College GPA Calculator to Calculate All Aspects of Grade Point Average

College GPA Calculator Sign

This grade point average calculator will help you to track your present GPA as well as set and meet goals for future grading periods (semesters or quarters).

Specifically, this calculator creates individual GPA calculators for any number of grading periods you choose -- each of which recalculates as you enter the credit hours and select the letter grades for each class.

And unlike most grade point average calculators, this one even allows you to track your major GPA separately from your overall GPA.

Plus, the calculator also includes features for tracking and calculating your cumulative GPA, as well as a built-in feature that tells you how many credits you need at 4.0 -- and how many you need at your own realistic grade point average -- to raise your GPA to a desired level.

And if all that isn't enough, the calculator also includes ...

  • a feature for changing the quality point multipliers for each letter grade.
  • a feature for converting between semester hours and quarter hours.
  • a printer friendly report feature.
Read more ...

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College GPA Calculator

Calculate your GPA for any number of grading periods, with options to calculate your cumulative and target grade point averages.

Special Instructions

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Selected Data Record:

A Data Record is a set of calculator entries that are stored in your web browser's Local Storage. If a Data Record is currently selected in the "Data" tab, this line will list the name you gave to that data record. If no data record is selected, or you have no entries stored for this calculator, the line will display "None".

DataData recordData recordSelected data record: None
Quality point settings

Edit quality points:

LtrLtr PlusLetterLtr Minus
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B
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C
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D
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Quality point settings:

Expand the description in this row to make sure the default quality point multipliers match those used by your school. If the quality point multipliers are different from those used by your school, change the incorrect multipliers before moving on to the next line. Reseting the calculator will restore the default multipliers.

Grade period:Grade period:Grade period:Grade period:

Grade period:

Select the grading period used by your school. Your selection will only affect the labels displayed in the calculator.

# periods:# of periods:Number of grade periods:Number of periods to calculate GPA for:

Number of periods to calculate GPA for:

Enter the number of separate grading periods you would like to calculate a GPA for. The grade point average calculator will create a separate calculator for each grading period.

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# classes:# classes/prd:Number of classes per period:Number of classes per period:

Number of classes per period:

Enter the greatest number of classes you will take in any one grading period. The grade point average calculator will include this number of classes in each grading period calculator it creates.

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Cumulative (Optional)

Cumulative (Optional):

If you have an existing cumulative GPA and would like the calculator to readjust it as you calculate your GPA for one or more grading periods, tap the plus (+) icon to expand the section and enter your cumulative quality points and GPA in the applicable fields. Note that these fields are required in order for the calculator to calculate the credit hours and grades needed to raise your GPA (next section).

Cumulative earned credit hours:

Cumulative earned credit hours:

If your school lists earned and quality hours separately, enter the earned hours on this row. Note that earned hours are not necessary for calculating cumulative GPA.

Cumulative quality hours:

Cumulative quality hours:

If you want to have the calculator recalculate your cumulative GPA, enter your cumulative quality hours on this line. Only enter Major quality hours if you know your cumulative major GPA.

Cumulative GPA:

Cumulative GPA:

If you entered cumulative quality hours on the previous line, enter the cumulative GPA on this line.

Raise GPA (Optional)

Raise GPA (Optional):

If you want the calculator to calculate how many credit hours and at what grade you will need to raise your GPA, tap the plus (+) icon to expand the section and enter your target and future GPA estimates in this section. Note that in order for this to work you will need to have entered your cumulative quality points and GPA in the section above this one.

Target GPA:

Target GPA:

If you would like the calculator to estimate how many credit hours and at what letter grade you will need to raise your GPA, enter a target GPA that is greater than your cumulative GPA. Only enter a Major target GPA if you know what your cumulative major GPA is.

Future GPA:

Future GPA:

Enter a future GPA that is greater than your cumulative GPA, and that you believe you can actually achieve. In other words, if your cumulative GPA is 2.5, and you wish to raise your GPA to 3.0, but you feel the best GPA you could earn for your future grading periods is 3.75, enter 3.75 as your future GPA.

Hour Conversion Tool

Conversion tool:

If you have a mixture of credit hour types due to transferred credit hours, use this tool to convert the transferred hours to the type currently being used. To convert between semester hours and quarter hours, enter the known credit hours in the appropriate field and the known credit hours will be converted to the unknown credit hours. Note that the converted hours are rounded up to the nearest whole number.

Sem hours:Semester hrs:Semester hours:Semester hours:

Semester hours:

Enter the number of semester hours you would like converted to quarter hours.

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Qtr hours:Quarter hrs:Quarter hours:Quarter hours:

Quarter hours:

Enter the number of quarter hours you would like converted to semester hours.

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If you would like to save the current entries to the secure online database, tap or click on the Data tab, select "New Data Record", give the data record a name, then tap or click the Save button. To save changes to previously saved entries, simply tap the Save button. Please select and "Clear" any data records you no longer need.

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Help and Tools

Learn

What GPA is and how to calculate it manually.

What is GPA?

GPA is an acronym for Grade Point Average, which is used to track your level of success for each grading period (semester or quarter), as well as for tracking your cumulative measure of success over the course of your college education.

