What is GPA?

GPA, or Grade Point Average, is the standard way academic performance gets summarized in the U.S. education system. Instead of listing out grades for every course you've taken, it condenses everything into a single number on a 4.0 scale. That one number ends up on a lot of important documents — scholarship applications, grad school apps, resumes — so it's worth knowing exactly what yours is.

How It Works

• Add each course you've taken. Naming them is optional, but it helps if you're tracking multiple semesters and don't want to lose track of which row is which.
• Select the letter grade you received for each course. The calculator uses a standard scale — A is 4.0, B is 3.0, and so on down the line.
• Enter the credit hours for each course. This is where weight comes in. A 4-credit course has a much bigger pull on your GPA than a 1-credit elective — the calculator accounts for that automatically.
• Once your courses are entered, the calculator multiplies each grade's point value by its credit hours to get "quality points," adds those up across all courses, then divides by your total credit hours. That's your GPA.