GPA is an abbreviation for grade point average. This is a quick way of getting a picture of a student's overall academic performance. Instead of reflecting every bad grade, a GPA is an average of all the grades. As a result, one or two bad grades will not really hurt your average substantially. You can use the GPA calculator for high school below to help you figure out your GPA based on your letter grades.
Using the GPA Calculator
The following high school grade calculator is easy to use, especially if you want to calculate a GPA that is weighted for AP and Honor's classes. A weighted grade is one that counts more toward your overall GPA because of the course difficulty. For complete instructions, click on the 'instructions' tab on the right.
Note that if you want grades that aren't weighted for honors and AP classes, choose 'no' for those options in the calculator, even if the classes you took were AP or honors classes. Clicking yes automatically weights those grades.
How to Find Your High School GPA Manually
Many of the calculators online are geared toward specific colleges, making it difficult to calculate your exact GPA. However, figuring it out yourself is simple once you figure out how to convert your grades. The process is as follows:
- Convert your grades to the GPA scale.
- Add the numbers all together.
- Divide by the number of classes you have taken.
Step One: Convert Your Grades
Use the following chart to convert your letter or number grade to the GPA scale. Only use the weighted values if you take an honors or AP class, and your school weights those classes on your transcripts.
| Letter Grade | Number Grade | GPA Points | Honors | AP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 95 and above | 4 | 4.5 | 5 |
| A- | 91-94 | 3.67 | 4.17 | 4.67 |
| B+ | 88-90 | 3.33 | 3.83 | 4.33 |
| B | 84-87 | 3 | 3.5 | 4 |
| B- | 80-83 | 2.67 | 3.17 | 3.67 |
| C+ | 77-79 | 2.33 | 2.83 | 3.33 |
| C | 74-76 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 3.0 |
| C- | 70-73 | 1.67 | 2.17 | 2.67 |
| D+ | 65-69 | 1.33 | 1.83 | 2.33 |
| D | 61-64 | 1 | 1.5 | 2 |
| F | 60 and below | 0 | .5 | 1 |
While this may seem complicated, it is not as hard as it looks. If you take five classes, each worth one credit, and you receive three A's and two B's, you'd convert those A's and B's to three 4s and two 3s on the GPA scale. If your five classes were on a number system and you got four 95, you would have four 4s on the GPA scale.
Note that if your classes were worth less than one credit (such as a class that was only one semester long), you'd multiply the total credit hours by the GPA conversion score. For example, if you took one semester of art and received an 'A' in the class, you'd multiply one-half by 4.
Step Two: Add Your Grades Together
Once you have converted your grades to the GPA scale, it is time to add them all together. If you have three 4s, and two 3s, you would add them all together and get 18. You are aiming to get the sum of all of the numbers, not count the amount of numbers that you have.
Step Three: Divide by the Number of Credit Hours
In order to get the final GPA, you need to divide by the number of credits. In the above example, divide 18 by 5 credits, giving you a GPA of 3.6.
It may seem confusing to remember what numbers you add versus what numbers you divide. An easy way to remember the difference is that you add the small GPA numbers together to get a big number. You divide that big number by the number of courses you have taken.
Your Calculated GPA
Remember that calculating your GPA is only an approximation as your school may have separate rules, such as weighted honors classes or a higher conversion rate (where a 97 = 4 on the GPA conversion scale for example.) Once you have gone through the math yourself, you will have a better idea of your academic position and a clear vision of how hard work pays off.
