How Do I Calculate My "Real" GPA?
Everyone knows the importance of a high school student’s grade point average, or GPA. It’s the little number that labels us. It signifies whether we are a geek or slacker, or somewhere in between. The GPA is usually either a point of great pride or great shame. Those students who are proud of their GPA practically have it tattooed on their foreheads, while others skulk about in fear that someone might discover what ignoramuses they truly are.
In college admission, it serves as a critical litmus tests: how good a student is this person, and will he or she succeed at this college.
No matter how you cut it, the GPA is a source of anxiety and tension for just about everyone.
But let’s be philosophical for a minute. One’s GPA is not a measure of one’s worth as a human being. It is not even a measure of one’s intelligence. Rather, it is the gauge of a young person’s ability to play the game of school. Some tremendously intelligent students completely blow off school (I have several clients of this variety), while some less intelligent students are able, through sheer doggedness and determination, to achieve relatively high GPAs (there are fewer of these, I find).
Calculating one’s GPA is a fairly straightforward process. Except for the fact that many high schools report “weighted” and “unweighted” grade point averages. In a previous post, I detail the differences between a weighted and unweighted GPA. Basically, a weighted GPA takes into account the difficulty of the courses a student is taking, and those taking harder courses are rewarded with extra “brownie points” in their GPA. Usually colleges strip these brownie points from an applicant’s GPA in order to fairly compare one student against another.
But merely stripping away the brownie points is not enough to uncover your real GPA, because in today’s comprehensive high schools, we give grades for just about every class a student takes, including:
- physical education
- performing groups (including theater and all sorts of music)
- high school sports training
- vocational education classes, like shop, auto mechanics, and the like
- health classes, including sexual education
- student aide or school helper
These courses help pad a high school student’s schedule. But they do not constitute the academic core of high school. Grades in these courses do provide a measure of success (I actually have a client who received an “F” as a student aide–I’m hoping that was a clerical error!). But these grades cannot really be counted as a measure of a student’s academic abilities.
Therefore, to calculate a student’s core GPA, we have to remove the fluff. We have to calculate the GPA based solely on the five academic solids that constitute a high school student’s performance:
- Math
- English or Language Arts
- Social Studies
- Science
- Foreign Language
The core GPA is your “real” GPA: this is the measure of your academic performance in high school. (Again, it’s not a measure of self-worth.) Unless students come to me with a transcript with nothing but grades of A, most students are disappointed to see their 3.0 cumulative, weighed GPA fall to a more embarrassing 2.3 or lower. Those gym classes and band classes are not only fun, but they artificially prop up one’s GPA.
And colleges know it. So those with relatively selective admissions processes will strip the fluff right out of the GPA in order to get down to brass tacks: how well does this particular student perform in academic work?
So, while I hate to be the bearer of bad news, I encourage students from middle school onward to be aware of their “real” GPA as they go through school, and to not be blinded by the number printed on the grade report. They need to be aware that some courses, whether required (health, gym) or not (jazz band, sports conditioning) may artificially inflate their cumulative GPA, and may lead to academic complacency.
The lesson: don’t let yourself be deluded by the numbers on the page. College admissions officers, who must compare one student against another in deciding whom to admit, will strip your GPA of all non-academic fluff. Don’t wait until the fall of your senior year to come to the realization that your GPA may be artificially inflated.
So throw off the rose-colored classes, strip your GPA of all artificial weighting, and strike out all those A grades you received in those electives you love. Ultimately, your “real” GPA is what colleges will consider most carefully.
Now with that out of the way, let’s look at the nuts and bolts of the GPA calculation for students who are awarded letter grades. For each grade in an academic course, assign the following number values to each grade. Then simply divide the sum of these numbers by the number of courses (a simply average). This will be our “Real” GPA.
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
F = 0
So, to give an example, let’s say that Stan the Student has a B- in Math, a B+ in English, a C+ in social studies, an A in Spanish, and a B in science, we add the following values: 2.7 + 3.3 + 2.3 + 4.0 + 3.0, for a total of 15.3. Divide by 5 course, and the GPA is 3.06.
