit course gives 13.2 quality points.
Add everything up. Sum the quality points of all courses and, separately, all the credits.
Divide. GPA = total quality points ÷ total credits.

The grade scale used here

By default this calculator uses the plus/minus scale that most US colleges publish: A+ and A are 4.0, A− is 3.7, B+ 3.3, B 3.0, B− 2.7, C+ 2.3, C 2.0, C− 1.7, D+ 1.3, D 1.0, D− 0.7 and F 0. Each plus or minus is worth about a third of a grade point. A few schools give 4.3 for an A+, and some don’t use minus grades at all or skip D− entirely. If your school’s handbook lists different values, the result here is a close approximation rather than an official figure. If your school uses a 4.3 or 4.5 scale, switch the grading scale above the course list.

This is an unweighted scale: an A is worth 4.0 whether the class is regular, honors or AP. High schools that report a weighted GPA add bonus points for those classes, which is why a weighted GPA can go above 4.0.

Worked example

The four rows that are filled in when the page opens show a typical semester:

A in a 3-credit course: 4.0 × 3 = 12.0 points
B+ in a 4-credit course: 3.3 × 4 = 13.2 points
A− in a 3-credit course: 3.7 × 3 = 11.1 points
B in a 3-credit course: 3.0 × 3 = 9.0 points

Together that is 45.3 quality points over 13 credits, so the semester GPA is 45.3 ÷ 13 ≈ 3.48. Note that a plain average of the four grade values would be 3.5. The difference comes from the 4-credit B+ pulling the result down a little, which is why credits matter.

Semester GPA versus cumulative GPA

Your semester (or term) GPA covers only the courses you list. Your cumulative GPA covers everything you have taken at the school. To combine them, the calculator turns your current cumulative GPA back into quality points by multiplying it by the credits you have completed, adds this term’s points and credits, and divides again. A student with a 3.20 GPA over 45 credits who earns the semester above ends up with (3.20 × 45 + 45.3) ÷ 58 ≈ 3.26.

This also shows why raising a GPA gets harder over time. After 100 credits, a perfect 4.0 semester of 15 credits lifts a 3.0 cumulative GPA only to about 3.13.

Tips

Use the credit hours from your registration or degree audit, not the number of class meetings per week.
Leave out courses graded pass/fail, audited courses and transfer credit unless your school includes them in the GPA.
When checking scholarship, Dean’s List or Latin honors thresholds, look up whether the cutoff uses a rounded or an exact GPA.

GPA Calculator