An unweighted GPA uses a standard 4.0 scale where each letter grade is worth a fixed number of points, regardless of how difficult the course is. An A in a regular English class and an A in AP Chemistry both count as 4.0. The calculation itself is straightforward: convert each grade to its point value, then average them.
The 4.0 Scale
Every letter grade maps to a number on the unweighted scale:
- A: 4.0
- B: 3.0
- C: 2.0
- D: 1.0
- F: 0.0
If your school uses plus and minus grades, the scale gets more granular. An A-minus is typically worth 3.7, a B-plus is 3.3, a B-minus is 2.7, a C-plus is 2.3, a C-minus is 1.7, and a D-plus is 1.3. Not every school recognizes plus/minus distinctions, though. Some collapse all A grades into 4.0, all B grades into 3.0, and so on. Your transcript or student handbook will tell you which system your school uses.
The Basic Formula
If all your classes carry the same weight (one credit each, for example), the math is simple. Add up the grade points for every class, then divide by the number of classes.
Say you took five classes this semester and earned an A, A, B, B, and C. That’s 4.0 + 4.0 + 3.0 + 3.0 + 2.0 = 16.0 total grade points. Divide by 5 classes, and your unweighted GPA is 3.2.
When Classes Have Different Credit Hours
In college, and at some high schools, not every class is worth the same number of credits. A lab science might be four credit hours while a seminar is two. When credit hours vary, you need to account for them.
For each class, multiply the grade points by the number of credit hours. These products are called quality points. Then add up all the quality points and divide by the total credit hours you attempted. Here’s an example semester:
- Biology (4 credits), grade A: 4.0 × 4 = 16.0 quality points
- English (3 credits), grade B+: 3.3 × 3 = 9.9 quality points
- History (3 credits), grade A-: 3.7 × 3 = 11.1 quality points
- Art (2 credits), grade B: 3.0 × 2 = 6.0 quality points
Total quality points: 43.0. Total credit hours: 12. GPA: 43.0 ÷ 12 = 3.58. Many schools truncate GPAs after two decimal places rather than rounding, so a raw calculation of 3.587 would appear as 3.58 on your transcript.
How AP, Honors, and IB Classes Factor In
They don’t, at least not on the unweighted scale. That’s the defining feature: course difficulty is irrelevant. A student who takes all regular-level classes and earns straight As will have the same 4.0 unweighted GPA as a student who loads up on AP and IB courses and also earns straight As.
A weighted GPA, by contrast, adds extra points for advanced courses. Many high schools use a 5.0 scale for AP and IB classes, so an A in AP History would be worth 5.0 instead of 4.0, and a B might count as 4.0 instead of 3.0. Honors courses sometimes get a smaller bump, like 0.5 extra points. None of that applies to an unweighted GPA. If you’re comparing your GPA to published averages or admission benchmarks, check whether the number being referenced is weighted or unweighted, because the difference can be significant.
How Colleges Use Unweighted GPA
Because high schools weight GPAs differently (some use a 5.0 scale, others 4.5, some don’t weight at all), many colleges recalculate applicants’ GPAs on a common scale to make fair comparisons. The University of Michigan, for instance, converts all first-year applicants’ GPAs to an unweighted 4.0 scale using grades from 9th through 11th grade. In their recalculation, all versions of an A (whether A+, A, or A-minus) count as 4.0.
That doesn’t mean course rigor is ignored. Colleges typically review it separately. Admissions offices look at how many honors, AP, or IB courses you took alongside your GPA, weighing both factors during their review. A 3.8 unweighted GPA with a schedule full of advanced courses carries more weight than a 3.8 built entirely from standard classes.
Cumulative vs. Semester GPA
Your semester GPA reflects only the classes you took in a single term. Your cumulative GPA covers everything from the start of your academic career through the present. To calculate a cumulative GPA, you use the same quality-point method but include every graded course across all semesters. If you earned 120 total quality points over 36 credit hours across three semesters, your cumulative GPA is 120 ÷ 36 = 3.33.
When colleges or employers ask for your GPA without specifying, they typically mean cumulative. Your transcript will usually list both.
Quick Way to Estimate Your GPA
If you want a rough number without pulling out a calculator, count your grades. If you have mostly As with a few Bs, you’re somewhere in the 3.5 to 3.9 range. A mix of As and Bs lands around 3.0 to 3.5. Mostly Bs with some Cs puts you near 2.5 to 3.0. For a precise figure, run the full calculation using the quality-point method, or use one of the many free GPA calculators available online (College Board’s BigFuture site has one). Just make sure you select “unweighted” if the tool gives you a choice.