Also, you may want to get an idea of how to translate percentages into the numerical grade point average.
Mark Montgomery
College Counselor and
Bearer of Bad News
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About the Author
Mark Montgomery
As a former professor, administrator, and high school teacher, Mark has the knowledge and skills to counsel students as they make the transition from high school to college.
191 Responses to “How Do I Calculate My "Real" GPA?”
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I am working on our school’s K-12 report cards to make it easier on all the teachers so that all they have to do is enter the grades into the computer rather than write everything by hand passing around report cards to each other. I have run into a situation. (This directly effects high school GPA’s) There are four quarters to the school year. And at the end of each semester the teacher averages the grade for each subject. So when the final grade is averaged they end up with six grades for each subject, when the student is only directly responsible for four of those grades. I have a problem with averaging averages. Calculating this way can give a child extra grades they did not earn. For a middle of the road 2.5 student it does nearly nothing. However, for the student who is inconsistent and may receive a D or F occasionally, their GPA is artificially lowered by .3 Likewise, if a student with the one A per semester, that student’s overall GPA will be artificially raised by .3 So, can you direct me as to how grades should be calculated to end up with a final average at the end of the semester that does not include this problem.
Thanks.
Hello, Julius.
I’m not a registrar, who is usually charged with these calculations for an entire school, but it seems to me that you are right. Your school is doing the calculations incorrectly. Here’s what I recommend. Have teachers report quarter grades only. Enter those into the computer. Average the two quarters together to get a semester grade. End of story. Report only the semester grades. The semester GPA is the average of all semester grades earned in all courses that semester. Cumulative grade point averages are then the average of the semester grades.
Your math is correct, and statistically speaking, averaging averages is not what you want to be doing.
I’m glad to hear you’re moving into the computer age. The last hand-written report card I received was in middle school. In the 1970s. Time to invest in a laptop!
All the best!
Hi, Ann. You might want to look at this post on “weighted” and “unweighted” GPA: http://greatcollegeadvice.com/weighted-or-unweighted-gpa/ . If you hunt around, there are many posts that address this topic.
The short answer: selective colleges strip your “extra points” for AP and honors to be able to better compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges and jalapeño peppers to jalapeño peppers.
Hope this helps!
The Standard 4.0 A-F Grading System has a “Fatal Flaw”! Why isn’t it pointed out here one your Web Site? Why don’t “Educational Experts” ever discuss it? Assuming a 4.0 Grading System (A=s 90-100%, B=s 80-89%, C=s 70-79% & D=s 60-69% – Student #1 can have an “Average Classroom Performance Percentage” as low 90% (takes 32 classes makes exactly 90% in every class and still receives a GPA of 4.0 while Student #2 takes the same 32 classes and makes a 100% in 4 of the classes and makes an 89% in the other 28 classes. Student #2 has an “Average Classroom Performance Percentage” of 90.375 “SLIGHTLY HIGHER THAN STUDENT #1, but Student #2 receives a GPA of 3.125 – “A GPA THAT IS 21.9% LOWER THAN STUDENT #1 EVEN THOUGH STUDENT #2 IS PERFORMING AT A LEVEL THAT IS SLIGHTLY HIGHER STUDENT #1! THIS IS ONLY ONE EXTREME EXAMPLE – THERE’S ALMOST AN UNLIMITED NUMBER OF EXAMPLES I COULD LIST! THE GPAs CREATED/CALCULATED BY THE STANDARD 4.0 GRADING SYSTEM ARE “SCREWING OVER STUDENTS” AND NO-ONE SEEMS TO CARE!
THIS IS MY “CRUSADE” AND I WON’T STOP FIGHTING FOR “FAIR AND ACCURATE GPA’s UNTIL THE DAY I DIE! – I’VE ALREADY WRITTEN/SENT 100s OF EMAILS AND LETTERS INCLUDING ONE TO PRESIDENT OBAMA (HE DOESN’T GIVE A “RATS ASS” ABOUT OUR NATIONS STUDENTS!
