How GPA works: weighted and unweighted

Every letter grade is worth a number of points. An A is worth 4, a B is worth 3, a C is worth 2, a D is worth 1 and a failing grade is worth 0. Your GPA is the average of those points across your classes.

That is why most GPAs sit on a 4.0 scale. A 4.0 means straight A’s. A 3.0 means your grades average out to a B. A 3.5 is halfway between a B and an A.

GPA is built from letters, not percents. A 93% and a 99% are both an A, so they count the same. That surprises a lot of students: raising a class from 94% to 98% does nothing for your GPA, but pulling a class from 79% up to 80% can.

Many schools use plus and minus letters, and each one has its own point value. This is the most common scale. The percent shown is the lowest percent that usually earns each letter.

• Some schools use whole letters only. Then an A is 90 and up, a B is 80 and up, and a plus or minus doesn’t change your points.
• Some schools round your percent to a whole number first, so an 89.5 becomes a 90 and counts as an A. Others don’t round at all, so an 89.9 is still a B+.
• Some schools call the failing grade an E instead of an F. It works the same way.
• Some schools weight by credits, so a half-year class counts half as much as a full-year one. Then you multiply each class’s points by its credits and divide by the total credits instead of the number of classes.
• Your report card or school handbook shows which scale you have. When in doubt, ask your counselor.

An unweighted GPA treats every class the same. An A in a regular class and an A in an AP class are both worth 4.0. The highest possible unweighted GPA is 4.0.

Colleges often look at this number because it is easy to compare between schools. It shows how well you did, but not how hard your classes were.

A weighted GPA gives extra points for harder classes. The most common setup adds 0.5 for an Honors class and 1.0 for an AP, IB or dual-enrollment class. So an A in AP Biology counts as 5.0 instead of 4.0, and a B in Honors English counts as 3.5 instead of 3.0.

Not every school uses the same numbers. Some add a full point for Honors and two for AP. Some give Honors and AP the same bump. Some only give the bump when you earn a C or better, so a D in an AP class gets no extra point. Your school’s handbook or counselor can tell you which rule you have.

Because of the bump, a weighted GPA can go above 4.0. A student with all A’s in AP classes could have a 5.0 weighted GPA.

1. Write down every class and the letter grade you have, or the one on your report card.
2. Turn each letter into points using your school’s scale. That gives you the unweighted points.
3. For the weighted version, add the bump to each Honors or AP class that earns it.
4. Add up the points in each column.
5. Divide each total by the number of classes. Round to two decimals.

Your cumulative GPA is the average of every class you have finished in high school, not just this year. It is the number that usually goes on your transcript and on college applications.

The more classes you have behind you, the harder it is to move. That is not a reason to give up. It just means steady grades over time matter more than one great quarter.

• Look for classes sitting just under a letter line, like a 79% or an 89%. A few points there change your GPA. A few points in a class with a 95% do not.
• Turn in missing work early. A zero pulls a percent down far more than a low score does.
• Take harder classes when you are ready for them. On a weighted scale, a B in AP can count as much as an A in a regular class.
• Ask your teacher what is left in the term and how much each part counts, so you know where to put your effort.
• Do the math before you panic. A single bad test usually moves a class grade less than it feels like it does.