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Final Grade

GPA Calculator

Letter grades and credit hours in, grade point average out. Plus/minus and straight-letter scales both supported.

Your courses

CourseGradeCreditsRemove

Plus/minus schools award 3.7 for an A- and 3.3 for a B+. Straight-letter schools do not.

Result

Unweighted 4.0 scale

Your GPA is 3.52 across 13 credit hours.

Credit hours
13
Quality points
45.7

How GPA works

GPA is a credit-weighted average of your letter grades. Two steps: convert each letter to a point value on the 4.0 scale, then average those values with credit hours as the weights. The credit weighting is the part people underestimate — a 4-credit course carries twice the influence of a 2-credit course, so where a bad grade lands matters as much as how bad it is.

The formula

quality points = Σ(grade points × credit hours)
GPA = quality points ÷ total credit hours

On the plus/minus scale the point values are 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 0.0. On a straight-letter scale the pluses and minuses disappear: A 4.0, B 3.0, C 2.0, D 1.0, F 0.0.

A worked example

These are the values loaded above:

Calculus II — A- (3.7) × 4 credits = 14.8
Chemistry — B+ (3.3) × 3 credits = 9.9
English — B (3.0) × 3 credits = 9.0
Psychology — A (4.0) × 3 credits = 12.0

quality points = 14.8 + 9.9 + 9.0 + 12.0 = 45.7
credit hours = 4 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 13
GPA = 45.7 ÷ 13 = 3.52

A 3.52. Worth noticing: the A- in the 4-credit calculus course contributes 14.8 quality points, more than the straight A in the 3-credit psychology course contributes at 12.0. Credit hours do a lot of quiet work.

What moving one grade is worth

Turning that B+ in chemistry into an A- would add 0.4 × 3 = 1.2 quality points, taking the GPA from 3.52 to 3.61. Turning the B in English into a B+ adds 0.3 × 3 = 0.9, giving 3.59. The general rule:

GPA change = (point gain × credit hours) ÷ total credit hours

This is the calculation worth running before finals week, because it prices your remaining effort. If you are one letter step away in a 4-credit course and two steps away in a 1-credit course, the 4-credit course is where the hours belong — and it is not close.

It also explains why GPA gets harder to move as you accumulate credits. At 13 credit hours, one letter step in a 3-credit course moves you 0.07. At 90 credit hours, the same step moves you 0.01. Early semesters carry disproportionate weight, which is not intuitive and is worth knowing in your first year rather than your third.

What this calculator does not include

Weighted high school GPAs. Honors, AP, and IB bonuses are not applied here. This is the unweighted 4.0 scale, which is what most colleges recalculate applicants onto.

Grade replacement policies. Many schools let a repeated course replace the original grade in the GPA calculation rather than averaging both. If that applies, enter only the replacing grade.

Institutional rounding. Registrars typically truncate rather than round, so a 3.499 shows as 3.49, not 3.50. If you are sitting on a boundary for honours or a scholarship, verify the policy rather than assuming.

To work out the letter grade in an individual course first, start with the final grade calculator or the weighted grade calculator, then bring the letters back here.

Frequently asked questions

How is GPA actually calculated?
Each letter grade converts to a point value — A is 4.0, B is 3.0, and so on. Multiply each course’s points by its credit hours to get quality points, add them all up, then divide by total credit hours. A 4-credit course counts twice as much as a 2-credit course, which is why a bad grade in a lab-heavy course hurts more than a bad grade in a one-credit seminar.
Does an A- really count as 3.7?
At plus/minus schools, yes: A- is 3.7, B+ is 3.3, B- is 2.7, and so on. At straight-letter schools every A is a flat 4.0 regardless of whether it was a 90 or a 99. Switch scales above to match your school — the difference across a full semester is routinely a tenth of a point or more.
What about A+ — is it 4.0 or 4.3?
Most US institutions cap the scale at 4.0, so an A+ is worth the same as an A. A minority award 4.3, which is how a GPA above 4.0 happens on an unweighted transcript. This calculator uses the 4.0 cap, which is the safer assumption; if your school awards 4.3, your official GPA will be slightly higher than what you see here.
How do I calculate my cumulative GPA across semesters?
Enter every course from every semester, not just the current one — GPA is a running average over all credit hours attempted. To project instead: multiply your current GPA by your current credit hours to get your existing quality points, then add this semester’s courses as new rows and divide by the new total.
What about pass/fail, withdrawals, and transfer credits?
Pass/fail courses normally earn credit without affecting GPA, so leave them out. A W usually carries no points and no credit hours — also leave it out. Transfer credits often count toward your degree but not toward your GPA at the receiving institution. Registrar policies differ, so check yours before treating any of these as settled.
Is a weighted high school GPA calculated the same way?
No. Weighted high school GPAs add a bonus for honors, AP, or IB courses — often a full point, so an A in an AP class is worth 5.0. This calculator uses the unweighted 4.0 scale, which is what most colleges recalculate applicants onto anyway.

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