Semester GPA Calculator (With Credits)
Enter your grades and their credit hours to get your credit-weighted semester GPA.
A semester GPA weights each grade by its credit hours. Multiply each grade's points by its credits, add those up, and divide by the total credits. An A in a 3-credit class, a B in a 4-credit class, and a C in a 3-credit class give (12 + 12 + 6) รท 10 = 3.0.
How to Use This Calculator
Enter your letter grades in one box and the credit hours for each course, in the same order, in the other. The lists must have the same number of entries so each grade pairs with its credits. The calculator returns your credit-weighted GPA on the 4.0 scale.
Weighting by credits matters because a higher-credit course counts more toward your GPA than a one-credit elective, so an A in a heavy course lifts your average more.
How the Calculation Works
Each grade becomes points on the 4.0 scale, then is multiplied by its credit hours to give quality points. Summing the quality points and dividing by the total number of credits gives the weighted GPA.
This is the standard method colleges and high schools use. A plain average (ignoring credits) only matches it when every course carries the same number of credits.
GPA = ฮฃ(grade points ร credits) รท ฮฃ credits
Worked Example
Grades A, B, C with credits 3, 4, 3. The quality points are 4ร3 = 12, 3ร4 = 12, and 2ร3 = 6, totalling 30. The total credits are 3 + 4 + 3 = 10.
The GPA is 30 รท 10 = 3.0. Notice the B counts most here because it's the 4-credit course.
Assumptions and Limitations
- Weights grades by credit hours on the 4.0 scale
- Grades and credits lists must have the same length and order
- Pluses and minuses adjust points by 0.3
- Honors/AP weighting is not applied automatically
When to Use a Semester GPA Calculator
High-school and college students use this to find a weighted GPA from their grades and each course's credit hours. Run it to track a single term, project a report-card GPA, or see how one course affects the average. Enter your grades and credits to get the term GPA.
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Open calculator โFrequently Asked Questions
How do you calculate a weighted GPA?
Multiply each grade's points by its credit hours, add those quality points, and divide by the total credits. This weights bigger courses more heavily than smaller ones.
Why weight GPA by credits?
Because courses aren't equal in size. A 4-credit course should count more than a 1-credit elective, so credit-weighting reflects your true academic load in the GPA.
What's the difference from an unweighted GPA?
An unweighted GPA is a plain average of grade points, ignoring credits. A credit-weighted GPA multiplies by credits first. They match only when all courses have equal credits.
What are quality points?
The grade points multiplied by the course's credit hours. Summing quality points and dividing by total credits gives the GPA โ it's the core of the weighted calculation.
Does this include honors weighting?
No. It uses the standard 4.0 scale. Schools that add weight for honors or AP courses would use a 5.0-style scale, which this tool does not apply automatically.
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