Since your GPA is one of the first things potential employers look for in your college transcript, it's extremely important that you work hard to maintain a high GPA. This is especially true in the early days of your college education, because the more credit hours you accumulate at lower grades, the longer it will take to raise your GPA.

How to Calculate GPA for One Grading Period

In order to calculate your grade point average for one grading period, you first need to understand the key variables that make up the formula.

Credit hours: Each class you take will have a number of credit hours assigned to it, which are usually listed in your school's course catalog. Credit hours per class typically range between 1 and 5.

Quality credit hours: Credit hours earned for classes that are taken for a letter grade versus classes taken on a Pass/No-Pass basis.

Quality point multipliers: The number of points awarded for an earned letter grade (A = 4 points, B = 3 points, etc.). The quality point multipliers can vary slightly from school to school, which is why the calculator on this page allows you to edit the default multipliers to match those of your school.

Quality points: The product of the earned quality credit hours multiplied by the letter grade's corresponding quality point multiplier. For example, if you earn an A in a 4-credit-hour class, the quality points earned would be 16 (4 credit hours x multiplier of 4 for an A = 16).

So now that you understand the terms involved, here is the formula for calculating your grade point average:

GPA =Total quality points earned
Total quality credit hours earned

How to Calculate Cumulative GPA

Your cumulative grade point average is calculated basically the same way you calculate GPA for a single grading period, except you will be using your total quality points to-date and total quality credit hours earned to-date.

Cumulative GPA =Total quality points earned to date
Total quality credit hours earned to date

How to Calculate Credits and Grades Needed to Raise GPA

To calculate what you need to do to raise your grade point average from your present average to a desired average, you can use one of two methods: the Straight A Method, or the Realistic Grade Method. I'll present the formulas for each separately.

The Straight A Method

This method calculates how many future credit hours you need to get straight "A"s (4.0) in to reach your target grade point average. The formula is as follows:

Straight A Credits =Accum. GPA Credits x (Target GPA - Accum. GPA)
4.0 - Target GPA

So if your cumulative grade point average is 2.5 after 60 credits, and you want to see how many future straight A credits you need to reach a target of 3.0, here is how you would calculate the needed credits:

Straight A Credits =60 x (3.0 - 2.5)
4.0 - 3.0
 
Straight A Credits =60 x (.5)
1.0
 
Straight A Credits =30
1.0
 
Straight A Credits =30

So using this method you would need to get straight "A"s in your next 30 quality credit hours in order to raise your grade point average from 2.5 to 3.0.

The Realistic Grade Method

If getting straight "A"s is beyond your time and/or abilities, this method calculates how many future credit hours you need to get at your personal, highest realistic grade point average in order to reach your target grade point average. The formula is as follows:

Realistic Credits =Accum. GPA Credits x (Target GPA - Accum. GPA)
Realistic GPA - Target GPA

So if your cumulative grade point average is 2.5 after 60 credits, and you believe the highest grade point average you could realistically achieve for future classes would be 3.5, here is how you would calculate how many 3.5 credits you need to reach a target of 3.0:

Realistic Credits =60 x (3.0 - 2.5)
3.5 - 3.0
 
Realistic Credits =60 x (.5)
0.5
 
Realistic Credits =30
0.5
 
Realistic Credits =60

So in order to raise your grade point average from 2.5 to 3.0 using a realistic future GPA of 3.5, you would need to average 3.5 in your next 60 quality credit hours.

How to Convert Between Semester Hours and Quarter Hours

If a portion of your earned credit hours are from a school that used different grading periods than your present school, then in order to calculate your cumulative grade point average you will need to convert the unlike credit hours to match the grading period of your present school.

Even though the calculator on this page has a built-in credit hour conversion tool, I will list the formulas used by the calculator in case you want to convert the hours manually.

Semester Hours = Quarter Hours x 1.5
Quarter Hours = Semester Hours x .6675
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Adjust Calculator Width:

Move the slider to left and right to adjust the calculator width. Note that the Help and Tools panel will be hidden when the calculator is too wide to fit both on the screen. Moving the slider to the left will bring the instructions and tools panel back into view.

Also note that some calculators will reformat to accommodate the screen size as you make the calculator wider or narrower. If the calculator is narrow, columns of entry rows will be converted to a vertical entry form, whereas a wider calculator will display columns of entry rows, and the entry fields will be smaller in size ... since they will not need to be "thumb friendly".

Show/Hide Popup Keypads:

Select Show or Hide to show or hide the popup keypad icons located next to numeric entry fields. These are generally only needed for mobile devices that don't have decimal points in their numeric keypads. So if you are on a desktop, you may find the calculator to be more user-friendly and less cluttered without them.

Stick/Unstick Tools:

Select Stick or Unstick to stick or unstick the help and tools panel. Selecting "Stick" will keep the panel in view while scrolling the calculator vertically. If you find that annoying, select "Unstick" to keep the panel in a stationary position.

If the tools panel becomes "Unstuck" on its own, try clicking "Unstick" and then "Stick" to re-stick the panel.