GPA Calculator
Calculate your semester and cumulative GPA on the 4.0 scale from letter grades and credit hours.
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Quick Tip
Add a row for each course you are taking this term.
About This Tool
Why use GPA Calculator?
This GPA calculator works out your semester GPA on the standard US 4.0 scale, weighting each course by its credit hours, and combines it with your prior record to give a cumulative GPA. Credit-hour weighting is what separates a real GPA from a simple average of letter grades.
Example: an A in a 3-credit English course (12.0 points), a B+ in 4-credit Calculus (13.2), a B in 3-credit Biology (9.0) and an A− in 2-credit History (7.4) gives 41.6 quality points across 12 credits — a semester GPA of 3.47. If you previously held a 3.20 GPA across 30 credits, your cumulative GPA becomes 3.28.
Key Benefits
Credit-hour weighted
Each course contributes in proportion to its credits, which is how registrars actually calculate GPA.
Semester and cumulative
Shows this term's GPA alongside your updated overall GPA, so you can see the effect of a single semester.
Standard 4.0 scale
Uses the common grade point values including plus and minus grades, from A at 4.0 down to F at 0.
How to use GPA Calculator
- 1
Add a row for each course you are taking this term.
- 2
Enter the credit hours for each course, since a 4-credit course counts more than a 2-credit one.
- 3
Select the letter grade you earned or expect.
- 4
To get a cumulative GPA, enter your existing GPA and the total credits it covers.
Best use cases
Work out your GPA before official grades are released.
See what grades you need this term to reach a target cumulative GPA.
Check whether you will meet a scholarship or honours threshold.
Plan a course load around protecting your GPA.
How this tool compares
GPA Calculator FAQs
How is GPA calculated?
Multiply each course's grade points by its credit hours to get quality points, add those up, then divide by the total credit hours. An A in a 4-credit course contributes 16 quality points, while an A in a 2-credit course contributes 8 — which is why credit hours matter.
What is the difference between semester and cumulative GPA?
Semester GPA covers only the courses in one term. Cumulative GPA covers every course you have taken, weighted by credits. One weak semester moves a cumulative GPA less as you accumulate credits, which also means it becomes harder to raise later in a degree.
Do plus and minus grades affect GPA?
At most institutions, yes. An A− is 3.7 and a B+ is 3.3 rather than both counting as 4.0 and 3.0. A few schools use unmodified letter grades only, so check your institution's scale if your calculated figure does not match your transcript.
Is a 3.5 GPA good?
A 3.5 is generally considered strong and typically qualifies for honours designations such as cum laude. Context matters though — competitive graduate programmes may look for 3.7 or higher, and course difficulty and major are weighed alongside the raw number.
How do I raise my GPA?
The arithmetic gets harder as credits accumulate, because each new course is a smaller share of the total. Taking additional credits and performing well helps, as does retaking failed courses where your institution replaces rather than averages the original grade. Check your school's grade replacement policy.
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