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Cumulative GPA Calculator

Enter the GPA already on your transcript and the credits it covers, add this term’s classes, and see your new cumulative GPA — and how far it actually moved.

Short answer

Multiply your prior GPA by the credits it covers to recover your grade points, add this term’s points, and divide by all your credits together: (prior GPA × prior credits + this term’s points) ÷ (prior credits + this term’s credits). A 3.0 over 30 credits plus a 4.0 across 10 credits is (90 + 40) ÷ 40 = 3.25. The more credits you’ve already banked, the less any single term moves the number.

Why a great semester barely moves your GPA

Cumulative GPA is an average over everything you have ever taken, so it gains inertia as your credits pile up. A perfect 4.0 term across 3 credits, on top of 120 credits at 3.0, gives (3.0 × 120 + 4.0 × 3) ÷ 123 ≈ 3.02 — a gain of 0.02. The same 4.0 term early on, over just 12 prior credits, would move you from 3.0 to about 3.20.

That is arithmetic rather than pessimism, and it cuts both ways: a bad term late on does less damage too. Use the planner above to see what a target actually requires — and whether it is reachable at all this term.

How we calculate this

Your GPA is a credit-weighted average of your grade points — not a plain average of your letter grades. This tool applies that arithmetic exactly:

  1. Letter grades become grade points. Each letter maps to a point value on the scale below — A = 4.0, A− = 3.7, B+ = 3.3, and so on down to F = 0. An unrecognised grade scores 0 rather than breaking the calculation.
  2. Weighted mode adds a bonus for harder classes. Honors adds +0.5; AP, IB, and dual-enrollment classes add +1.0. The bonus is capped one point above the scale maximum, so an A in an AP class is worth 5.0 and never more. In unweighted mode the course level is ignored entirely.
  3. Each course is weighted by its credits. Grade points are multiplied by credits, so a 5-credit class moves your GPA five times as much as a 1-credit class. An A in a 1-credit art class and a C in a 5-credit chemistry class is (4.0 × 1 + 2.0 × 5) ÷ 6 = 2.33 — not the 3.0 a plain average of an A and a C would suggest.
  4. Total points divided by total credits. GPA = Σ(grade points × credits) ÷ Σ(credits). Cumulative GPA rolls your prior transcript in the same way: (prior GPA × prior credits + this term's points) ÷ all credits combined.

Assumptions

  • Defaults to the standard 4.0 scale with plus/minus grades, with A+ capped at 4.0 — the most common US convention, but not universal. Your registrar's published scale is authoritative; edit the scale to match it.
  • Weighted bonuses (+0.5 Honors, +1.0 AP/IB) are conventions, not standards. Schools weight differently, and some don't weight at all.
  • Only graded, credit-bearing courses count. Pass/fail, audited, and withdrawn courses are normally excluded from GPA — leave them out.
  • Courses with zero or negative credits are skipped rather than silently averaged in.
  • Everything is computed in your browser. Nothing is uploaded or stored.

Sources

Last reviewed: July 15, 2026

Standard 4.0 grade scale (unweighted)

Letter gradeGrade points
A+4.0
A4.0
A-3.7
B+3.3
B3.0
B-2.7
C+2.3
C2.0
C-1.7
D+1.3
D1.0
D-0.7
F0.0

The scale most US schools use. Some award 4.3 for an A+, and some don't use minus grades at all — if yours differs, edit the scale in the calculator and every figure updates.

How do you calculate cumulative GPA?+

Multiply your prior GPA by the credits it covers to recover your total grade points, add this term's grade points, then divide by all your credits combined. Cumulative GPA = (prior GPA × prior credits + this term's points) ÷ (prior credits + this term's credits).

What's the difference between semester GPA and cumulative GPA?+

Semester GPA covers one term's courses only. Cumulative GPA averages every graded course you've taken, weighted by credits — so it moves slowly once you have a lot of credits behind you.

Why did my cumulative GPA barely move after a great semester?+

Because it's an average over everything you've taken. A 4.0 term across 3 credits on top of 120 existing credits at 3.0 gives (3.0 × 120 + 4.0 × 3) ÷ 123 ≈ 3.02. The more credits you've banked, the more inertia your GPA has.

Where do I find my prior GPA and credits?+

Both are on your transcript or student portal — you need the GPA and the number of credits it's based on, not just the course count. If your school's scale differs from the standard 4.0, edit the scale so this term's courses are converted the same way your registrar does it.

Just need this term’s GPA? Use the main GPA calculator, or add Honors and AP weighting.