GPA Calculator

GPA Calculator: how weighted GPA works

Enter each course grade and its credit hours. The calculator multiplies grade points by credits, adds the quality points, and divides by the total credits to estimate a weighted GPA.

How to use the result

• Confirm the grade-point values used by your school.
• Include every course that belongs in the calculation.
• Check how repeated courses, incompletes, and weighted percentages are handled.

Grading policies differ by institution. Use this tool as an estimate and confirm the official result with your registrar or academic advisor.

How the weighting works

A GPA is not the average of your grades. Each course is multiplied by its credit value, and the results are added together and divided by the total number of credits. A three-credit course therefore moves the answer three times as much as a one-credit course, which is the entire point of the weighting.

Worked example. Take an A worth 4.0 at 3 credits, and a B worth 3.0 at 3 credits:

(4.00 × 3 + 3.00 × 3) ÷ (3 + 3) = 21 ÷ 6 = 3.50

Now change the B to 1 credit and the arithmetic moves to (4.00 × 3 + 3.00 × 1) ÷ 4 = 15 ÷ 4 = 3.75, even though the grades have not changed at all. A simple average of the two letter grades would have said 3.50 both times, and been wrong the second time.

The scale used here

This calculator uses a 4.0 scale with intermediate steps, the arrangement used by a large number of institutions in the United States: A 4.0, A− 3.7, B+ 3.3, B 3.0, and so on downwards. If your school rounds differently, uses a 4.3 scale, or caps a grade at a 3.7, this will not match it. Select the grade points from the list where the institution publishes them, and treat the output as an estimate.

What this calculator does not model

• Incompletes, withdrawals and fail points, which usually carry their own credit and grade rules.
• Courses graded on a percentage band rather than a letter.
• Repeated courses, where a later grade may replace an earlier one instead of averaging with it.
• Transfer credit, credit earned elsewhere, and courses taken but not yet graded.
• Any weighting by level, such as counting final-year courses more heavily.

Getting a figure you can rely on

Add every course you are counting, check that the credit total matches your own record, and compare the result with the GPA already on your transcript before you rely on it. If the two differ, the difference is nearly always one of the items in the list above rather than the arithmetic. Confirm anything you intend to submit with your registrar or academic advisor, because the official calculation is theirs.