Track grades across semesters & plan your target GPA
Free · No signupSee your weighted and unweighted GPA at the same time. Honors classes get a +0.5 bump and AP/IB classes get +1.0 — so an A in AP Calculus counts as 5.0 on the weighted scale but 4.0 unweighted. Colleges usually want to see both numbers.
An unweighted GPA treats every class the same — an A in P.E. counts the same as an A in AP Calculus, both 4.0. A weighted GPA rewards harder courses by bumping their grade points up. The most common scheme in US high schools:
| Course Type | A Grade | B Grade | C Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular | 4.0 | 3.0 | 2.0 |
| Honors (+0.5) | 4.5 | 3.5 | 2.5 |
| AP or IB (+1.0) | 5.0 | 4.0 | 3.0 |
This is why you sometimes see a weighted GPA above 4.0 — a student with mostly As in AP classes could have a 4.5+ weighted GPA but the same 4.0 unweighted GPA. Colleges care about both: the unweighted number shows raw performance, the weighted number shows course rigor.
| Course | Credits | Type | Grade | Unweighted Pts | Weighted Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AP Calculus AB | 1 | AP | A | 4.0 | 5.0 |
| AP English Lit | 1 | AP | B+ | 3.3 | 4.3 |
| Honors Chemistry | 1 | Honors | A− | 3.7 | 4.2 |
| U.S. History | 1 | Regular | A | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Spanish III | 1 | Regular | B | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| P.E. | 0.5 | Regular | A | 4.0 | 4.0 |
Unweighted = (4 + 3.3 + 3.7 + 4 + 3 + 2) ÷ 5.5 = 3.64
Weighted = (5 + 4.3 + 4.2 + 4 + 3 + 2) ÷ 5.5 = 4.09
Same transcript, two very different numbers. The weighted GPA rewards the AP/Honors load; the unweighted GPA is what most college applications ask for directly.
Selective US universities typically recalculate applicant GPAs from the transcript using their own formula — often unweighted out of 4.0, often excluding P.E. and electives — so that all applicants are compared on the same footing regardless of their high school's weighting policy.
The practical rule: don't hide the unweighted GPA. Colleges will find it on your transcript, and inflated weighted numbers without context look worse than honest reporting.
Unweighted GPA treats every class the same: A = 4.0 regardless of difficulty, capped at 4.0. Weighted GPA adds a bonus for Honors (+0.5) and AP/IB (+1.0), so an A in AP Calculus = 5.0 and in Honors Chemistry = 4.5. Weighted GPAs can exceed 4.0 and help colleges see who took the hardest courses.
At most US high schools, Honors adds +0.5 (A = 4.5, B = 3.5) and AP or IB adds +1.0 (A = 5.0, B = 4.0). A few schools use different weights (+0.33 Honors, +0.67 AP), and some don't weight at all. Check your school's grading policy.
Most selective colleges recalculate your GPA using their own formula — often unweighted out of 4.0 — to compare students fairly across schools. They also look at course rigor separately. When applications ask for both, report both honestly.
Unweighted: 3.8+ is excellent, 3.5+ is strong, 3.0+ is average. Weighted: 4.0+ suggests a student with significant AP/Honors load. Top colleges typically want unweighted 3.8+ plus several AP classes; state flagships often accept 3.3+ unweighted.
Yes at most US high schools — PE, art, music, and electives all count if they're letter-graded. They're almost always "regular" courses without weighting. A few districts exclude PE from GPA or weight it separately — check your school handbook.
GPA = Σ (Grade Points × Credits) ÷ Total Credits. Most US high schools give 1 credit per year-long class, 0.5 per semester-long class. The unweighted version uses A=4.0 for every class; the weighted version adds Honors/AP bonuses.