What next?
A term GPA is one point on a longer curve.
How to use this calculator
- Add each course with its grade and credit hours.
- Add or remove rows as needed.
- Read your weighted GPA.
What your result means
Your GPA is a credit-weighted average, so higher-credit courses count more toward the number. It uses the standard 4.0 scale — check your institution’s exact grade points, as some vary.
Why this one is different
Total credits and total grade points are reported apart from the average, which is what makes a mistyped weighting visible: the totals move while the average barely stirs. Each module keeps its own name and row, so a transcript can be checked line by line, and the standing the average falls into is named.
One number that quietly runs your future
The grade point average is an American invention that spread worldwide because it does something powerful: it crushes years of wildly different courses into a single comparable number. Harvard experimented with grading scales in the 1800s, and the familiar 4.0 letter system settled in during the 20th century.
The catch most students miss is weighting. A GPA isn't the average of your grades — it's the average weighted by credit hours. Ace a one-credit elective and stumble a four-credit core module, and the core drags you down four times as hard. That's exactly what this calculator accounts for.
How it works
Each letter grade maps to a point value (A = 4.0 down to F = 0.0). The calculator multiplies each course's points by its credit hours, adds those up, and divides by your total credits — giving a credit-weighted GPA that reflects how much each course really counts.
Formula
Example calculation
Three courses: A (4.0, 3 cr), B (3.0, 4 cr), A (4.0, 3 cr):
credits = 3 + 4 + 3 = 10
GPA = 36 ÷ 10 = 3.6
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between weighted and unweighted GPA?＋
This tool computes a credit-weighted GPA (courses with more credits count more). Some US high schools also use a separate "weighted" scale that gives AP/honours classes a 5.0 max — that's a different meaning of the word.
What counts as a good GPA?＋
Roughly: 3.7+ is excellent, 3.0–3.7 is solid, 2.0–3.0 is passing but has room to grow. Standards vary by school and programme.
How do I convert a percentage to a GPA?＋
There is no universal conversion. US institutions typically map 90 percent and above to 4.0 and 80 to 89 to 3.0, but each school publishes its own table and you should use theirs.
Do credit hours change the calculation?＋
Yes. GPA is a credit-weighted average, so a four-credit course affects it twice as much as a two-credit one at the same grade.
What happens to a retaken course?＋
Policies differ. Some institutions replace the original grade, some average the two, and some keep both on the transcript but count only the higher. Check before assuming a retake wipes the first attempt.
Does a pass or fail grade count?＋
Usually it appears on the transcript but carries no grade points, so it is excluded from the GPA. That also means it cannot lift a struggling average.
Related calculators
Assumptions & limitations
GPA is a convention, not a universal constant — check your institution’s handbook.
- The default scale is the common US 4.0 system. Institutions using a 4.3, 5.0 or weighted scale will produce different numbers from the same grades.
- Credit hours weight each course. Entering equal credits for every course gives an unweighted average, which most universities do not use.
- Pass/fail, audited and transferred courses are usually excluded from GPA at the awarding institution but included here if you enter them.
- Grade-to-point mappings vary: some institutions award 4.0 for an A and others reserve it for an A+.
Sources & references
Grade point conversions follow the most widely used US scale, as described by:
- National Center for Education Statistics — how grade point average is calculated, and the four-point scale it standardises on
- UCAS — entry requirements for UK courses. Note that UCAS Tariff points cover UK qualifications only: an overseas GPA has no fixed UK equivalent, and UCAS directs applicants to UK ENIC for a comparability statement
Credits are weights, and that is the whole formula
A GPA is a weighted average in which credit hours are the weights: multiply each course's grade points by its credits, add them, divide by total credits. A 4.0 in a one-credit seminar moves the average far less than a 2.7 in a four-credit core course, which is why the arithmetic often disagrees with the intuition that all courses count the same. It also means a light semester of high grades lifts a cumulative GPA less than the same grades across a full load.
Scales, conversions and the limits of a single number
Grade point scales are not interchangeable. A 4.0 scale, a 5.0 weighted high-school scale and a 10-point Indian CGPA all describe performance differently, and converting between them is approximate at best — most conversion tables in circulation are institution-specific rather than standard. If a GPA is being submitted somewhere, use the conversion the receiving institution publishes rather than a generic one, and keep the transcript alongside it: the distribution of grades usually says more than the single averaged figure.