Dear Mr. Holtzclaw,
Thanks for your comment. The fact is, you are right. The system is “unfair” as you describe it. And there are ways to remedy this to make it more clear. Most obviously, schools could report out percentages instead of calculating to the 4.0 scale. But even that would not make the whole national grading system “fair.”
But let’s be honest, Mr. Holtzclaw. There is no way that grading can be completely fair or accurate. There is no national standard for each subject in the US. There are no national standards in K-12 education. Mr. Obama cannot do a thing about this, as education policy is in the hands of the 50 states and 14,000 school districts. Further, each classroom teacher often has a different measuring stick–based on different tests, different assessment policies–not to mention that teachers do give the “benefit of the doubt” to students they like or perceive are working hard.
Grading is always a subjective business, no matter how “scientific” we would like it to be. Similarly, the college admissions business is not scientific. Nor is it fair. Nor will it ever be completely fair. Perhaps other educational experts choose not to focus on this lack of fairness.
But fundamentally, Mr. Holtzclaw, life is not fair. Never has been. Never will be. My job is to point out the facts, and then help students understand how to navigate a system (and a universe) that isn’t completely a meritocracy. We may try to be meritocratic. But we’re always going to fumble somewhere along the way. We owe it to kids to help them understand that whatever unfairness exists in our educational system should not be an obstacle to their success, happiness, or fulfillment as a human being.
If I were you, I would not focus on “fair and accurate” GPAs as a way to improve the nation’s educational system. Rather, I would militate to improve the overall standards, to raise our collective expectations for all students, and find ways to assess performance in a variety of ways across state lines, across districts–and even from classroom to classroom–so that we know that a 90% is a 90% and not a 95%.
But to do this we’d have to have a lock-step, completely centralized educational system that is more common in France or Mexico or China. Are you proposing to Mr. Obama that the Federal government take over the educational system in order to solve this “problem”? Your crusade is an interesting one, but it’s important to propose some solutions that take into account the structure and governance of our nation’s educational system.
Best regards.
I home school and 9th and 10th grades were 3 quarters. So to calculate the grade in a subject, like math, I would average the final grade of each quarter before I compute the GPA. Is that correct?
Second question: It seems more practical in my son’s junior year to work on a semester system. Does this impact the GPA in any way, or do I simply average the two semester grade when calculating the GPA for his junior year subjects.
Thanks so much for your help.
I have a questions about gradeing. My daughters in 8th grade. The 1st trimester she got 5- A’s and 1-B. they said she didns’t qualify for either 1st or second honors. Is that correct? I really feel she’s been cheated. The school doesn’t think so.
Dear Cathy,
Each school sets its own policies for awarding honors. So if the school’s policy spells out conditions that your daughter has not met, then your daughter didn’t qualify for honors. Do you know how policies are determined? All you can expect is clarity in how such awards are made.
All the best.
Hello, Teri.
Home schooling is a different kettle of fish, and I’ll go out on a limb here and say that colleges do not really care all that much about a home schooling grade. They want to know more about the curriculum taught. They also want external verification of a student’s ability, including normed tests such as CLEP exams, SAT 2 subject tests, and the ACT or SAT tests. Because grades offered in a homeschooling context do not have strong validity of their own, portfolios of work, examples of written work, lab reports/experiments, participation in science fairs, and mastery of mathematical concepts will be more important than any GPA you might calculate.
Thus, in my opinion, they way in which you calculate the GPA is unimportant. You just need to “show your work” so that an admissions officer can follow your internal logic.
Hope that helps.
I am filling out scholarships and I have hit a block. Our school systems GPA scale is out of 5. I have a 5.143 because of my AP classes and grades. The scholarship wants my GPA on a scale of 4. What do I do?
Just fill out the application with a GPA of 5.143 and include a separate sheet of paper with a short explanation of how your GPA is calculated. Better, include a school profile (ask your guidance office for one) with your application.
Hope that helps unblock you!
Is it better to get a C in an honors class or an A in a regular class?
Hi, Kayla.
