Entering your courses
Choose a letter grade and enter the credits for each course this term. Credits, also called credit hours or units, are listed on your transcript or in the course catalog. A row with no grade or with 0 credits is left out, so spare rows do no harm.
Leave out pass/fail courses, audits and withdrawals, because most schools give them no grade points. For your overall GPA, also enter your current cumulative GPA and the credits it covers.
The 4.0 grade scale
This calculator uses the common 4.0 scale. A plus adds 0.3 and a minus takes 0.3 away, except that A+ stays at 4.0 and F has no plus or minus. Some colleges give 4.33 for an A+ and some have no minus grades, so check your school's scale.
- A+ and A: 4.0
- A−: 3.7
- B+: 3.3, B: 3.0, B−: 2.7
- C+: 2.3, C: 2.0, C−: 1.7
- D+: 1.3, D: 1.0, D−: 0.7
- F: 0
How GPA is calculated
Multiply each grade's points by the course's credits to get its grade points. Add up the grade points for every course, then divide by the total credits. Courses with more credits count for more, so an A in a 4-credit class lifts your GPA more than an A in a 1-credit lab.
A cumulative GPA works the same way: your current GPA times its credits gives the grade points you already have. Add this term's and divide by all the credits.
Worked example: one term and a running total
Four courses: an A in a 3-credit class gives 12.0 grade points, a B+ in a 4-credit class gives 13.2, an A− in a 3-credit class gives 11.1 and a B in a 3-credit class gives 9.0. That is 45.3 grade points over 13 credits, and 45.3 ÷ 13 is a term GPA of 3.48.
Now add a record of a 3.2 GPA over 30 credits, which holds 3.2 × 30 = 96 grade points. Together that is 141.3 grade points over 43 credits, a new cumulative GPA of 3.29.
Why a GPA gets harder to move
Each term counts in proportion to its credits, so the more credits you have, the less one term can change your cumulative GPA. After 90 credits at 3.0, a perfect 4.0 over 15 more credits only raises it to 3.14.
Use the boxes for your current record to try out grades before a term ends and see what you would need.