A high school GPA is a grade-point average, and there are two of them on most transcripts: unweighted and weighted. The unweighted GPA is the plain average of grade points, with an A worth 4.0 in every class. The weighted GPA adds a bonus for harder classes, so an A in an AP class is worth more than an A in a regular class. The two numbers answer different questions, and confusing them is the most common GPA mistake there is. This guide calculates both from one report card, shows where the bonus comes from, and explains which number to use, and when.

The two numbers, and what each one measures

Every letter grade converts to a number of grade points. On the standard 4.0 scale, an A is 4.0, a B is 3.0, a C is 2.0, a D is 1.0, and an F is 0, with plus and minus grades sitting between: an A- is 3.7, a B+ is 3.3, a B- is 2.7, and so on. A GPA is the average of those points across your classes. That much is the same for both numbers. The difference is what happens before the average is taken. For the unweighted GPA, nothing happens: every class contributes its plain grade points. For the weighted GPA, advanced classes get a bonus added to their points first, and then the average is taken. The weighted number therefore measures two things at once, grades and course difficulty, while the unweighted number measures grades alone.

That is why the two numbers are both printed and neither is the real one. A student with straight As in regular classes has an unweighted GPA of 4.0 and a weighted GPA of 4.0, because there is no bonus to add. A student with straight As in AP classes has an unweighted GPA of 4.0 and a weighted GPA of 5.0 on the common scale, because every A earned the full bonus. The grades are identical; the schedules are not, and the weighted number records the difference. Neither number is wrong. They are two summaries of the same record, and the mistake is quoting one of them as if it were the other, or comparing a weighted GPA from one school with an unweighted GPA from another.

Schools differ in the details, and that matters more than any guide can fix. Some schools weight honors by 0.5 and AP by 1.0; some weight both by 1.0; some run their weighted scale to 6.0, adding a full point for honors and two points for AP. Some schools do not weight at all, and some do not report an unweighted GPA. The scale on your own transcript is the one your school sets, and it is the one that counts for your applications. This guide uses the most common convention, honors plus 0.5 and AP or IB plus 1.0, because it is the convention the calculator on this site uses, and every worked example below says which convention it follows.

Unweighted GPA: the plain average

To calculate an unweighted GPA, convert each final grade to its points on the 4.0 scale, add the points, and divide by the number of classes. If every class carries the same credit, that is the whole calculation. A student with five classes graded A, B+, A-, B, and A earns 4.0, 3.3, 3.7, 3.0, and 4.0, which add to 18.0; divided by 5, the unweighted GPA is 3.60. The calculation is deliberately blind to difficulty: the A in AP Biology and the A in study hall contribute the same 4.0, because the unweighted GPA is a measure of grades, not of schedule strength.

When classes carry different credits, the average becomes a credit-weighted average instead of a plain one: multiply each grade point by the class credit, add those products, and divide by the total credits. A year-long class worth 1.0 credit counts twice as much as a semester class worth 0.5 credits. In most high schools this changes little, because most classes carry the same credit, but it matters the moment a student has a half-credit elective or a double-credit lab alongside full-credit courses. The calculator on this site handles credits this way, and the worked example below keeps credits equal so the two methods can be compared cleanly.

An A+ deserves a note, because it is the one grade where schools genuinely disagree. On the standard scale this calculator uses, an A+ earns the same 4.0 as an A, and there is no A+ row in the grade table. A handful of schools award 4.3 for an A+, which lets an unweighted GPA run a little above 4.0. If your school is one of them, your unweighted GPA will be slightly higher than the figure here, and the difference is the same small amount on every A+. Check your school handbook before assuming either way; the transcript, not the calculator, is the authority.

Weighted GPA: where the bonus comes from

The weighted GPA starts from the same grade points and adds a bonus to advanced classes before averaging. On the common scale, an honors class adds 0.5 points and an AP or IB class adds 1.0. So an A in a regular class is 4.0, an A in an honors class is 4.5, and an A in an AP class is 5.0. The bonus applies to the grade as earned: a B in an AP class is 3.0 plus 1.0, which is 4.0, the same as an A in a regular class, and a B+ in an honors class is 3.3 plus 0.5, which is 3.8. The bonus rewards the difficulty of the class, not the grade alone, which is why a B in an AP class can be worth more than an A in a regular class on the weighted scale while being worth less on the unweighted one.

The maximum weighted GPA follows directly from the bonus. On the common scale, straight As in classes that all carry the full AP or IB bonus give a weighted GPA of 5.0, which is the ceiling for this convention. It is not a universal ceiling: some districts run weighted scales to 6.0, adding a full extra point for honors and two extra points for AP, so a weighted GPA above 5.0 is possible there, with an A in an AP class worth 6.0. The companion guide on the 4.0, 5.0, and 6.0 scales works through those schemes side by side. Whatever the ceiling, the logic is the same: the weighted GPA can only exceed 4.0 when advanced classes are in the mix, and the size of the excess records how much of the schedule was advanced and how well those classes went.

