College GPA Calculator
Work out this semester's GPA, and see what it does to your cumulative GPA. Add your previous GPA and credits and the calculator projects where you will stand after the term.
Course roster
New cumulative GPA
—
Semester GPA
—
Total credits
—
| Course | Credits | Grade | Points | Quality points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Sign in or create a free account to save this calculation. Everything else works without one.
Your semester GPA covers only the courses above. Your cumulative GPA is every graded credit you have ever taken, averaged together — which is why one strong semester moves it less than students expect.
Related calculators
GPA Calculator
Calculate your GPA from course credits and grades, using letter grades, percentages or grade points.
Cumulative GPA Calculator
Combine your existing GPA with a new semester, or add several semesters together, to get your overall GPA.
Semester GPA Calculator
Calculate the GPA for a single named semester and save it to your academic record.
Credit Hours Calculator
Track credit hours completed, in progress and remaining against your degree requirement.
How to use this calculator
- Enter each course you are taking this semester with its credit hours and the grade you earned or expect.
- If you have completed semesters before this one, add your previous cumulative GPA and the credits behind it. Both come from your transcript or student portal.
- The semester GPA and the projected cumulative GPA update as you type.
If you leave the previous GPA fields blank, you simply get the semester GPA — which is the right answer for a first semester.
How the calculation works
Both numbers use the same formula. Each course is worth its grade points multiplied by its credit hours, giving quality points. Add those up and divide by the credits.
For the cumulative figure, your previous GPA is turned back into quality points first: a 3.20 over 45 credits represents 144 quality points. This semester's quality points are added to that, and the total is divided by all the credits combined.
A worked example
Suppose you are carrying 13 credits this semester:
| Course | Credits | Grade | Grade points | Quality points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Biology 101 | 4 | A | 4.0 | 16.0 |
| Calculus I | 4 | B | 3.0 | 12.0 |
| English Composition | 3 | B+ | 3.3 | 9.9 |
| Art History | 2 | A- | 3.7 | 7.4 |
| Total | 13 | — | — | 45.3 |
Semester GPA: 45.3 ÷ 13 = 3.48.
Now say you had a 3.20 cumulative GPA over 45 credits before this semester. That is 3.20 × 45 = 144.0 quality points. Adding this semester gives 144.0 + 45.3 = 189.3 quality points over 45 + 13 = 58 credits.
New cumulative GPA: 189.3 ÷ 58 = 3.26.
A 3.48 semester only lifted a 3.20 cumulative GPA by six hundredths. That is not a mistake — it is what averaging 13 new credits into 45 existing ones does. The more credits you have already banked, the harder your cumulative GPA is to move.
Important notes and limitations
Your registrar has the final word
Colleges differ on which credits count toward GPA. Transfer credits, pass/fail courses, developmental courses and repeated courses are all handled differently from one institution to the next.
- Transfer credits usually count toward your degree but not toward your GPA, because the grade was earned elsewhere.
- Pass/fail courses normally earn credits without grade points, so they raise your total credits without changing your GPA.
- Repeated courses depend on your school's replacement policy — the Retake GPA Calculator covers the three common ones.
- Major GPA is a separate figure at many schools, covering only courses in your major. This calculator gives your overall GPA.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I find my previous GPA and credits?
Both appear on your unofficial transcript or your student portal, usually labelled "cumulative GPA" and "credits earned" or "credit hours attempted". Use graded credits if the two are listed separately, since transfer and pass/fail credits do not carry grade points.
Why did a good semester barely move my cumulative GPA?
Because it is an average across everything you have taken. Fifteen new credits added to sixty existing ones is a quarter of the total, so a strong term shifts the overall figure by a fraction of the gap. This is also why raising a GPA gets harder the further into a degree you are.
Should I include courses I am still taking?
You can, using your expected grade — it makes this a projection rather than a record. Just remember the cumulative figure it produces is a forecast, not something to quote on an application.
Does this work for quarters rather than semesters?
Yes. The arithmetic does not care what the term is called; enter the courses and credits for whatever period you are calculating.
What about my major GPA?
Enter only the courses that count toward your major. Check which courses those are with your department, since prerequisites outside the department sometimes count and sometimes do not.
Guides that explain this
-
How to Calculate GPA
The grade point average formula, why credit hours change the answer, and a worked example you can follow along with.
-
Semester GPA vs Cumulative GPA
How one term relates to your overall record, and why a strong semester moves a cumulative GPA less than you would expect.
-
How College Credit Hours Work
What a credit hour represents, full-time and part-time loads, degree progress, and why transfer credits often carry no grade.