Accurate GPA calculation for high school students. Enter your grades and course levels (Regular, Honors, AP) to see your weighted and unweighted GPA.
| Course Type | Letter Grade | Credits |
|---|---|---|
Understanding your Grade Point Average (GPA) is crucial for high school success and college admissions. Unlike a simple unweighted GPA, a Weighted GPA provides a more accurate reflection of your academic rigor by rewarding you for taking challenging courses like Honors, AP (Advanced Placement), and IB (International Baccalaureate). Our free Weighted GPA Calculator helps you calculate this complex metric instantly, ensuring you know exactly where you stand in the competitive college admissions landscape.
A weighted GPA calculates your average grade performance while giving "weight" to the difficulty of your classes. In a standard unweighted system (4.0 scale), an 'A' in Gym class counts the same as an 'A' in AP Physics—both are 4.0 points.
However, in a weighted system:
This means a student with a 'B' in AP Calculus might have the same GPA contribution (4.0) as a student with an 'A' in a regular math class.
Admissions officers are not just looking for "straight A's"—they are looking for students who challenge themselves. A high weighted GPA demonstrates that you have taken a curriculum full of rigorous coursework and succeeded.
When colleges recalculate your GPA (which many do), they verify if you took the most difficult classes available at your school. A 4.2 weighted GPA often looks more impressive than a 4.0 unweighted GPA achieved with only easy classes.
Follow these simple steps to get your accurate weighted and unweighted GPA:
Input the names of your current classes (e.g., "AP US History", "Chemistry Honors"). This helps you organize the calculation but isn't strictly required for the math.
Choose the letter grade you expect or received for each class. Our calculator supports standard A-F grading as well as plus/minus grades (e.g., B+, A-).
Enter the credit value for the course. Most full-year courses are 1.0 credit, while semester courses are often 0.5 credits.
Crucial Step: Select "Regular", "Honors", or "AP/IB" from the dropdown. This tells the calculator how many bonus points to add for that specific class.
It depends on your school's specific scale. On a 5.0 scale, a 5.0 is technically the max, but some schools use a 6.0 scale for AP classes, meaning you could theoretically achieve higher than a 5.0 if you took exclusively AP courses.
A 3.5 Weighted GPA is generally above average and indicates you are a solid student. It typically means you have a mix of A's and B's in regular and honors classes. For highly selective universities, most competitive applicants have a weighted GPA above 4.0.
Most colleges look at both, plus your class rank. They use the unweighted GPA to see your raw performance and the weighted GPA (or the transcript rigor) to understand the context of your grades.
The best way is to take more honors or AP classes and do well in them. Replacing a regular class with an Honors class gives you an instant mathematical boost, provided you can maintain the same letter grade.
Generally, no. A 'Pass' usually gives you credit but does not impact your GPA points. However, a 'Fail' often counts as an 'F' (0.0 points), which can significantly hurt your average.
Yes, it uses the standard US weighting scale (Regular=4.0, Honors=4.5, AP=5.0). However, some high schools have unique systems, so always compare with your official student handbook.
