How to Calculate Your Weighted GPA

Calculate your Weighted GPA by Hand

Many different groups are interested in your grade point average.  When you finish high school, you will need to share your GPA with colleges, scholarship committees, employers, and other groups.  Many high schools use a weighted GPA scale that rewards students for taking more difficult courses, such as AP classes and honors classes.  It is important to know the weighted GPA grading scale that was used to calculate the average.  Each school could use a slightly different grading scale.
Ask for your high school weighted GPA scale.  This should give you the point value for each grade.  For instance, an A grade in an AP class is commonly worth 5 points, an A- is worth 4.667 points, etc.

Now it is necessary to calculate the weighted average GPA.  Do this by multiplying each grade's point value by the number of credits.  For example, if you received an A in a 2-credit class that was worth 4  points, you would calculate 2 credits multiplied by 4 points = 8 points.  Sum all of these together and divide by the total number of credits.  This is the weighted average of your weighted GPA.

You can use this process to either calculate your semester weighted GPA or your cumulative weighted GPA.  The process is the same.