How to Calculate GPA in High School? (Guide)
Everything you are doing during your course will contribute to your GPA in different ways, so it’s time to understand that it’s not just a statistic or a number but your educational history that will tell your college, university, or scholarship sponsors what your academic abilities and capacities are. So keeping an eye on it and knowing how to calculate GPA in high school is worth it in your educational journey. In this guide, you will find how to calculate it manually or with our free GPA calculator.
Why Knowing GPA Matters
In your educational journey, your GPA is like a stamp that marks your abilities and helps colleges, scholarship sponsors, or AP honors programs decide whether you deserve enrollment. The University of Wisconsin-Madison explained that GPA is something that presents the quality of students’ work. It’s not a numerical value that just appears on your report card and matters only on your result day. It is something that will impact your academic journey throughout. But we have good news for you: you can calculate GPA before your final day and change your final GPA by making it better.
Types of GPA in High School
Looking at your grade average will also require you to review your high school’s grading policy, as every school has its own. But most of them follow these two types of policies that are explained below:
Unweighted GPA
In an unweighted system, every class will be equal in value. No matter if it is a basic English or AP Physics class, an A in both will count the same as 4.0. It is not a matter of complex math to calculate GPA in an unweighted system. Because it will care more about your academic performance rather than your course difficulty level. For clearer insights, please take a look at the unweighted grading scale below.
| Letter Grade | Percentage Range | Unweighted GPA (4.0 Scale) |
| A | 90-100% | 4.0 |
| B | 80-89% | 3.0 |
| C | 70-79% | 2.0 |
| D | 60-69% | 1.0 |
| F | Below 60% | 0.0 |
Weighted GPA
A weighted system will work slightly differently from an unweighted one because in it your every class will have a different value. For example, an A in Basic English and AP Physics will not count equally, as an A in your basic English class may count 4.0, but in AP Physics it will count 5.0. For better understanding, consider the example below for the weighted grading scale.
| Letter | Percentage | Regular GPA | Honors GPA | AP/ IB GPA |
| A | 90-100% | 4.0 | 4.5 | 5.0 |
| B | 80-89% | 3.0 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| C | 70-79% | 2.0 | 2.5 | 3.0 |
| D | 60-69% | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.0 |
| F | Below 60% | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
How to Calculate GPA Manually
While discussing the worth of your GPA, it’s also important to think about how you can calculate it before your results day, so you can improve it to achieve your desired goals. Below is a step by step guide to calculate GPA manually:
Note Your Classes and Final Grades
Make a list of all subjects that you’re studying in your course, and also write your final grades in each of them in front of that subject or class.
Letter Grade to GPA Conversion
Now use your school’s grading scale to convert your letter grades into numerical values.
Total Points Sum
After conversion, make a total of all those numerical values.
Division to Total Classes
Now count your total classes and divide the total number of classes by the total numerical value. That’s your final GPA.
Weighted GPA Formula
If you’re an AP or Honor student, you will use the weighted GPA formula to calculate GPA. For this, you will multiply the grade points for each class by its weight (depending on its difficulty). After this, you will sum these and then divide the sum by the total number of class weights. For example, if you have 10 classes with different weights, divide the sum by 10. And after this, the value you will get is the actual weighted GPA that you wanted to know. That’s how you will be using this formula to calculate GPA accurately.
GPA Calculator for Your Help
Manual calculation of GPA is possible, but it is not error-prone; however, it can be time-consuming, and if not done correctly, it can lead to incorrect study planning. So instead of taking the risk of all this, you can use our GPA calculator to calculate your GPA and provide you with accurate results. It’s free and accurate, designed to help students and educators calculate their GPAs in seconds. If you want to calculate your overall grade, then try our grade calculator that comes with a lot of functions to cover all your grading needs.
Conclusion
Your GPA is like your academic history that will decide what will be ahead, your future study goals, achievements, and designation. So planning and putting your best efforts to make it good is worth it. And deciding to calculate GPA is one of the important steps to keep a closer eye on it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a 92 GPA on a 4.0 scale?
Consider the table below to find out where your GPA falls. So, in short, a 92 GPA will be 3.7 on a 4.0 scale.
Is a 3.5 GPA good for college admission?
Yes, a 3.5 GPA is considered good and competitive at most of the colleges. It falls under the good grade point average range.
What is the lowest GPA any college will accept?
Most of the colleges in the U.S. require at least 2.0 as the lowest GPA to be accepted. Some in the ending of admissions may accept a little below 2.0, but lower than this is really rarely accepted.
Is 3.5 an A or an A+?
A 3.5 GPA is not an A nor an A+, but it’s an A-.
