Orpheus

GPA Calculator

Weighted by credit hours, one course per line.

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Grade scale
Result

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Multiply each course's grade points by its credit hours, add those products, and divide by total credits. A 4-credit A and a 3-credit B is (16 + 9) ÷ 7 = 3.57.

How to use GPA Calculator

  1. List your courses. One per line as name, grade, credits — commas between them.
  2. Choose the scale. 4.0 for standard grading, 5.0 where honours courses are weighted.
  3. Read the working. Every course is shown with its contribution, then the total.

About calculating a grade point average

Grade point average converts letter grades into numbers and averages them, weighted by how much each course was worth. The weighting is the part that gets skipped and the part that matters: a four-credit course is roughly four times the work of a one-credit one, so it belongs in the average four times over. Averaging the letters directly lets a one-credit elective cancel out a core course, which is not what a transcript is meant to represent. The mechanics are straightforward. Each grade maps to a point value — usually 4.0 for an A down to 0 for an F, with plus and minus grades a third of a point either side. Multiply each course by its credits, sum the products, divide by total credits. That last step is why the calculation is sometimes called a weighted mean rather than an average. Two things trip people up. The first is that plus and minus grades have more effect than they appear to: straight A-minuses produce a 3.7, not something close to 4.0, and across a full degree the difference between 3.7 and 4.0 is substantial in competitive applications. The second is cumulative GPA. It must be computed from every course across every term at once, not by averaging each term's GPA, because terms differ in credit load and averaging averages silently treats a twelve-credit term as equal to an eighteen-credit one.

Frequently asked questions

Why are credit hours part of the calculation?
Because courses are not equal in size. A four-credit course represents roughly four times the work of a one-credit one, so it should influence the average four times as much. Averaging the grades alone lets a one-credit elective offset a major course.
What is a weighted GPA?
A scale where advanced courses are worth more — an A in an honours or AP class counts as 5.0 rather than 4.0. It exists so that students taking harder courses are not penalised against those taking easier ones, and it is why some GPAs exceed 4.0.
Do plus and minus grades matter?
At most institutions yes, and more than people expect. A- is 3.7 rather than 4.0, so a transcript of straight A-minuses gives a 3.7 GPA. Across four years that gap is large, though a minority of schools do not use them at all.
How do I calculate a cumulative GPA?
List every course from every term together rather than averaging each term's GPA. Averaging averages ignores that terms differ in credit load, and it gives the wrong answer whenever they do.
What happens to a failed course?
It usually counts as zero points while still contributing its credits to the denominator, which is why one failure hurts disproportionately. Repeat policies vary — some institutions replace the original grade, others average both attempts.

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