Weighted GPA Calculator — AP, IB & Honors

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Quick Answer
Weighted GPA = each course's grade points plus a bonus (+0.5 Honors, +1.0 AP/IB under the most common convention) × credit hours, summed and divided by total credits. Districts weight differently, so this calculator lets you pick or customize the bonus values — enter your actual courses below for the exact number, not an estimate.

Most "weighted GPA calculators" just relabel the scale. This one applies the real per-course +0.5/+1.0 bonus and shows your weighted and unweighted GPA side by side from the same course list.

Every district weights differently — some add +0.5/+1.0, others +0.25, others a full point for both. Not sure? Your school's course catalog or counselor has the values; the course-type labels below update automatically.
Course Name
Credits
Grade
Course Type
Weighted GPA
Unweighted GPA
Total Credits

Cumulative weighted GPA (with prior credits): Enter prior GPA above. Bonus is not applied to an F. Max per-course grade points = 4.0 + your scheme's bonus (5.0 under the standard +1.0 convention).

How Does AP, IB, and Honors Weighting Actually Work?

Weighting is applied per course, before averaging — not to your final GPA number. Each course's base grade points (on the standard 4.0 letter scale) get a bonus added depending on the course type, then that boosted number is multiplied by the course's credit hours, same as any GPA calculation:

Course typeBonusAB+B
Regular+0.04.03.33.0
Honors+0.54.53.83.5
AP / IB / Dual-enrollment+1.05.04.34.0

This is why two students with the same unweighted GPA can have noticeably different weighted GPAs — it depends entirely on how many Honors/AP/IB credits are in the mix, not just the grades themselves.

How Much Does One AP Class Really Add?

Less than most students expect, unless it's a big share of your schedule. An A in one 3-credit AP class inside an otherwise-regular 18-credit semester adds (1.0 bonus × 3 credits) ÷ 18 total credits = +0.17 to your semester GPA. Load up on four AP/Honors classes in the same semester and the boost climbs past +0.5. The calculator above gives you the exact number for your real schedule instead of a rule of thumb.

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Worked Example
AP Calculus, A (4.0+1.0=5.0) × 3 credits; Honors English, B+ (3.3+0.5=3.8) × 3 credits; Regular History, A− (3.7+0.0=3.7) × 3 credits → (15.0 + 11.4 + 11.1) ÷ 9 = 4.17 weighted GPA vs. 3.67 unweighted for the exact same grades.

What If My School Uses a Different Weighting Scheme?

There is no national standard for GPA weighting — real schemes pulled from actual school districts include AP = 5.0 / Honors = 4.5 scales, +0.25 honors bonuses, full-point bonuses for both honors and AP, 100-point scales that add 10–15 points to advanced classes, and even multiplier systems (×1.1 honors, ×1.2 AP). That's why this calculator has a weighting-scheme selector: pick the preset that matches your district, or choose Custom and type the exact bonus values from your school's course catalog. If your school uses a 100-point or multiplier system rather than a 4.0-scale bonus, the honest answer is that no 4.0-scale calculator (including this one) can reproduce it exactly — convert your grades using your school's published policy instead. For the full story on why the same grades produce different weighted GPAs at different schools, see why weighted GPA comparisons between schools are misleading.

Weighted vs. Unweighted — Which Should You Report?

Most college applications and the Common App ask for both, but treat unweighted as the standardized comparison point since weighting conventions differ by school (some use +2.0 for AP, some cap Honors at +0.4). Your weighted GPA and course list together demonstrate rigor — it's supporting evidence, not the headline number. If a form only has room for one figure, report unweighted unless told otherwise.

What's a Good Weighted GPA?

On the common 5.0 scale, 4.0+ reads as strong and 4.5+ is competitive at highly selective schools — but because weighting isn't standardized between schools, admissions officers read your weighted GPA next to your actual transcript, not as a lone number. A 4.3 built from four real AP classes reads very differently than a 4.3 from a school that weights every honors class generously.

Don't Want to Enter Every Course?

If you already know your unweighted GPA and roughly how many AP/Honors classes you're carrying, use one of the quick estimators instead: 3.5 · 3.6 · 3.7 · 3.8 · 3.9 · 4.0 · see the full unweighted-to-weighted list. For a course-by-course exact number for college GPA (not high school), use the standard GPA calculator; for Indian university CGPA-to-percentage conversion, see the CGPA converter.

Frequently Asked Questions

Under the standard convention, an AP or IB class adds +1.0 to the grade points earned in that course before averaging — so an A (4.0) becomes 5.0, a B+ (3.3) becomes 4.3. Honors classes typically add +0.5 instead. The boost to your overall GPA depends on what share of your total credits those courses represent, since the bonus applies per course, not to your final average.
Unweighted GPA caps every course at 4.0 regardless of difficulty. Weighted GPA adds a bonus for Honors (+0.5) and AP/IB/dual-enrollment (+1.0) courses, so it can exceed 4.0 and typically runs on a 5.0 scale. This calculator computes both from the same course list.
Whatever your school's course catalog designates — usually courses explicitly labeled Honors, AP, IB Higher Level, or approved dual-enrollment/college-credit courses. Regular and standard-track classes get no bonus. Some districts weight IB Standard Level or pre-AP at a smaller bonus (often +0.25) — check your school's specific policy if yours does.
Not under the standard +1.0 AP/IB convention, since the maximum grade (4.0) plus the maximum bonus (+1.0) caps at 5.0. Some schools use a different scheme (e.g. +2.0 for AP, or no cap), which can push weighted GPA higher — check your school's official scale if it reports numbers above 5.0.
Most selective colleges recalculate applicants' GPA on their own internal scale — often unweighting everything first, then evaluating course rigor separately. Both numbers matter: unweighted is the standardized comparison point, weighted (plus your course list) shows the difficulty you took on.
Yes — if you know your unweighted GPA and roughly how many AP/Honors classes you're taking, use the unweighted-to-weighted estimators instead, which apply the same +1.0/+0.5 convention using just your class counts. For an exact, transcript-accurate number, entering each course above is more reliable.
Yes. The weighting-scheme selector at the top offers common presets (standard +0.5/+1.0, conservative +0.25/+0.5, full-point +1.0/+1.0) and a Custom option where you type the exact bonus values from your school's course catalog. There's no national standard for GPA weighting — districts genuinely differ — so matching your school's published policy is the only way to get the number your transcript will show. More on this: why weighted GPAs aren't comparable between schools.

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