Home › Health & Education › Weighted GPA Calculator
Weighted GPA Calculator
Use this free weighted GPA calculator to work out your grade point average with course difficulty counted. Add up to 8 courses with grade, credits, and level — Regular, Honors, or AP / IB — and see both your weighted GPA, with bonus points for harder courses, and your unweighted GPA on the 4.0 scale.
| Course | Grade | Credits | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course 1 | |||
| Course 2 | |||
| Course 3 | |||
| Course 4 | |||
| Course 5 | |||
| Course 6 | |||
| Course 7 | |||
| Course 8 |
Leave a course blank to skip it. Honors adds 0.5 and AP / IB adds 1.0 to the grade value.
Grade point values
| Grade | Points | Honors | AP / IB |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 4.0 | 4.5 | 5.0 |
| A− | 3.7 | 4.2 | 4.7 |
| B+ | 3.3 | 3.8 | 4.3 |
| B | 3.0 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| B− | 2.7 | 3.2 | 3.7 |
| C+ | 2.3 | 2.8 | 3.3 |
| C | 2.0 | 2.5 | 3.0 |
| C− | 1.7 | 2.2 | 2.7 |
| D+ | 1.3 | 1.8 | 2.3 |
| D | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.0 |
| D− | 0.7 | 1.2 | 1.7 |
| F | 0 | 0 | 0 |
How it works
Grade point average, or GPA, turns letter grades into a single number. Each letter grade is worth a set number of points on a 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 worth a third of a point more or less. The GPA is the credit-weighted average of those points: a 4-credit course moves your GPA more than a 1-credit course.
Weighted GPA adds a bonus for course difficulty: regular adds nothing, honors adds 0.5 points, and AP or IB adds 1.0 point, applied before weighting by credits. So an A in an AP course is worth 5.0 points, a B in an honors course 3.5, and a B in a regular course 3.0. The formula is: weighted GPA = total weighted quality points ÷ total credits, where each course contributes (grade points + level bonus) × credits. Unweighted GPA uses the same formula without the bonus, so it can never rise above 4.0.
Credits are the weight each course carries. In most high schools a full-year course is worth 1 credit and a semester course 0.5, while in college a typical course is 3 or 4 credits. Enter the values on your transcript — the calculator works with any numbers, as long as you use the same values for every course. If you are not sure, entering 1 for every course gives the simple average.
The gap between your weighted and unweighted GPA tells a story. A big gap means you are taking hard courses and doing well in them, which colleges like to see. A small gap with a high unweighted GPA means top grades in regular courses, which is also strong, but one or two honors or AP courses could lift the weighted number. A weighted GPA below the unweighted GPA is impossible with this formula — if you see that, a course level or grade was entered wrong.
GPA scales vary by school. Some count an A-plus as 4.3, some do not use plus and minus grades at all, and some cap weighted GPA at 4.5 or 5.0. This calculator uses the most common scale, shown in the table above, and does not cap the result. If your school's official GPA differs slightly, the scale is almost always the reason — compare the table with your school's handbook.
Worked example
A student takes two courses: an AP course with an A, worth 4 credits, and a regular course with a B, worth 3 credits.
Step 1: Find the grade points — an A is 4.0 and a B is 3.0.
Step 2: Add the level bonus — the AP course adds 1.0, so the A is worth 5.0 weighted; the regular course adds 0, so the B stays at 3.0.
Step 3: Multiply by credits — the AP course earns 5.0 × 4 = 20 weighted points, and the regular course earns 3.0 × 3 = 9 weighted points.
Step 4: Add them up — 20 + 9 = 29 weighted points over 4 + 3 = 7 credits.
Step 5: Divide — 29 ÷ 7 = 4.14 weighted GPA.
For the unweighted GPA, the same courses earn 4.0 × 4 = 16 points and 3.0 × 3 = 9 points, for 25 points over 7 credits, or 25 ÷ 7 = 3.57. So this student has a weighted GPA of 4.14 and an unweighted GPA of 3.57 — the 0.57 gap is the reward for taking the AP course and earning an A in it.
FAQ
What is the difference between weighted and unweighted GPA?
Unweighted GPA treats every course the same: an A is worth 4.0 points whether the course is regular, honors, or AP. Weighted GPA adds bonus points for harder courses — usually 0.5 for honors and 1.0 for AP or IB — so an A in an AP course is worth 5.0. Weighted GPA rewards students who take challenging courses, which is why it can rise above 4.0.
How is weighted GPA calculated?
Each course earns quality points equal to its grade points plus its level bonus, multiplied by its credits. Add up the quality points for all courses, then divide by the total credits. For example, an A in a 4-credit AP course earns 5.0 times 4, or 20 points, and a B in a 3-credit regular course earns 3.0 times 3, or 9 points. Together that is 29 points over 7 credits, or a weighted GPA of 4.14.
Can my weighted GPA be higher than 4.0?
Yes. Because AP and IB courses add a full bonus point, a student with mostly As in AP courses can reach a weighted GPA of 5.0. That is normal — colleges that use weighted GPA know the scale runs to 5.0, and they usually recalculate GPA on their own scale anyway.
What grade points are plus and minus grades worth?
This calculator uses the common scale shown in the table above: A is 4.0, B is 3.0, C is 2.0, D is 1.0, and F is 0, with plus and minus grades worth a third of a point more or less. Some schools use a different scale, for example counting A-plus as 4.3 or not using plus and minus grades at all, so check your school's handbook if your result does not match your transcript.
Do colleges use weighted or unweighted GPA?
Most colleges look at both. Unweighted GPA lets them compare students from different schools on the same 4.0 scale, while weighted GPA and your course list show how much you challenged yourself. Course rigor often matters as much as the number itself, so a slightly lower GPA with hard courses can beat a perfect GPA in easy courses.