Understanding GPA
Disclaimers
- This page’s content is designed to be read as a general guide and not as authoritative or universally-applicable information.
- This information has been reviewed by high school and college enrollment experts; however you should consult your individual state’s high school requirements or processes, or homeschool laws, to ensure that your education is satisfactory.
This page will help you understand what a Grade Point Average (GPA) is, what GPA scales exist (and what is most commonly used by colleges), and the difference between weighted and unweighted GPAs. This page will also help you understand grading scales and how they can impact GPA calculations.
4.0 Scale & Weighted vs. Unweighted
A Grade Point Average (GPA) is the sum of all of a student’s courses’ Grade Points throughout their high school career, divided by the total number of credits they have earned. Most high schools and colleges report Grade Point Averages on a 4.0 scale.
Here is an example of a 4.0 GPA scale:
| Letter Grade | Grade Points |
|---|---|
| A+ | 4.0 |
| A | 4.0 |
| A- | 3.7 |
| B+ | 3.3 |
| B | 3.0 |
| B- | 2.7 |
| C+ | 2.3 |
| C | 2.0 |
| C- | 1.7 |
| D+ | 1.3 |
| D | 1.0 |
| D- | 0.7 |
| F | 0.0 |
As you can see, a 4.0 scale means that the highest number of Grade Points which can be earned on the scale is 4.0; if you ever see a student with a GPA higher than 4.0 then you know that the school uses either a GPA scale higher than 4.0 (a common one is a 4.3 scale, in which an A+ is worth 4.3 points) or a weighted GPA scale (a scale in which the school adds extra Grade Points for more difficult courses).
Here is an example of a 4.3 GPA scale that is weighted:
| Letter Grade | Grade Points Standard Course | Grade Points Honors/AP Course (+0.5) | Grade Points Dual Enrollment College Course (+1.0) |
|---|---|---|---|
| A+ | 4.3 | 4.8 | 5.3 |
| A | 4.0 | 4.5 | 5.0 |
| A- | 3.7 | 4.2 | 4.7 |
| B+ | 3.3 | 3.8 | 4.3 |
| B | 3.0 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| B- | 2.7 | 3.2 | 3.7 |
| C+ | 2.3 | 2.8 | 3.3 |
| C | 2.0 | 2.5 | 3.0 |
| C- | 1.7 | 2.2 | 2.7 |
| D+ | 1.3 | 1.8 | 2.3 |
| D | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.0 |
| D- | 0.7 | 1.2 | 1.7 |
| F | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
You can see in the example scale that the Honors and AP courses are weighted by an added 0.5 Grade Points, and the dual enrollment courses are weighted by an added 1.0 Grade Points.
It is important to know that, because many high schools use many different GPA scales, colleges will often recalculate a student’s high school GPA on a standard unweighted 4.0 scale to ensure that they are fair and accurate in making admissions decisions and giving scholarships. This means that any added weights (additional Grade Points added to courses, such as the Honors/AP or College courses in the example Weighted scale above) and any Grade Points above 4.0 (such as the addition of 0.3 grade points for an A+ on the 4.3 GPA scale above) are removed; on an unweighted 4.0 GPA scale, Grade Points are calculated based only on the basic 4.0 scale without consideration for the difficulty of individual courses. So, when calculating an unweighted GPA on an unweighted 4.0 scale, an A+ is worth 4.0 Grade Points whether it was a standard course or not, a B- is worth 2.7 Grade Points whether it was a standard course or not, etc. When it really comes down to it, your unweighted GPA is based on how well you did in your classes; it doesn’t matter how tough the classes were.
Grading Scales
It is important to know how your are graded. Most schools use a 10-point grading scale to calculate letter grades. However, some schools use different grading scales, such as a 7-point grading scale.
Here is a comparison between a 10-point and a 7-point grading scale:
Letter Grade | School A 10-Point Grading Scale | School B 7-Point Grading Scale |
|---|---|---|
| A+ | 100 – 97.0 | 100 – 98.0 |
| A | 96.9 – 93.0 | 97.9 – 95.0 |
| A- | 92.9 – 90.0 | 94.9 – 93.0 |
| B+ | 89.9 – 87.0 | 92.9 – 91.0 |
| B | 86.9 – 83.0 | 90.9 – 87.0 |
| B- | 82.9 – 80.0 | 86.9 – 85.0 |
| C+ | 79.9 – 77.0 | 84.9 – 83.0 |
| C | 76.9 – 73.0 | 82.9 – 77.0 |
| C- | 72.9 – 70.0 | 86.9 – 75.0 |
| D+ | 69.9 – 67.0 | 74.9 – 73.0 |
| D | 66.9 – 63.0 | 72.9 – 69.0 |
| D- | 62.9 – 60.0 | 68.9 – 67.0 |
| F | 59.9 – below | 66.9 – below |
Colleges will generally use the high school’s grading scale to calculate a student’s unweighted GPA. If a grade is given, and the school’s grading scale is provided, then the college will use that grading scale to determine the letter grade and thus the relevant Grade Points for each course to establish a GPA.
For example, in a situation where a student at a school with a 7-point grading scale earned a 91 in a course (a B+ at their school), The college would generally follow the school’s grading scale and give the appropriate Grade Points for the course as a B+. It would be highly unusual for a college to arbitrarily override the school’s grading scale and instead consider the course to be an A-.
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