Practical guide and verification
GPA rules vary by school
A GPA calculation depends on the school’s grading scale, weighting rules, credit values and treatment of repeated or pass/fail courses. A generic calculator can model a policy only after those rules are entered correctly.
Weighted versus unweighted GPA
Honors, AP, IB or other advanced courses may receive extra grade points in some systems and none in others. Do not compare weighted and unweighted results without stating which scale is being used.
Common mistake
A simple average of course grade points is wrong when courses carry different credits. Multiply each course’s grade points by its credit weight before dividing by the total included credits.