A grade point average condenses a transcript into one number by converting each letter grade to points and weighting it by the credit hours of the course. The weighting is the part students most often skip, and it is what makes the result meaningful: an A in a one-credit seminar should not offset a C in a four-credit core course.
The standard US scale runs from 4.0 for an A down to 0.0 for an F. Where a school uses plus and minus grades, the intermediate values matter — the gap between a B+ at 3.3 and a B− at 2.7 is over half a grade point.
The standard 4.0 scale
| Letter | Points | Letter | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| A / A+ | 4.0 | C+ | 2.3 |
| A− | 3.7 | C | 2.0 |
| B+ | 3.3 | C− | 1.7 |
| B | 3.0 | D+ | 1.3 |
| B− | 2.7 | D | 1.0 |
| — | — | F | 0.0 |
Working it out
Multiply each course's grade points by its credit hours to get quality points, add them all, then divide by total credit hours. A student taking a 3-credit A (12 points), a 4-credit B (12 points) and a 3-credit C (6 points) has 30 quality points across 10 credits, giving a 3.0 GPA. Note that the A and the B contributed equally here, because the B was in the heavier course.
Weighted, unweighted and cumulative
- Unweighted: capped at 4.0 regardless of course difficulty.
- Weighted: AP, IB and honours courses often score on a 5.0 scale, so a weighted GPA can exceed 4.0.
- Term GPA: one semester only, and the figure that moves fastest.
- Cumulative GPA: every graded course to date, and the one that appears on applications.
- Major GPA: courses within your field only, which some graduate programmes weigh more heavily than the overall figure.
Why a GPA gets harder to move over time
Each additional semester is a smaller share of a growing total. After 15 credits, one strong semester can lift a GPA by half a point; after 90 credits, the same semester moves it by a tenth. This is arithmetic, not pessimism, and it has a practical consequence: early semesters are disproportionately worth protecting, and recovery from a poor start is slow rather than impossible. Check whether your institution allows grade replacement on a retaken course — where it exists, it is usually the fastest available correction.
Related tools
- Grade Calculator — weighted course grades
- Final Grade Calculator — what you need on the exam
- Average Calculator
- Browse all free tools