GPA Scale
Use our GPA converter and our GPA scale to easily convert a letter grade or percentage grade to a 4-point system. Read our ultimate guide on GPA scales to find out more.
What is the GPA Scale?
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Your grade point average (GPA) is a key measurement of your achievements during your years in high school and college and may have an impact on your early career and employment opportunities.
Your GPA will be used by colleges to evaluate your application. It will also have an impact on later academic pursuits, as graduate and advanced programs may take your GPA into account. It also plays a role in grants and scholarships, which are usually awarded to those with a minimum GPA score. It can even play a role in job applications, as employers may look at your GPAs as a measurement of your commitment and effort.
Grade point average (GPA) is the average of your grades over a particular period. Usually, for each course or class, you get a letter grade. Each grade corresponds to a number from 0 to 100, which is the percentage of total grade points you achieved in a particular course or class.
The GPA scale is the equivalence between letter grades, grade points, and percent grades. Read our ultimate guide to know all that there is to know on the GPA scale.
GPA scale : percentages, letter grades, and grade points
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How to calculate your percentage grade
Even though you may get all your letters on a letter scale, from F (bad) to A (great), the fact is that this letter grade has been calculated first as a percentage grade. Calculating a percentage grade is quite easy. All you need to know is to find out, for each class or course, how many points did you get from the total available points.
For example, a class grade may be composed of several assignments, homework, tests, and a final exam. Each of these items has a value of any number of points. At the end of the course, you may have achieved 270 grade points out of a maximum of 290. By dividing your final grade points by the maximum grade points and multiplying by 100 you get your percentage grade:
(270 ÷ 290) * 100 = 93
For this course, you would have earned a percentage grade of 93%.
Converting percentages to letters
By using a conversion table you can see how each percentage range converts to a particular letter grade. Depending on the class or course, if it’s in high school or college, each teacher may use a different conversion table. So even though in most classes a 93% would grant you an A, in other cases it may be a B+. It all depends on the conversion table your teacher is using.
Converting a letter grade to GPA
The final step is to use another table to help you convert your letter grade into a grade point system. Regular classes convert your grades into a 4-point system, but honors and AP classes use a 5-point conversion table, which means they will award you extra points.
Continuing with our example, an A grade will award you a GPA of 4.0.
Unweighted 4.0 GPA scale
The unweighted 4.0 scale is the most widely used GPA conversion scale. This scale goes from 0, which would be the score awarded to an F letter grade, to 4.0, which indicates an average of A in your classes. As this is an unweighted GPA scale, it does not take honors classes into account and will have the same value as regular classes.
Weighted 5.0 GPA scale
A weighted GPA scale goes up to 5 points. This scale is used in many high schools to provide extra points to those that attend higher-level classes. An A in an Honors class, for example, would result in a higher GPA than an A in a regular class. This scale is only used in high schools, not in college.
The weighted GPA scale makes sure that students who pick more difficult and challenging classes, like honors or advanced placement classes will not have a lower high school GPA than those who attend regular classes, so the class rankings would be more accurate. It’s an incentive for students to take higher difficulty classes, as they have the potential of a higher high school GPA and improving their college application.
In the weighted GPA scale, each grade gets awarded an extra point for an honors class, or half a point if it’s a mid-level difficulty class.
How to calculate your high school GPA
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Calculating your high school GPA is a simple process. First, you convert each of your letter grades to points using a GPA scale. Then sum all your points and divide by the total number of classes. The resulting number would be your GPA. You can use our high school GPA calculator to help you figure out each semester’s GPA.
To calculate your GPA for your whole high school academic career, you can use our cumulative GPA calculator.
How Advanced Placement and Honors classes impact your GPA
Advanced Placement classes and honors courses have a great positive impact on your GPA, as those classes use a weighted grading scale of 5 points, so you would be able to achieve a higher GPA than by taking only regular classes. A B in an honors class will be equivalent to an A in a regular class.
College admissions value that you have taken on higher difficulty classes. A higher GPA will also give you more chances to apply and enter more colleges.
How to calculate your college GPA
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In this case, the GPA is calculated a bit differently. Each college course has a number of credits. Usually, each course has 3 credits, but it could have 4 or 5 credits if there is lab time or if the subject is especially difficult..
The number of credits of the course impacts the GPA as an A on a 5 credits course will have more weight on your grades than the same grade on a 3 credit course.
To calculate your GPA in this case you have to multiply each course grade point by the number of credits. Then sum all the figures and divide by the total number of credits. Or you could just use our college GPA calculator and focus on improving your grades.
Why are GPA scales important to you?
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It’s important to know the different GPA scales and which one is used by your high school so that you can make responsible choices to improve your GPA and have a better chance in your college admissions processes.
Colleges will take into account the GPA scale of your school and whether you have taken on honors or AP classes in your admission process. For example, a 3.8 unweighted GPA of a student in honors classes will probably have better chances in more colleges than another with a 4.0 GPA on a weighted scale enrolled in regular classes.
So take a look at your current GPA and make responsible choices on your coursework to take your GPA scores to the next level.
Helpful Guides
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How to Raise GPA
A good grade point average (GPA) can mean a wider range of opportunities for your career.
How to Calculate Grades
It’s important to know how to calculate your grades, so you can keep track of your progress in all your classes and where you need to put on more effort to increase your GPA.