The real answer is that it’s better to get an A in an honors class. That said, “better” depends on what your priorities are. If you want to communicate to colleges that you are prepared for the rigor of college work, that you have pushed yourself academically, and are prepared to sacrifice grades for the sake of learning something more advanced and interesting, then risk the C. If you want to play it safe, take easy classes, cruise through high school, and perhaps run the risk of being slammed in college because the demands are greater than what a “regular” class may require, then by all means…go for the A.
Challenge yourself, do your best, and focus on learning stuff. That is what’s really better in the long run.
Good luck!
I am in 7th grade takeing algebra a high school coarse… last quater i got a B for the semester and am on the track to get about the same grade this quarter.I have the oppertunity to retake this class next year and not have this be on my high school transcript, but will people notice that i took this class in 7th grade. so would it be better to get B,B+ in 7th grade than mabey getting an A next year in eigth grade
Bailey,
It’s great that you are challenging yourself in Math at such an early age. Your grade will never appear on your HS transcript (although some school districts do this–you’ll have to check). Your grades from 9th grade onward are the ones that really count.
That said, remember that math is not a “race”. You want to make sure you are feeling confident and competent as you move forward. I sometimes see kids rushing too early to get into calculus. If you are really gifted in math, then by all means–forge ahead. But don’t push so hard to take HS classes that you sacrifice competence. Thus retaking the course may be a good idea, not only for the grade, but to ensure mastery of the concepts before moving forward.
Best of luck.
In my high school how come our gpa system has gpa numbers as high as 4.5 and not the limit you gave: 4.0
Hello, Christine.
You’ll have to investigate your school’s policy. My guess is that some courses at your school are given extra “weights” that correspond to the rigor of the coursework. Honors and AP courses, for example, are often given extra weight that is factored into your class rank.
Have a look at these posts: http://greatcollegeadvice.com/weighted-gpa-unweighted-gpa-class-rank-and-college-admission/
and
http://greatcollegeadvice.com/class-rank-weighted-and-unweighted-gpa-and-the-education-race/
Hope this helps.
Hey Mark,
I am completely new to calculating GPA’s but as of this year I have been the one calculating them for the private high school I work for. I haven’t ran into any real problems as it has been pretty straight forward (4=A 3=B 2=C and so forth) but as I started calculating one of our seniors this year she told me that the Principle last year told her that if she re-took the courses that she did poor in the old grade wouldn’t be calculated into the GPA. She told her that the old grade wouldn’t even show up on the transcript. I have had a few transcripts of students that have transferred to our school from public schools that have a “Retake” next to a course with only the new grade shown and I believe only the new grade calculated into the GPA.
My question to you is: If it isn’t effecting the GPA should the original attempted credit even be showing up on the transcript i.e. at the bottom of our transcripts we tally how many attempted credits and how many earned credits – attempted credits include IC or NC but there is no value where as earned credits would be A, B, or C (we don’t give anything lower than a C at our school anything lower is NC or IC). So with her transcript would I just count her new attempted credits and use those credits to calculate her GPA or would I count also the first credits she didn’t earn?
Emily
Dear Emily,
Thanks for your question. I really don’t know how to respond, as the decision on how to calculate and report is an internal matter to your school. But here are a couple of principles that are worth bearing in mind.
First, kids should be held accountable for their failures and bad choices. Constantly giving them “do-overs” doesn’t say much about our standards. Therefore I’d be inclined to show the fact that the girl had to retake the course on the transcript, especially if students transferring into the school are dunned in this way. Colleges will be happy to see improvement–but the girl should not be able to selectively suppress information.
Second, consistency is key. A principal should not be allowed to override a policy (which is what the student implies–and my guess is that the student is a poor reporter of the principal’s intentions). The policy for reporting grades should be clear, transparent, and communicated to parents (and written into your secondary school profile distributed to colleges). Then when there are questions, refer to the policy. If you handle transfers into your school in one way, you should not then favor students who have been there longer by clearing their transcripts of blemishes. If you put blemishes ON a transfer student’s transcript, what sense does it make to take them OFF another’s transcript? Consistency is key–if only to avoid parental uproar later!
