How Do You Figure Out Your GPA?

A GPA is the average of your grades in all subjects.

GPA is an abbreviation for grade point average. Grade point averages are used by high schools and colleges to keep track of a student's overall performance. Many schools require that their students do not drop below a certain GPA. If a student 's GPA drops below a school's minimum, the student may be put on academic probation for a semester.

Things You'll Need

• Calculator

Instructions

1. Convert the letter grade from each class into its numeric equivalent. The standard numeric equivalents used to calculate GPAs are as follows: an A grade is equal to 4 points, an A- is equal to 3.7 points, a B+ is equal to 3.3 points, a B is equal to 3 points, a B- is equal to 2.7 points, a C+ is equal to 2.3 points, a C is equal to 2 points, a C- is equal to 1.7 points, a D+ is equal to 1.3 points, a D is equal to 1 point, a D- is equal to 0.7 of a point and an F is equal to 0.0 points.

2. Multiply the numeric equivalent of each class grade by the number of credit hours of the class to get the total amount of grade points earned for each class. Some classes are worth more credit hours than others. For example: an A grade in a class that is worth four credit hours would be 4 x 4 for a total of 16 grade points, a B- grade in a class that is worth three credit hours would be 2.7 x 3 for a total of 8.1 grade points and a D grade in a class that is worth three credit hours would be 1 x 3 for a total of three grade points.

3. Add the numbers from the grade points earned in each class together to get the total number of earned grade points for the semester. Take the example from above: 16 + 8.1 + 1 equals a total of 25.1 grade points for the semester.

4. Add the number of credit hours each class is worth together to get a credit hour total for the semester. With one class worth four credit hours and two classes worth three credit hours it will be 4 + 3 + 3, which equals a total of 10 credit hours attempted.

5. Take the number from the total of the grade points earned and divide it by the total number of credit hours attempted during the semester. Returning to the example from above: 25.1 grade points divided by 10 credit hours results in a GPA of 2.51.

Resources

• Back To College: GPA calculator