How to Calculate Your GPA (Free GPA Calculator)

Your GPA sums up your whole academic record in a single number, and it matters for scholarships, honors and applications. But a simple average of your grades is not your GPA — credit hours change the weighting. This guide explains how GPA is really calculated on the 4.0 scale, with a worked example you can follow. To skip the math, add your courses to the free GPA Calculator and get your weighted GPA instantly, right in your browser.

How GPA is calculated

GPA is a credit-weighted average of your grade points. Each letter grade maps to a number, and each course counts in proportion to its credit hours.

GPA = total grade points / total credit hours

Where for each course:

grade points = grade value x credit hours

Because a 4-credit course counts twice as much as a 2-credit one, you cannot just average the letter grades — you must weight by credits.

The standard 4.0 grade scale

Most US institutions use this mapping (some add plus/minus steps):

Scales vary between schools, so check your institution's official chart if it differs.

How to use the GPA Calculator

Add your courses one by one:

1. Open the GPA Calculator.
2. Enter a course name (optional) and its letter grade.
3. Enter the credit hours for that course.
4. Add another course and repeat for your full term.
5. Read your weighted GPA, which updates as you go.

You can add or remove courses freely, so it is easy to model a what-if scenario before grades are final.

A worked example

Imagine one semester with these courses:

• Biology: A (4.0) x 4 credits = 16.0
• Calculus: B+ (3.3) x 3 credits = 9.9
• History: B (3.0) x 3 credits = 9.0
• Art: A- (3.7) x 2 credits = 7.4

Total grade points = 16.0 + 9.9 + 9.0 + 7.4 = 42.3 Total credit hours = 4 + 3 + 3 + 2 = 12

GPA = 42.3 / 12 = 3.53

Note how Biology, with the most credits, pulls the GPA up more than the 2-credit Art course.

Weighted GPA and cumulative GPA

Two related ideas often cause confusion:

• Weighted by credits (what this tool does) means each course counts in proportion to its credit hours within a term.
• Weighted GPA at the high-school level can also mean honors or AP courses use a 5.0 scale; that is a separate convention set by your school.
• Cumulative GPA combines every term. To estimate it, total the grade points and credit hours across all semesters, then divide.

For a single course made of several graded items, the Grade Calculator works out your final mark first.

Tips and common mistakes

Get an accurate GPA with these:

• Use your school's exact grade scale; plus/minus steps differ between institutions.
• Enter the correct credit hours — this is the most common error.
• Do not include pass/fail courses unless your school counts them in the GPA.
• Recalculate cumulative GPA by combining all terms, not by averaging term GPAs (terms with different credit loads are not equal).

Is it free and private?

Yes. The GPA Calculator is free, needs no sign-up, and does all the math locally in your browser, so your grades never leave your device. Add as many courses as you need. Explore more free calculators or browse all tools.