Weighted GPA Calculator

How to use the weighted GPA calculator

1. Add one row per class. Pick the letter grade from your report card. If your school reports percentages, convert them with your school’s letter scale first.
2. Enter the credits. Most high schools give 1 credit for a full-year class and 0.5 for a semester class. Colleges use credit hours, such as 3 or 4. If every class counts the same, leave them all at 1.
3. Set the level. Choose Honors or AP / IB / dual credit for classes your school weights. Everything else stays Regular.
4. Check the bonuses. The defaults are +0.5 for honors and +1.0 for AP, the rule many districts publish. If your handbook says something else, type it in.
5. Optional: update a cumulative GPA. Switch on the cumulative option and enter the GPA and credits printed on your last report card to see where this term leaves you overall.

The large number is your weighted GPA. The unweighted GPA beside it puts every class on the same 0 to 4.0 scale, and the difference between the two is the boost your harder classes give you.

How to calculate a weighted GPA

College Board’s BigFuture guide gives the basic 4.0 conversion: an A is worth 4 points, a B 3, a C 2, a D 1 and an F 0. With five equal classes graded A, A, A, B and C, the average is (4 + 4 + 4 + 3 + 2) ÷ 5 = 3.4. Plus and minus grades move a grade by about a third of a point, so a B+ is 3.3 and an A− is 3.7.

Unionville High School in Pennsylvania publishes a full worked example that this calculator reproduces exactly. A student takes Honors English (B+), Algebra II (B+), AP U.S. History (B+), Honors Chemistry (C+) and French III (A−) at 1 credit each, two half-credit art classes with A’s, and a quarter-credit PE class with a B. The weighted points are 3.8, 3.3, 4.3, 2.8, 3.7, 4.0, 4.0 and 3.0. Multiplying by credits gives 22.65 quality points over 6.25 credits, a weighted GPA of 3.624. Without the bonuses, the same grades come to 20.65 points and an unweighted GPA of 3.304.

Credits matter more than many students expect. A 0.25-credit class moves your GPA only a quarter as much as a full-year class, so a B in PE barely registers, while a B in a full-year AP class carries real weight.

Weighted vs. unweighted GPA scale

This is the default scale the calculator uses. An A in an AP class is a 5.0, which is how a weighted GPA can rise above 4.0.

The same +0.5 and +1.0 steps appear in the published tables of Seattle Public Schools, Kingsway Regional in New Jersey and Unionville High School. In each of them, a failing grade earns no bonus.

Why your school’s GPA may differ

There is no national GPA formula, and schools vary in four common ways:

• Different bonuses. Some schools add 1.0 for honors as well as AP, and some give dual-enrollment classes their own weight. Plainville, Connecticut, uses three course levels, each with its own point table.
• A+ worth more than an A. Unionville counts an A+ as 4.3. Many other schools cap it at 4.0. Use the A+ switch to match yours.
• Two GPAs on one transcript. Seattle Public Schools adds quality points for honors and AP to a district weighted GPA, but state law keeps them out of the official GPA. You may see both numbers.
• Different scales altogether. San Benito CISD in Texas, for example, converts percentage grades to points on a scale where an A of 95 or more in an AP class is worth 6.0. If your district works this way, the 4.0-based result here is a useful comparison but not your class-rank GPA.

Your counselor’s office or the course catalog will list the exact rules. Once you know them, set the bonuses and the A+ value here and the numbers should line up with your report card.

Do colleges look at weighted or unweighted GPA?

Often neither one exactly. BigFuture notes that colleges may recalculate your GPA with their own rules: some drop non-core classes such as PE and electives, keep only math, science, English, social studies and world languages, and then remove or re-apply their own weighting so applicants from different schools can be compared. That is why applications such as the Common App ask for your actual course grades.

The practical takeaway: report the GPA exactly as your transcript shows it, and use both numbers here to understand your record. A strong unweighted GPA shows consistent grades; a weighted GPA well above it shows you took harder classes.

How much can one term raise your GPA?

Less than most people hope, because a cumulative GPA is an average over every credit you have earned. Say you have a 3.2 over 30 credits and earn a 3.8 over 15 credits this term. The new cumulative GPA is (3.2 × 30 + 3.8 × 15) ÷ 45 = (96 + 57) ÷ 45 = 3.4. The same term in your first year, when you had fewer credits behind you, would have moved the average further.

The cumulative option runs this calculation for you. Make sure the GPA you type in is on the same basis as the result you combine it with: a weighted GPA so far goes with the weighted result, an unweighted one with the unweighted result. If you want to know what you need on an upcoming exam to protect a grade, the final grade calculator works that out.

Sources & assumptions

How this calculator gets its numbers. Full method: our methodology.

• Letter grades convert on the 4.0 scale: 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. An A+ counts 4.0 unless you switch it to 4.3.
• Weighted GPA adds a fixed bonus to each class’s points: +0.5 for honors and +1.0 for AP, IB or dual-credit classes by default. Both bonuses are editable.
• An F earns 0 points in every course level; the bonus is not added to a failing grade.
• GPA = total quality points ÷ total credits. Classes with 0 credits are ignored.
• The cumulative mode assumes your prior GPA is on the same basis (weighted or unweighted) as the result you combine it with.

Sources

1. College Board, BigFuture, How to Calculate Your GPA on a 4.0 Scale. The 4.0 conversion (A = 4, B = 3, C = 2, D = 1, F = 0), the worked example of three A’s, a B and a C averaging 3.4, the average U.S. high school GPA of 3.0, and the note that colleges may recalculate GPA their own way.
2. Seattle Public Schools, Policy 2420, High School Grade and Credit Marking. Honors courses add 0.5 quality point and AP, IB and other college-credit courses add 1.0; the weighted GPA is kept separate from the official transcript GPA.
3. Unionville High School (Unionville-Chadds Ford School District, PA), Calculating Your G.P.A.. Plus/minus point values, +0.5 honors and +1.0 AP, quality points = grade value × credits, and the eight-course example that totals 22.65 quality points over 6.25 credits (3.624).
4. Kingsway Regional School District (NJ), New 10-Point Grade Scale & GPA Matrix. A second published matrix with the same +0.5 honors / +1.0 AP rule, where an A in an AP class is a 5.0 and an F earns no bonus.
5. Plainville Community Schools (CT), Policy 6146.1, Grading System. An example of a different weighting system (three course levels with their own point tables), which is why the bonuses here are editable.
6. San Benito Consolidated ISD (TX), Grading Policy 2025–2026 (Secondary). A percentage-based weighted scale in which a 95–100 in a Category I (AP or academic dual-credit) course is worth 6.0 points.

Last reviewed November 2, 2026. Grade scales and weighting rules differ between schools; the GPA printed on your transcript is the official figure.