Third, do not make policy based on a single case. Do not decide how you should report grades based on one girl’s difficulties. Think about what the most important principles are, what the standards are, and how grades reflect those standards. Make a solid policy, communicate it, and stick to it.
I hope this is helpful in some way.
Regards,
Mark Montgomery
would it be fine for my junior year to only do 1 ap class 1 honors and the rest college prep
Ap Bio
English P
American history P
Trig/pre- cal
I was thinking of also doing ap english but i think it may not fit in my time schedule
Hi, Jacob. Thanks for writing in.
Your question is a good one, but you don’t provide enough context for me to advise you. What are your goals? What are your plans? What are your capabilities?
Clearly your “time schedule” is an important consideration, but without more insight into these other considerations, all I can say is that you are asking the right questions
Hope this is helpful!
My son’s college professor computes class grades in a manner that I believe is incorrect. She takes individual letter grades on assignments and converts them to a 4.0 scale grade. Then, after weighting them, she assigns the final grade based upon a 100 point scale. For example, individual grades of A and B, would be converted to 4 and 3 respectively. Assuming they are weighted equally, the sum of those, 7, is divided by the sum of the total possible, 8. The quotient 87.5, is then the basis for a B+ grade on a 100-point scale.
It seems to me the fairer way would be to assign the A and B numerical grades of 95 and 85, respectively. The average would be a 90, a borderline B+ or A- depending on the college. Under this professor’s system, in fact,a student making all “B’s” on individual assignments would receive a “C” for the semester, based on the 75% overall average. Am I right? Thanks
Hi, i have a non weighted GPA of 3.33, but i took like 4 AP courses (calc BC, AP Environmental Science, AP Physics C, AP human Geography). I got decent grade on most of the AP classes will I qualify for a UC school?
What about schools that do not adhere to the 4.0 or A, B, C, etc. scale? My school is run on a 6.0 scale, where a 4 is a relatively bad grade. How would my grades translate?
Th Blog I contribute to, Radical Parenting, has had a great deal to say about college admissions:
In regard to “Kayla’s” question.
NO DOUBT, IT IS BETTER TO GET THE ‘A’ IN AN EASY CLASS THAN TO OBTAIN A ‘C’ IN DOUBLE HONORS.
My son is just going through this unfair problem with UCSD.
UCSD does not care about the difficulty of his high school program. Many schools do not.
We are frustratingly finding out that although high schools ask your children to “challenge themselves & not go for the easy A” they don’t tell you the reality of the situation. It’s ridiculous. His 3.76 GPA which is “weighted” due to double honors & AP classes” mean NOTHING to many schools.
HE WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER OFF TAKING “BASKET WEAVING” AT THE WORST SCHOOL IN CHICAGO rather than “challenging” himself with double honors physics & pre-cal.
It’s almost as if the CPS sets a student up to fail in the real world.
Very frustrating. Very, very unfair for the student & his/her family.
Dear Mike,
Thank you for your question. The answer is “it depends on which UC”. As you probably know, different UC’s have different levels of requirements for admission. They will also take into consideration your standardized testing scores. If you need help navigating the UC admissions process, please let us know!
Katherine Price
Educational Consultant
Thanks for your comment, James. I’m sure your son’s problems in dealing with UCSD have been frustrating. And it is true that some state schools will tend to look at overall GPA, rather than dissect the rigor of the coursework–especially for in-state (taxpaying) students.
However, my point remains the same as it always: it is wrong to believe that a C in “double honors” is in any way equivalent to an A in the same class. This trade-off between grades and rigor is not really a trade-off–even though many parents and even many school counselors may see it the same way.
Again, I understand your frustration. But I cannot agree with your assumption that underwater basket weaving would have prepared your son for the rigors of college work. His C in that double honors course probably did more to prepare him for those rigors–even though he may not be able to enter UCSD. Remember, the goal is not only to enter a good college–but to graduate from one. Students who take basket weaving are probably going to be among the 50% of students who enter college who do not graduate. I’m guessing your son will be on the positive side of that statistic, when all is said and done.
Thanks again for your comments.
