Weighted GPA Calculator

What is a weighted GPA?

A weighted GPA rewards students for taking harder classes. Most US high schools add +0.5 to Honors and +1.0 to AP/IB grade points, so an A in an AP class is worth 5.0 instead of 4.0. The unweighted GPA ignores course rigor and stays on the 4.0 scale. Most colleges look at both — the weighted figure shows ambition, the unweighted shows raw mastery.

Typical scale

5.0 maximum (under standard +1.0 AP)

AP class bonus

+1.0 grade points (most US schools)

Honors class bonus

+0.5 grade points (most US schools)

IB / dual-enrollment

+1.0 (treated like AP)

How to calculate weighted GPA — step by step

1. Convert each letter grade to grade points (A=4.0, B=3.0, C=2.0, D=1.0, F=0.0).
2. Add the level bonus to each AP/Honors/IB course (+1.0 or +0.5 under the standard scale).
3. Multiply each adjusted grade point by the credit hours for that class.
4. Sum those products to get total quality points.
5. Divide total quality points by total credit hours. That's your weighted GPA.

weighted GPA = Σ((grade_point + level_bonus) × credits) / Σ(credits)
unweighted GPA = Σ(grade_point × credits) / Σ(credits)

Worked example (4 classes, 1 credit each):
  AP Calculus BC,   A   →  (4.0 + 1.0) × 1 = 5.0
  Honors English,   A-  →  (3.7 + 0.5) × 1 = 4.2
  Regular History,  B+  →  (3.3 + 0.0) × 1 = 3.3
  AP Biology,       A   →  (4.0 + 1.0) × 1 = 5.0

  Total quality points: 17.5
  Total credits: 4
  Weighted GPA: 17.5 / 4 = 4.375
  Unweighted equivalent: 14.0 / 4 = 3.50

Five common weighting scales

Schools don't agree on how much an AP or Honors class is worth. Match your school's policy with the dropdown above the calculator. Here's what an A is worth under each common scale:

Why your school's GPA may differ

School policies vary widely. Some districts only weight AP, not Honors. Some cap weighted GPA at 4.5 even with all AP A's. A few use 100-point scales internally and convert at year-end. Common policy variations:

• Honors-only AP weighting: Some private schools skip the AP bonus entirely.
• Pre-AP / Pre-IB: Treated as Honors (+0.5) at most schools.
• Dual-enrollment / college-in-high-school: Weighted +1.0 like AP at most public schools.
• Cap on bonus: Some districts limit total bonus per semester (e.g., max 2.0 added).
• Quarter vs semester: Some schools report only semester GPA, some both.

Source: College Board AP Program — official AP weighting and college credit policy

Source: NCES Digest of Education Statistics — national high school GPA averages and grading distributions

Common mistakes that throw off your weighted GPA

• Using A=4.0 and A+=4.3 inconsistently. Most US high schools cap A and A+ at 4.0. College scales sometimes recognize 4.3.
• Forgetting plus/minus rules. Some schools don't use +/− at all, others use only on transcripts but not for GPA.
• Mixing semester and yearly grades. Many schools post both — only one feeds GPA. Check your transcript.
• Adding the bonus to unweighted. Weighted only — never inflate the unweighted average.
• Using credit values that don't match transcript. One year-long class is usually 1.0 credit, semester = 0.5. Block schedules differ.

Weighted vs unweighted — which one matters?

Both. Selective colleges typically recalculateyour GPA on a standard scale to normalize across schools, then look at course rigor separately. So the weighted number signals ambition, but the unweighted (or recalculated) number drives admissions math. Track both. Use this calculator's side-by-side display to see how each AP class shifts the gap.