How to use this calculator
- Enter each class in the semester block.
- Pick the grade — letters, or switch to Percentage input.
- Ignore the course type if you like — the unweighted result never uses it. (Set it anyway and the weighted comparison card fills in for free.)
- Check credits — half-credit classes like health or PE pull half as hard.
- Add semesters to build a cumulative unweighted GPA across terms.
- Read the highlighted unweighted GPA — the pure 4.0-scale number colleges compare first.
How unweighted GPA works
Unweighted GPA ignores course difficulty entirely. Each letter grade maps to a fixed number of points on the 4.0 scale:
| Grade | A / A+ | A- | B+ | B | B- | C+ | C | C- | D+ | D | D- | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 4.0 | 3.7 | 3.3 | 3.0 | 2.7 | 2.3 | 2.0 | 1.7 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.0 |
Multiply each class's points by its credits, sum, and divide by total credits. An A in AP Physics and an A in ceramics are both worth 4.0 here — that's the whole point. It makes GPAs comparable across schools with different weighting policies, which is why admissions offices anchor on it.
Unweighted vs weighted at a glance
| Unweighted | Weighted | |
|---|---|---|
| Scale | 0 – 4.0 | 0 – 5.0 (usually) |
| Honors / AP bonus | None | +0.5 / +1.0 |
| Measures | Raw grades | Grades + rigor |
| Used for | College comparison baseline | Class rank, school honors |
The full comparison, with examples of when each number matters: weighted vs unweighted GPA.
Frequently asked questions
Does an A- ruin a 4.0?
On the plus/minus scale used here, an A- is 3.7, so one A- makes a perfect 4.0 impossible. Plenty of schools use a flat scale where any A is 4.0 — check which system your school uses before you panic.
What's the average unweighted high school GPA?
Around 3.0–3.1 nationally, and higher among college-bound students. What "good" looks like depends on your target schools — see what is a good high school GPA.
Can I raise a low unweighted GPA?
Yes, and the math favors starting early: the fewer credits you have, the more each new semester moves the average. Model it with the cumulative GPA calculator — and see how GPA works by grade level.