Mark,
You took my “basket weaving” example too literally. The point is that any student has a better chance of being accepted to a majority out of state public university if they take a much easier curriculum in their high school years, thereby having a much higher probability of receiving a much higher “non-weighted” GPA. than they would by “challenging them self by taking honors or double honors classes.
(Unless of course they’re brilliant to begin with and will receive stronger grades regardless.)
I’ve come to the realization that many high schools offer the honors/dbl honor programs and encourage students to enroll in these programs for the main purpose of achieving a certain degree of “prestige” within the high school community itself.
Unfortunately they conveniently fail to inform both the student & the parents the reality of the situation when it comes time to apply to many universities.
It’s totally wrong, unfair & misleading. And to say “that’s the way it goes because life isn’t always fair” is just condoning a broken system which appears to be built on lies and egos within the CPS system.
As you can tell, I’m more than a little frustrated & upset about this situation.
Yes, you are correct in the fact that the double honors classes have more fully prepared our son for college. But the sad fact is that it’s a double edged sword in regard to the numerous schools that he may now not have the opportunity to attend which he could have, had he skated through an easier program. It’s sad but true.
To put it in a nutshell…Kids shouldn’t be pressured into taking academically challenging classes in high school unless they know full well they will almost certainly ace that class w/ no problem. Or until the system is corrected and ALL universities begin looking at students as individuals and take into consideration the degree of difficulty of their high school program.
Best Regards
My GPA is 3.76 and I’m going to start my senior year with the following courses and I wanted to know if they will help me get into college. I want to be a foreign language teacher.
AP Literature and Composition
AP U.S. History
Statistics and Descrete Mathematics
Spanish 6
German 2
French 1
Ceramics 1
Ceramics 2
Hi, Alex. This looks like a good set of courses. Being a foreign language teacher can be very rewarding. Keep up your linguistic skills, and keep enjoying yourself!
Best of luck.
Hi, Bob,
You have stumbled onto the fact that most colleges do not really have grading policies. And most graduate programs do not teach their students how to be professors and how to set up grading systems. It’s crazy–to the point that in some respects, college grades do not mean much of anything anymore. Lawrence Summers figured this out during his tenure at Harvard, and he tried to change the system–without much success.
Anyway, if you think the grading system is wacky, then your son (and not you) should approach the professor and point out the mathematical effects of the system. If the professor sticks to it, then your son goes next to the department chair. If there is no change, then the next level is the dean or head of school–whoever is above the department chair.
It will a a long row to hoe, but if your son becomes a good self-advocate, and avoids getting angry at what will be a frustrating process, then he could have an impact–and learn a few things along the way.
Best of luck!
Hi Mark! I’m going to aply for NYU for a second undergraduate course as a foreign student, and I would like to know if I can use high school grades and my first undergraduate course grades to calculate my GPA, or only high school grades?
Thank you for the attention!
Hello, Priscilla. You will actually have two GPAs: one for high school and one for your first undergraduate course. The latter will be much more important in determining admission.
Hope that helps, and good luck with your application!
Hi Mark,
I am applying for a MS program in Canada at Carleton University. I received my BS degree in Mexico. My grades are mostly B (Bien). In accordance with the the Mexican system that indicates that my actual grades are between 80-89% (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_grading_in_Mexico). Thus, I am being evaluated as a B student the since I do not have the extact percentage grade. However, I am a good student and my grades are 88% and above. What should I do to conveince the university?
Cristina
Dear Cristina,
Thanks for visiting this site, and for your question. Canadian universities ought to be very familiar with the Mexican grading system. You need to connect with the office at Carleton that evaluates the transcripts to ask how (and why) your transcripts are being evaluated as they are. My reading of the Wikipedia article, as well as my own experience with my own children who attended middle school in Mexico, an “8″ or anything within the 80-89% range is considered, well, something like a B. I think you also need to ensure that if the grading system is somehow different at the university where you earned your BS that your undergraduate university helps to plead your case.
I’m not sure how helpful this is (as I’m not an expert on either Canada or Mexico), but I wish you all the best.