Cumulative GPA Calculator

A cumulative GPA is not the average of your semester GPAs — it is the credit-weighted average across every term you have completed. A 4.0 earned in a 6-credit summer session moves your cumulative figure far less than a 4.0 across a full 16-credit autumn term, which is why simply averaging the numbers on your transcripts gives the wrong answer. This calculator does the weighting properly. Enter the total credits and GPA for each term you have completed, leaving any unused rows at zero credits, and it returns your true cumulative GPA along with the total credits and quality points behind it. It also answers the question that matters most when you are trying to recover a GPA or qualify for something: given a target cumulative GPA and the number of credits you plan to take next term, what GPA do you need in that term to get there? The calculator solves that directly and tells you plainly when the target is not reachable in a single term on a 4.0 scale. This is worth knowing early, because the arithmetic becomes progressively less forgiving as credits accumulate — a weak first year can be pulled up substantially, while the same deficit in your final year often cannot be. If a target comes back as unachievable next term, the realistic paths are to spread it across more than one term, take more credits, or check whether your institution offers grade replacement for repeated courses.

Cumulative GPA is calculated from quality points, not from averaging semester GPAs. Each term contributes credits multiplied by that term's GPA — a 15-credit term at 3.2 contributes 48 quality points. Summing quality points across every term and dividing by the total credits attempted gives the cumulative GPA. Two terms of 15 credits at 3.2 and 3.6 produce 48 + 54 = 102 quality points over 30 credits, which is a 3.40 cumulative. This weighting is why a high GPA in a light term moves the cumulative figure less than the same GPA in a heavy one. The target calculation rearranges the same formula to solve for the unknown term. The GPA you need next term equals your target cumulative multiplied by your projected total credits, minus the quality points you already hold, all divided by the credits you plan to take. If that result comes out above 4.0, the target is not mathematically reachable in one term on a standard scale, and the calculator says so rather than showing an impossible number. Note that this assumes a standard unweighted 4.0 scale and that all credits count toward the GPA — pass/fail courses, transfer credits, and withdrawals are generally excluded from GPA calculations at most institutions, so leave them out of your credit totals.

Working out a single term from individual course grades? Start with the GPA Calculator, then bring the result back here to combine it with your other terms.