Guides
The calculators work out the answer. These 8 guides explain where the answer comes from — the formula, a worked example, and the places schools differ.
Understanding GPA
What a grade point average measures, how credit hours weight it, and what actually moves it.
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How to Calculate GPA
The grade point average formula, why credit hours change the answer, and a worked example you can follow along with.
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Weighted vs Unweighted GPA
What the two scales measure, why an AP class can push a GPA above 4.0, and which one colleges actually look at.
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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.
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How to Raise Your GPA
What the arithmetic says about improving a GPA: why earlier credits weigh you down, and when retaking a course is worth it.
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How High School GPA Is Calculated
Unweighted and weighted methods, how Honors, AP and IB are treated, and why colleges often recalculate your GPA themselves.
Working out grades
Turning a syllabus of weights and scores into the grade you will finish the course with.
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How to Calculate Weighted Grades
Turning a syllabus of percentages into a course grade, including what to do when your categories do not add up to 100%.
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How to Calculate Your Final Grade
Both directions of the final exam formula — the grade you will end with, and the score you need — plus when the target is out of reach.
College and credits
How credit hours structure a degree, and how they connect to your GPA.
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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.
Looking for a calculator instead?
If you already know the method and just want the number, skip the reading. Every calculator on the site is free and works without an account.
What these guides cover, and what they do not
Everything here is about academic arithmetic: how a GPA is weighted, how a syllabus turns into a course grade, what a credit hour represents. There is no study advice, no admissions strategy and no scholarship listings, because those are not things a calculation can settle.
Where a guide describes something a school decides — whether an A+ is worth more than 4.0, whether a retake replaces the original grade, what counts as full-time — it says so rather than presenting one school's rule as the standard. The guides describe what is common. Your registrar decides what is true for you.