About the GPA Calculator
Every GPA calculator averages grades. The question students actually type at 11pm is different: “what do I need this semester to get to 3.5?” This one answers it — the target solver runs the algebra on your real credits and quality points, and says plainly when a target is mathematically out of reach in one term rather than letting you believe in a 4.6.
The arithmetic underneath is exact and shown: per-course quality points, weighted (+0.5 honors, +1.0 AP/IB) and unweighted computed together, A+ as 4.0 or 4.3 by your school’s convention, and cumulative combination done properly — weighted by credits, never a naive average of averages.
Every course × every plausible grade — how each single change moves this semester’s GPA. The rows are your courses; find the cheap wins.
Save each semester in this browser; the cumulative line updates itself.
Transcript-style: every course, grade, credits and quality points, both GPAs, dated — for advisor meetings and scholarship forms.
How to Use the GPA Calculator
Add each course with its grade, credit hours and type. Semester GPA updates as you type — unweighted and weighted side by side, with the quality points visible per course so nothing is a black box. Add your prior GPA and completed credits and the cumulative line shows where this semester lands you; then point the target solver at the number you actually care about.
The Arithmetic That Surprises People
Averages get harder to move the more credits sit behind them. With 90 credits at 3.2, even a perfect 15-credit semester only reaches 3.31 — the solver will tell you that a 3.5 by graduation needs two strong terms, not one heroic one. The flip side is equally underrated: early semesters are cheap to influence, which is why first-year grades matter more per credit than any that follow.
Weighted GPAs Travel Badly
A 4.4 weighted at one high school and a 4.4 at another can describe different students, because weight policies differ — some schools cap honors bumps, some weight only AP, some use 6-point scales. Colleges know this and usually recompute a standardized GPA from the transcript. Use the weighted number for what it is — class-rank currency within your school — and keep an eye on the unweighted one, which is the portable fact.
Related tools: the Percentage Calculator for the grade-on-the-final question, the Student Loan Calculator for the other number that follows you out of school, and the College Cost Comparator for choosing where the GPA gets earned. Browse every Everyday Calculator for more.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is GPA actually computed?
Quality points divided by credits. Each grade maps to points (A = 4.0, A− = 3.7, B+ = 3.3 … F = 0), each course's points are multiplied by its credit hours, and the total is divided by total credits. A 4-credit B pulls harder than a 1-credit A — which is why the per-course quality points are shown here, not just the final number. Cumulative GPA works identically: all quality points ever earned over all credits ever attempted.
What is the difference between weighted and unweighted GPA?
Unweighted caps everything at 4.0 regardless of difficulty. Weighted adds a bump for harder courses — the common convention is +0.5 for honors and +1.0 for AP/IB, so an A in AP Calculus counts 5.0 — which is how high-school weighted GPAs above 4.0 happen. Colleges typically recalculate applicants' GPAs their own way, so treat the weighted number as your school's ranking currency, not a universal fact. This tool computes both at once.
Is an A+ a 4.0 or a 4.3?
Depends on the school: most US colleges cap at 4.0 (Stanford and MIT famously do), while some (Cornell, Columbia among them) award 4.3 for A+. High schools split the same way. The scale toggle switches every A+ in your list between the two conventions, and the difference it makes to your final number is usually a lesson in how little one grade moves a many-credit average.
What GPA do I need this semester to reach my goal?
Algebra, done for you: needed = (target × (current credits + new credits) − current quality points) ÷ new credits. The solver runs that with your real numbers and — the honest part — tells you when the answer exceeds the scale maximum, meaning the target is mathematically out of reach this semester and needs more terms. It also shows the reverse: how far a rough semester would drag the cumulative down.
Do pass/fail, withdrawals and retakes count?
Standard treatment: Pass/Fail courses earn credits but no quality points, so they don't move GPA either way (leave them out here, or enter credits with no grade). A W typically doesn't affect GPA at all. Retakes vary by school — some replace the old grade, some average both attempts; enter whichever your registrar actually does. When a scholarship or dean's-list line depends on the number, the registrar's policy page is the authority.
