Your GPA follows you into scholarships, applications and internships, so it's worth knowing exactly how it's calculated — not just guessing from your grades. The math isn't hard, but the part people get wrong is weighting each course by its credit hours.
Here's how GPA works, how to calculate it by hand, and how to get your semester and cumulative GPA in seconds.
The 4.0 scale
Most schools convert letter grades to grade points on a 4.0 scale. The common mapping:
- 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
How to calculate GPA by hand
GPA is a credit-weighted average, not a plain average of your grades. The formula:
GPA = (sum of grade points × credit hours) ÷ (total credit hours)
- Convert each course's letter grade to grade points (using the scale above).
- Multiply each course's grade points by its credit hours.
- Add those up, then divide by the total credit hours.
Example: an A (4.0) in a 3-credit course and a B (3.0) in a 4-credit course = (4.0×3 + 3.0×4) ÷ 7 = (12 + 12) ÷ 7 = 3.43. Notice the B counts more because it carried more credits — that's why weighting matters.
The easy way
Skip the arithmetic with the free GPA Calculator. Enter each course's credits and grade and it does the weighting for you, updating as you type.
GPA CalculatorCalculate your GPA on the 4.0 scale.Semester vs. cumulative GPA
Semester GPA covers one term's courses. Cumulative GPA covers everything you've taken. To get cumulative, include all your courses across terms — don't just average your semester GPAs, because different terms may carry different total credits.
Want to know what grade you need in a class to hit a target? Use the Grade Calculator to work backward from your goal.