What Is a GPA?

GPA meaning: what does GPA stand for?

The name tells you how it works: every final grade earns grade points, and your GPA is simply the average of those points. That’s why a college, a scholarship committee or an employer can read your whole record at a glance.

It isn’t the same as a percentage grade. Your percentage shows how much of a class’s work you got right. Your GPA only looks at each class’s final letter, so a 93% and a 99% both count as an A, worth 4.0 on most scales.

You’ll usually come across four kinds of GPA:

• Term or semester GPA: the classes from one grading period only.
• Cumulative GPA: every graded class you’ve taken at your school, all terms together. This is the number most people mean by “my GPA”.
• Major GPA: only the classes in your major, which some departments check before you can declare it or graduate.
• Weighted GPA: a high school GPA that gives extra points for Honors, AP or IB classes (more on that in section 4).

Whichever one you’re looking at, they all start in the same place: the points each letter grade is worth.

GPA scale: how grades become points

Most US high schools and colleges use a 4.0 scale. An A is worth 4 points, a B 3, a C 2, a D 1 and an F 0, with plus and minus grades in between. Here’s the standard version with typical percent ranges:

Your school sets its own version, so it’s worth a quick look at your handbook or course catalog. Three differences come up a lot:

• Plus and minus grades. Some schools only use whole letters, so a B+ and a B− both count as 3.0.
• The A+. Most schools cap an A+ at 4.0, but a few count it as 4.3.
• Percent cutoffs. One school’s B starts at 80%, another’s at 83% or 85%.

Not every GPA is out of 4.0, either. Weighted high school GPAs often go up to 5.0, and many countries use their own systems, like the 10-point scale used at many universities in India. Our GPA scale guide lines up the common scales and explains what each GPA from 1.0 to 4.0 means.

Once you know what each grade is worth, working out your GPA is simple math.

How GPA is calculated

Your GPA is an average, but one where bigger classes count more. It takes three steps:

1. Turn each grade into points using the scale above, or your school’s own values.
2. Multiply the points by the class’s credits. This gives you quality points: a B (3.0) in a 4-credit class is worth 12.
3. Add up your quality points and divide by your total credits.

GPA = Total quality points ÷ Total credits

Here’s how that works for a term with four classes and 14 credits:

Notice how the two 4-credit classes pull the most weight. A plain average of the four grades, (3.7 + 3.0 + 3.3 + 4.0) ÷ 4 = 3.50, would come out too high here. If all your classes carry the same credit, as in many high schools, the plain average is the right answer. Schools also differ on rounding: some show 3.456 as 3.46, others cut it to 3.45, so a 0.01 gap with your transcript is normal.

Withdrawals and incompletes usually stay out of the math, while an F counts as 0 points with its full credits. For step-by-step help with unweighted, weighted, semester and cumulative GPA, plus GPA scales and high school vs. college, see our full guide on how to calculate GPA.

That’s the standard, or unweighted, GPA. Many high schools also report a second number that rewards harder classes.

Weighted vs. unweighted GPA

An unweighted GPA treats every class the same. An A is 4.0 whether it’s in PE or AP Calculus, so 4.0 is the top. A weighted GPA gives a bonus for harder classes, so it can go above 4.0.

Many weighted scales add half a point for Honors classes and a full point for AP, IB and dual-enrollment classes, though your high school decides the exact boost. Here’s what each grade is worth at each level on a typical scale:

Because every high school weights a little differently, many colleges recalculate your GPA their own way. The University of California, for example, uses only its required A–G courses from 10th and 11th grade, and adds an extra point for up to eight semesters of approved Honors, AP or IB courses, with no more than four from 10th grade. So when an application asks, list both numbers, and use your unweighted GPA to compare yourself with students from other schools.

Weighted or not, the next question is the one everyone asks: is your GPA a good one?

What is a good GPA?

In short, a good GPA is one at or above the average of the students you’re compared with. Across the US, that average has been climbing:

That makes a 3.0 about average, a 3.5 a clear step above and a 3.8 or higher well above the national average. Here’s how unweighted GPAs usually read:

“Good” also depends on what you’re aiming for. A GPA that’s fine for one college can fall short at a more selective one. And colleges look at the classes behind the number: a 3.6 with several AP courses can be stronger than a 3.9 with none. To see where you stand, look up the typical GPA of admitted students at each school on your list. Many colleges publish it in their Common Data Set, and it tells you more than any national average.

Some goals go further and set a hard minimum. That’s where your GPA starts to really matter.

GPA requirements for college and scholarships

Your GPA is often the first number a decision maker sees, and many of them set a cutoff. Colleges read your grades before almost anything else, scholarships use your GPA to decide who qualifies and who keeps the money, and even federal student aid has a GPA rule. Here are some common minimums:

The cutoffs don’t stop once you’re in college, either. Your school uses your GPA for good standing, academic probation, the dean’s list and graduation honors, and graduate, law and medical schools ask for your college GPA, often with a stated minimum. Some employers ask for it too, especially for internships and first jobs.

Common GPA myths

With this much riding on one number, it’s no surprise that a few myths get passed around. Here’s the truth behind the ones we hear most.

That last one is good news, because it means you can almost always pull your GPA up.

How to raise your GPA

You raise your GPA by earning grades above your current average, and the sooner you start, the more each grade counts. Every new credit is averaged in with all your old ones, so the more credits you have, the harder your GPA is to move.

Here’s how far 15 credits of straight A’s lift a 3.0 GPA, depending on when they come:

The same A’s do less each year, so start now. These three habits help the most:

• Focus on high-credit classes. Raising a 4-credit class from a C to a B adds as many quality points as raising four 1-credit classes by the same step.
• Protect the small points. Missed homework and skipped quizzes add up faster than one hard exam. Office hours and tutoring early in the term catch problems before the final.
• Balance your schedule. Pair your toughest class with ones you feel confident in, instead of stacking them all in one term.

Want to know exactly what grades you need to hit a target? Try the Raise GPA Calculator, then come back to this guide whenever your grades change.

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