Two warnings belong here, because both are common. First, the bonus is decided by the school, not by the student: a class counts as honors or AP only if the school designates it so, and a hard class with no designation earns no bonus. Second, the bonus does not rescue a low grade. A C in an AP class is 2.0 plus 1.0, which is 3.0, the same as a B in a regular class, but it is still a C on the unweighted scale, and it still drags the unweighted GPA down by the same amount. The weighted number flatters a hard schedule; it does not hide a weak grade.

Worked example: one report card, both GPAs

Take a five-class semester: AP Biology B+, Honors English A-, regular Algebra A, regular Spanish B, and Art A-. The grades and their points, unweighted and weighted, are:

Each weighted point is the unweighted point plus the class bonus.

Add the unweighted column: 3.3 + 3.7 + 4.0 + 3.0 + 3.7 = 17.7. Divide by 5 classes: 17.7 ÷ 5 = 3.54. That is the unweighted GPA. Add the weighted column: 4.3 + 4.2 + 4.0 + 3.0 + 3.7 = 19.2. Divide by 5: 19.2 ÷ 5 = 3.84. That is the weighted GPA. The gap between them, 0.30, is the bonus the two advanced classes earned: the AP class added 1.0 point and the honors class added 0.5, for 1.5 points across 5 classes, which is 0.30 per class. The gap is small here because only two of the five classes were advanced. In a semester of all AP classes, the gap would be the full 1.0.

Now change one grade and watch both numbers move. If the AP Biology grade rises from B+ to A-, the unweighted points rise from 3.3 to 3.7, a gain of 0.4, and the weighted points rise from 4.3 to 4.7, the same gain of 0.4. Both GPAs rise by 0.4 ÷ 5 = 0.08, to 3.62 unweighted and 3.92 weighted. The bonus does not change the value of improving a grade; it changes the starting point. And if the student swaps regular Spanish for AP Spanish and keeps the B, the unweighted GPA does not move at all, while the weighted GPA rises by 1.0 ÷ 5 = 0.20, to 4.04. That is the weighted scale doing its job: the schedule got harder, the grades did not change, and only the weighted number records it.

Credits, semesters, and the cumulative GPA

A semester GPA covers one semester. A cumulative GPA covers every graded class on the record, and it is the number that matters most, because it is the number colleges and scholarship committees read. The cumulative GPA is not the average of the semester GPAs; it is the average of all the classes, weighted by credit, across all the semesters. If every semester carried the same number of credits, the two calculations agree. If one semester carried more credits than another, the heavier semester counts more, and averaging the semester GPAs would give the lighter semester too much weight. The correct method is to pool every class, add all the points, and divide by all the credits.

A worked check makes the point. Suppose a student earns a 3.80 over 5 credits in the fall and a 3.40 over 7 credits in the spring. Averaging the two semester GPAs gives 3.60, but the cumulative GPA is (3.80 × 5 + 3.40 × 7) ÷ 12 = (19.0 + 23.8) ÷ 12 = 42.8 ÷ 12 = 3.57. The spring semester, with more credits, pulls the cumulative down further than the simple average suggests. The difference is small here and larger when the credit loads differ more, which is why the calculator asks for credits per semester rather than averaging semester GPAs.

Planning forward works the same way in reverse. To find the semester GPA needed to reach a target cumulative GPA, work out the points the target requires in total, subtract the points already earned, and divide what is left by the credits of the coming semester. A student with 20 credits at 3.50 has 70 points banked; a target of 3.70 over 26 credits needs 96.2 points in total, so the next 6 credits must earn 26.2 points, which is a 4.37 average — impossible on the unweighted scale, and a signal that the target needs more than one semester, or a weighted schedule, to reach. The calculator on this site runs this target calculation directly.

What counts, and what stays out

Not every course on a record enters the GPA, and the exclusions change the denominator, which changes the result as surely as any grade does. At most schools, pass, fail, audit, and withdrawn courses do not enter GPA maths: they carry credit, or no credit, but no grade points, and they are left out of both the points total and the credits total. A student who treats a pass/fail course as a 4.0, or a withdrawn course as a zero, computes a GPA the school would not recognise. The exact policy varies by school, and the school handbook states it; the calculator on this page follows the common rule, leaving such courses out unless the school counts them.

Dual enrollment courses, taken at a college while still in high school, usually do count, and usually with a bonus: most schools treat them like AP classes for weighting, adding 1.0 point, though some treat them as honors or as regular classes. Transfer credits are the other edge case: a course taken at another high school normally enters the cumulative GPA with its grade, while a course taken outside school, such as a summer programme, may or may not. When in doubt, the rule is simple: if the course appears on the transcript with a letter grade and a credit value, it almost certainly counts, and if it appears as pass/fail or with no credit, it almost certainly does not.

Retaken classes follow a third rule, and it varies the most. Some schools replace the old grade with the new one; some average the two; some keep both on the record and count both. A student who retakes a C and earns an A may see the full benefit, half of it, or none of it in the cumulative GPA, depending on the school. The calculator on this site counts every graded course entered, so a retake should be entered the way the school counts it: as a replacement, remove the old grade; as an average, enter the average; as two grades, enter both.

