GPA Calculator
Enter each course, its letter grade and its credits. The GPA updates as you type, using the standard 4.0 scale.
How to use this GPA calculator
- Type a course name (optional, it only labels the row).
- Pick the letter grade you earned.
- Enter the credits the course is worth — 3 or 4 for most semester courses, 0.5 for some labs and seminars.
- Leave the course type on Regular unless it is an honors or AP/IB class.
The result updates as you type, so there is no separate "submit" step. The number shown is credit-weighted: a four-credit course moves your GPA more than a one-credit course with the same grade.
How GPA is calculated
Every letter grade maps to a grade point. The GPA is the credit-weighted mean of those points:
GPA = Σ(grade point × credits) ÷ Σ(credits)
A simple average of the grade points is wrong. If you take a 4-credit A and a 1-credit C, your GPA is not 3.0 — it is (4×4.0 + 1×2.0) ÷ 5 = 3.60.
Letter grade to grade point chart
This is the standard 4.0 scale used by many US colleges and high schools. Your own school may publish a slightly different table — check the handbook before relying on the result for a scholarship or transfer application.
| Letter | Grade point | Letter | Grade point |
|---|---|---|---|
| A+ | 4.0 | C+ | 2.3 |
| A | 4.0 | C | 2.0 |
| A− | 3.7 | C− | 1.7 |
| B+ | 3.3 | D+ | 1.3 |
| B | 3.0 | D | 1.0 |
| B− | 2.7 | D− | 0.7 |
| F | 0.0 | ||
Some schools award 4.3 for an A+ and some do not count A+ at all. A few use a 4.3 or 5.0 ceiling. If your transcript shows a number above 4.0, your school uses a weighted or extended scale.
Worked example
| Course | Grade | Points | Credits | Quality points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Biology | A | 4.0 | 4 | 16.0 |
| Calculus | B+ | 3.3 | 4 | 13.2 |
| English | A− | 3.7 | 3 | 11.1 |
| Chemistry | B | 3.0 | 4 | 12.0 |
| History | A | 4.0 | 3 | 12.0 |
| Total | — | 18 | 64.3 |
64.3 ÷ 18 = 3.57. The unweighted average of the five letter grades would be 3.60 — close here, but it drifts apart quickly once course credits differ.
What the number does and does not tell you
GPA is a summary of grades, not a measure of what you learned. Two students with the same 3.5 can have very different transcripts, and selective colleges routinely recalculate GPA using their own method — dropping freshman year, ignoring plus/minus, or adding their own weight to AP courses. Treat the figure here as arithmetic on your own records, not as an admission prediction.
Common questions
Why is my result different from my transcript?
The three usual causes: your school uses a different letter-to-point table, it excludes certain courses (pass/fail, transfer, repeated), or it weights honors and AP courses. The grade chart above is the most common version, not a universal one.
Do plus and minus grades count?
Only if your school records them. A school that posts a plain “B” for a 86 and for an 83 will produce a higher GPA than one that splits B+ and B−. The calculator uses the split table because most US institutions do.
How much can one bad grade move my GPA?
Divide the course credits by your total credits earned. A 3-credit course inside 90 earned credits is 3.3% of the total, so dropping from an A to a C costs roughly 0.07 GPA points — not the catastrophe students usually expect. The earlier in your degree, the larger the effect.
Is a 3.5 GPA good?
It is above the average at most US colleges, which puts it in range for many graduate programs and internships, and it is roughly the middle of the admitted pool at selective universities. The honest answer is that the number only means something next to your major, your school's grading culture, and the specific program you are applying to.
All calculators and guides
Every page on this site. Each one is a single-purpose tool or a reference table with the formula printed next to it.