GPA Calculator

How to Use the GPA Calculator

Choose Semester to calculate GPA from a list of courses. Enter each course's credit value and letter grade, then add or remove courses as needed.

Choose Cumulative if you already have a GPA. Enter your current cumulative GPA and completed credits, then add the courses from your new semester.

Choose Target GPA to find the average GPA you would need over a future number of credits to reach a particular cumulative GPA.

How Semester GPA Is Calculated

Each letter grade has a grade-point value. The calculator multiplies that value by the course credits to get quality points for the course.

The quality points from all courses are added together, then divided by the total number of credits.

For example, a 3-credit A contributes 12 quality points because 3 × 4.0 = 12. A 3-credit B contributes 9 quality points because 3 × 3.0 = 9.

Why Course Credits Matter

Courses with more credits have a larger effect on GPA. A grade in a 4-credit course influences the result more than the same grade in a 1-credit course.

This is why simply averaging letter-grade point values can give the wrong result when courses have different credit values.

How Cumulative GPA Is Calculated

A cumulative GPA combines your previous academic record with the new semester rather than averaging the two GPA numbers directly.

The calculator first converts the previous GPA and completed credits into previous quality points. It then adds the new semester's quality points and divides by the new total number of credits.

This means a semester with only a few credits usually changes a long-established cumulative GPA less than a semester with many credits.

How the Target GPA Calculator Works

Target mode solves for the average GPA required over a selected number of future credits.

For example, if you currently have a 3.20 GPA over 30 credits and want a 3.50 cumulative GPA after another 30 credits, you would need an average GPA of 3.80 over those future credits.

If the required GPA is above 4.00, the calculator marks the target as unreachable within the selected number of credits on this scale. Increasing the number of future credits can change what is mathematically possible.

The 4.0 Grade Scale Used Here

This calculator uses A+ = 4.0, A = 4.0, A− = 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.

That mapping is common, but it is not universal. Some institutions assign different values to plus and minus grades, give A+ more than 4.0 points, omit certain grades, or use an entirely different scale.

Check your school's official grading policy if you need a GPA for academic planning or an official application.

Weighted vs Unweighted GPA

This calculator is unweighted in the sense that a letter grade always has the same grade-point value. It does not add extra points for honors, AP, IB, or similar course levels.

Course credits still matter. A 4-credit class has four times the weight of a 1-credit class in the GPA calculation.

If your school uses a weighted high-school GPA scale such as 5.0 or adds bonus grade points for advanced courses, its official result may differ.

Quality Points

Quality points are the product of a course's credits and its grade-point value. They are the weighted values used to calculate GPA.

A 4-credit course with a B+ at 3.3 points contributes 13.2 quality points. A 2-credit course with the same grade contributes 6.6.

Adding quality points before dividing by total credits is what makes the GPA correctly reflect course credit weight.

GPA Formulas

GPA is a credit-weighted average of grade points. Cumulative and target GPA calculations use the same quality-point principle.

$c_i$

Credits for a course

$g_i$

Grade points for a course

$G$

Grade point average

$C$

Number of credits

$Q$

Quality points

Examples

Frequently Asked Questions