GPA Calculator

What Is a GPA Calculator?

A GPA calculator computes your Grade Point Average — the single number that summarizes your academic performance. Schools, universities, and scholarship committees use GPA to compare students, and employers sometimes ask for it on graduate applications. Instead of wrestling with credit hours and letter grades by hand, you enter each course's grade and credits, and the calculator does the weighted math.

How GPA Math Works

On the standard 4.0 scale, each letter grade is worth a fixed number of grade points:

The formula is a weighted average:

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

Credits are the weights: a 4-credit course influences your GPA more than a 1-credit lab. (Some schools use plus/minus variants or a 5.0 weighted scale for honors/AP courses — check your institution's scale.)

How to Use This Calculator

1. Add one row per course: select the letter grade and enter the credit hours.
2. The calculator multiplies each grade's points by its credits, sums everything, and divides by total credits.
3. The result is your semester GPA. Enter all courses to date for your cumulative GPA.

Worked Example

Suppose your semester looks like this:

• Mathematics: A (4.0), 3 credits → 4.0 × 3 = 12.0 points
• Physics: B+ (3.3), 4 credits → 3.3 × 4 = 13.2 points
• History: C (2.0), 3 credits → 2.0 × 3 = 6.0 points

Total grade points = 12.0 + 13.2 + 6.0 = 31.2. Total credits = 10. GPA = 31.2 ÷ 10 = 3.12.

Notice how the 4-credit Physics B+ (13.2 points) pulled more weight than the 3-credit History C (6.0 points) — that is the weighting in action.

Tips

• Weighted vs. unweighted: an unweighted 4.0 scale caps at 4.0; weighted scales (often 5.0) give extra points for advanced courses. Never mix the two when comparing.
• Retakes: many schools replace the old grade, but some average both attempts — this changes your cumulative GPA significantly, so confirm the policy.
• Planning ahead: to see what grades you need next semester to reach a target cumulative GPA, calculate the total grade points required and work backwards.
• Pass/fail courses: these usually don't affect GPA at all — exclude them from the calculation unless your school says otherwise.
• Track it each semester: updating your cumulative GPA after every term takes five minutes and keeps you aware of trends — a slow slide is much easier to fix early than after two years.