The 4.0 GPA Scale
One letter grade, one grade point, weighted by credits. That is the whole scale — the variation lives in the cutoffs each school chooses.
One table, two functions
The 4.0 scale does two jobs at once: it turns a letter grade into a number, and it turns a list of courses into one weighted average. Both steps are simple, and almost every disagreement about GPA comes from the second step or from a school that uses a slightly different first step.
| Letter | Grade point | Typical percentage | What it usually means |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 4.0 | 93–100 | Excellent |
| A− | 3.7 | 90–92 | Excellent, minor gaps |
| B+ | 3.3 | 87–89 | Good, above average |
| B | 3.0 | 83–86 | Good |
| B− | 2.7 | 80–82 | Satisfactory |
| C+ | 2.3 | 77–79 | Average |
| C | 2.0 | 73–76 | Average, minimum for many programs |
| C− | 1.7 | 70–72 | Below average |
| D+ / D / D− | 1.3 / 1.0 / 0.7 | 60–69 | Passing, usually not for the major |
| F | 0.0 | below 60 | No credit |
The percentage column is a convention, not a definition. A school that says 92 is an A− and another that says 90 is an A− are both using a 4.0 scale; the points per letter are the same.
The weighted average
GPA = Σ(grade point × credits) ÷ Σ(credits)
Credits are the weight. A three-course term looks like this:
| Course | Grade | Points | Credits | Quality points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calculus | A | 4.0 | 4 | 16.0 |
| Psychology | B | 3.0 | 3 | 9.0 |
| Chemistry | C+ | 2.3 | 3 | 6.9 |
| Total | — | 10 | 31.9 |
31.9 ÷ 10 = 3.19. Note that the simple average of the three grade points would be 3.10 — a small difference here, and a large one when credits vary more.
Unweighted and weighted 4.0
There are two different things called "weighted", and mixing them up causes most of the confusion around GPA:
- Credit-weighted — every GPA is this. Courses count according to their credits. It is not an alternative scale.
- Course-weighted — honors and AP courses get extra points, pushing the ceiling to 4.5 or 5.0. This is a school policy, and it is what the weighted GPA calculator handles.
An unweighted 4.0 scale means the second kind is not applied: every A is 4.0 regardless of the course's difficulty, and the maximum is 4.0.
Where schools deviate
- A+ as 4.3. Some schools award more than 4.0 for an A+; a few treat A+ and A identically. Both are common, and it changes the ceiling of the scale.
- No plus/minus. If the transcript only has A/B/C/D/F, an 89 and an 83 are both 3.0, which usually produces a lower GPA than the split table.
- Grade replacement. Many US colleges let a retake replace the first attempt in the GPA. Others average both attempts. The same transcript can produce two different numbers under the two policies.
- Excluded courses. Pass/fail, transfer credits, and developmental courses often carry no grade points at all.
Reading your own number
A 3.0 is a B average and is the minimum most US graduate programs state; a 3.5 is a strong B+/A− average and opens most master's programs and many internships; a 3.8+ is competitive at selective schools. Those are rules of thumb about admissions thresholds, not about learning — and they shift with the major, because a 3.0 in engineering and a 3.0 in a humanities field are judged against different pools.
Common questions
Is a 3.0 GPA a B average?
Approximately, yes: straight B's produce exactly 3.0. A mix of A's and C's can also produce 3.0, with a very different transcript behind it.
Does a 4.0 mean perfect?
It means every graded course was an A on that school's table. Whether that required 100% depends on the school's cutoffs — at most, a 93 is already a 4.0.
How many decimals does a GPA have?
Two, almost always: 3.19, not 3.2. The rounding rule for the second decimal varies by registrar, so a calculation that lands on 3.195 may print as either 3.19 or 3.20 — and neither is wrong.
Which scale does the calculator on the home page use?
The standard 4.0 table above, with plus and minus grades, and with honors/AP weighting available per course. If your school's table differs, the result will differ by a few hundredths to a few tenths.