Grade point average converts letter grades into a single weighted number. Each letter grade maps to a point value, and the average is weighted by how many credit hours each course was worth — a 4-credit course counts twice as much toward the average as a 2-credit one.
The standard scale
| Grade | Points | Grade | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| A / 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 |
| C+ | 2.3 | F | 0.0 |
This is the most common scale in the United States, but it is a convention, not a universal standard — some schools use a straight integer scale without plus and minus distinctions, and grading scales outside the US vary widely.
Why credit-weighting matters
A student who gets an A in a 1-credit seminar and a C in a 4-credit core course does not average to a B — the core course, carrying four times the weight, pulls the GPA much closer to a C than a simple average of the two letter grades would suggest. This is exactly why GPA is a weighted average rather than a plain mean of grade points.
Semester GPA versus cumulative GPA
A semester GPA uses only that term’s courses. A cumulative GPA uses every credit hour and quality point earned across every term to date. Combining them correctly means adding total quality points and total credit hours across all terms and dividing at the end — not averaging the semester GPAs themselves, since that silently ignores differences in course load between semesters.
A caveat worth stating plainly
Many institutions weight honors, AP or IB courses above the standard 4.0 ceiling — sometimes to 5.0 for an A in an honors class. This calculator uses the unweighted scale. If your school uses weighted grades, the number here will understate your official GPA, and you should check your school’s registrar or handbook for the exact scale it uses before relying on any online calculator for something like an official transcript or a scholarship application.