GPA Calculator

Computes a weighted grade point average from course grades and credit hours. Each grade maps to a numeric value on the standard 4.0 scale (A=4.0, B=3.0, C=2.0, D=1.0, F=0). Plus and minus modifiers add or subtract 0.3, with A+ capped at 4.0.

The weighted GPA is the sum of (grade × credits) divided by total credits.

The US 4.0 scale traces to the 1937 Cornell University adoption of grade-point averaging, although versions appeared earlier at other institutions. The standard mapping is A=4.0, B=3.0, C=2.0, D=1.0, F=0. The plus/minus refinement (B+ = 3.3, B- = 2.7) is institution-specific; some schools use it, others use whole letter grades only. A+ usually caps at 4.0 but some institutions assign 4.3, particularly competitive private universities. The most consequential nuance is that 'weighted GPA' has two meanings: credit-weighted (used in college and the formula here) and difficulty-weighted (used in many high schools, where AP and honors courses get a 5.0 max).

A worked example: a student took four courses in a semester with grades A (3 credits), B+ (4 credits), C (3 credits), and A- (2 credits). The grade-point products are 4.0×3 = 12.0, 3.3×4 = 13.2, 2.0×3 = 6.0, 3.7×2 = 7.4. Sum is 38.6 grade points across 12 credit hours, giving a semester GPA of 3.217. Cumulative GPA across multiple semesters uses the same formula on all courses combined, not a weighted average of the semester GPAs (which would be wrong if semester credit loads differ).

Limitations and quirks are mostly institutional. Pass/fail courses typically don't factor into GPA at all; they appear on the transcript with credit but no grade-point contribution. Withdrawals (W) don't count. Repeated courses follow varying rules: some institutions average both attempts, others replace the original, others count both with the latter typically winning in cumulative weighting. Grade replacement policies vary by GPA type (institutional vs. transfer vs. major-specific). International conversions are notoriously inconsistent: a UK first-class honors might map to anywhere from 3.7 to 4.0 depending on the converter, and a German 1.0-1.5 (top tier) is similarly ambiguous in 4.0 terms.

For official records, the registrar's calculation always overrides any third-party tool. The calculator is useful for projecting future GPAs (will an A in next semester pull cumulative above 3.5?) and for comparing scenarios, but the school's own grade-point math is what appears on the transcript.