Which number to use, and when

Use the unweighted GPA when the comparison must be fair across different schedules: comparing your grades with a friend at another school, checking whether you meet a cutoff stated on the 4.0 scale, or judging your own progress semester to semester while your schedule changes. The unweighted number is the cleaner measure of grades, because it strips out the schedule. Use the weighted GPA when the question is about the record as a whole: what your transcript says, how your school ranks you, and whether your schedule was ambitious. Class rank, where schools report it, is almost always computed from the weighted GPA, because rank is meant to reward the harder schedule.

Colleges read both, and they read them in context. Admissions offices receive the school profile alongside the transcript, which states the weighting scheme, the scale, and the distribution of GPAs at the school, so a 4.2 weighted GPA from a school that weights to 5.0 is read differently from a 4.2 from a school that weights to 6.0. Many colleges also recalculate an unweighted GPA of their own from the transcript, using only core academic classes, so that applicants from different schools can be compared on the same footing. That is one more reason to know both numbers and to keep them straight: the number a college recalculates will be close to your unweighted GPA, not your weighted one.

Scholarships split the same way. A scholarship that states a minimum GPA of 3.0 almost always means the unweighted GPA on the 4.0 scale, unless it says otherwise, and a student who meets it only on the weighted scale may not qualify. A scholarship that asks for your GPA as reported on your transcript takes the number the school reports, which is usually the weighted one where the school weights. When the wording is unclear, the unweighted figure is the safe one to check first, because it is the number that cannot be inflated by schedule choices.

The five mistakes that produce a wrong GPA

First, averaging letter grades instead of points: adding A, B, and C as if they were numbers, or averaging 4.0 and 3.0 as if the grades were evenly spaced, which they are not once plus and minus grades enter. Always convert to points first. Second, applying the bonus to the wrong classes, or to every class: the bonus belongs only to classes the school designates as honors, AP, or IB, and adding it to regular classes inflates the weighted GPA by the full bonus on every class. Third, counting pass/fail and withdrawn courses as grades, which corrupts the denominator.

Fourth, averaging semester GPAs instead of pooling classes and credits, which gives light semesters too much weight, as the fall-and-spring example above shows. Fifth, mixing scales: comparing a 5.0-scale weighted GPA with a 4.0-scale unweighted GPA, or converting between scales by a ratio instead of by removing the bonus class by class. A 4.5 on a 5.0 scale is not 3.6 on a 4.0 scale; it is whatever the unweighted points work out to once the bonuses are taken off, which depends on which classes carried the bonus. Work the points, not the ratio, and check the result on the calculator.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between weighted and unweighted GPA?

Unweighted GPA is the plain average of grade points, with an A worth 4.0 in every class. Weighted GPA adds a bonus to advanced classes before averaging — commonly 0.5 points for honors and 1.0 for AP or IB — so the same grades give a higher weighted GPA when the schedule is harder. The unweighted number measures grades alone; the weighted number measures grades and schedule difficulty together.

How is weighted GPA calculated?

Convert each grade to points on the 4.0 scale, add the bonus for each advanced class (usually 0.5 for honors, 1.0 for AP or IB), add all the points, and divide by the number of classes — or by total credits if classes carry different credits. For example, an A in an AP class is 4.0 plus 1.0, which is 5.0, and a B+ in an honors class is 3.3 plus 0.5, which is 3.8.

Is a weighted GPA of 4.5 good?

A weighted GPA of 4.5 means the student is earning mostly As with a substantial share of advanced classes, since the weighted scale only rises above 4.0 through the bonus. How strong it looks depends on the school scale: on a 5.0 ceiling it is near the top, while on a 6.0 scale it is a solid but less exceptional figure. The unweighted GPA alongside it tells the rest of the story.

Do colleges look at weighted or unweighted GPA?

Both, in context. Colleges receive the school profile with the transcript, which states the weighting scheme, so they can read the weighted GPA correctly. Many also recalculate an unweighted GPA from core academic classes so applicants from different schools can be compared on the same footing. Knowing both numbers, and which is which, matters more than either number alone.

Can one bad semester ruin my cumulative GPA?

One semester can move the cumulative GPA, but it cannot fix it in place. The cumulative GPA pools every class, so a later semester of strong grades pulls it back up, and the recovery is faster when the later semester carries more credits. The exact semester GPA needed to reach a target is a matter of arithmetic — points needed minus points banked, divided by the coming credits — and the calculator on this site works it out.

Why does my school report a different GPA from this calculator?

Schools set their own rules: the bonus size, which classes earn it, whether an A+ is worth 4.0 or 4.3, which courses count, and how retakes are treated. This calculator uses the most common US convention, honors plus 0.5 and AP or IB plus 1.0, with pass/fail and withdrawn courses left out. If your school differs on any of those rules, its transcript figure will differ too, and the transcript is the one that counts.