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GPA CollegeCalculator

GPA scale chart

Letter grades, percentage bands and grade points for every scale in common use, plus what each range usually means for your standing.

Letter grade to 4.0 grade points
GradePointsPercentage
A+4.097-100
A4.093-96
A-3.790-92
B+3.387-89
B3.083-86
B-2.780-82
C+2.377-79
C2.073-76
C-1.770-72
D+1.367-69
D1.063-66
D-0.760-62
F0.0Below 60
What your GPA usually means
GPAStanding
3.50 and aboveLatin honors range at most schools
3.00 to 3.49Good standing, eligible for most scholarships
2.00 to 2.99Satisfactory, meets the usual graduation minimum
1.00 to 1.99Academic probation at most schools
Below 1.00Risk of academic dismissal
The three scales side by side
Grade4.04.35.0 weighted
A+4.04.35.0
A4.04.05.0
A-3.73.74.7
B+3.33.34.3
B3.03.04.0
B-2.72.73.7
C+2.32.33.3
C2.02.03.0
D1.01.02.0
F0.00.00.0

The 5.0 column shows an AP or IB course with a full point of weighting. Honors courses usually receive half that.

Typical Latin honors cutoffs
HonorUsual minimum GPA
Summa cum laudeWith highest honor3.90
Magna cum laudeWith great honor3.70
Cum laudeWith honor3.50

Cutoffs vary. Many schools award honors to a fixed top percentage of the class instead of a fixed GPA, so check your own catalog.

Which scale applies to you

Almost every US college uses the plus/minus 4.0 scale in the first table. The quickest way to confirm yours is to find a course on your transcript where you earned an A- and check whether it was recorded as 3.7. If it was, you are on the standard scale.

If your transcript shows an A+ worth 4.3, select the 4.3 option in any calculator on this site. If it shows no minus grades at all, choose the letters-only scale. Picking the wrong one is a common reason a calculated GPA disagrees with an official one.

Non-graded marks

Not every mark carries points. A W for withdrawal, a P for a pass in a pass/fail course and an I for incomplete are all excluded from the GPA entirely, on both sides of the fraction. They neither raise nor lower your average.

An F is different. It carries zero grade points but still occupies credit hours in the denominator, which is precisely why a single failed four-credit course does so much damage.

How to read the standing table

The bands describing what a GPA means are conventions, not rules. A 2.0 is the usual graduation minimum and a 3.5 the usual first honors cutoff, but your own catalog is the authority, and schools that award honors by class percentile rather than fixed GPA move their thresholds every year.

To check where you sit against honors cutoffs, use the cum laude calculator. To convert a single percentage or letter, use the grade to GPA converter.

Common questions

What is the 4.0 GPA scale?
It converts letter grades to points from 0.0 to 4.0, where an A is 4.0, a B is 3.0, a C is 2.0, a D is 1.0 and an F is 0.0. Plus and minus grades sit between those values, so a B+ is 3.3 and a B- is 2.7. It is the standard used by essentially every US college.
Is an A+ worth more than an A?
At most colleges, no. Both are worth 4.0, so a perfect score and a low A produce the same grade points. A minority of institutions use a 4.3 scale where an A+ is worth 4.3, which lets a GPA rise slightly above 4.0 without any weighting.
What is the 5.0 GPA scale?
It is a weighted high school scale where advanced courses earn bonus points. An A in an AP or IB course is worth 5.0 instead of 4.0, and an A in an honors course is often 4.5. It exists to reward course rigour and is not used by colleges for their own grading.
Why does my school not use minus grades?
Some institutions deliberately omit them to reduce the number of borderline decisions and grade disputes. On a letters-only scale every A is 4.0 and every B is 3.0, which tends to produce slightly higher averages than a plus/minus scale where an A- costs 0.3 points.
What GPA is a B average?
A straight B average is a 3.0. Mixing B+ and B- grades moves it either side, so a transcript of alternating B+ and B- results averages 3.0 as well, since 3.3 and 2.7 sit symmetrically around it.

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