Cumulative GPA Calculator: Add This Semester's Grades
Add this semester's courses to your existing GPA and credits and see your new cumulative GPA, calculated from quality points.
Add this semester to your GPA
This semester’s courses
Policies vary by school — confirm yours with your registrar. The toggle records your policy; exclude any replaced earlier attempt from your prior GPA/credits above when using “latest only”.
How it works: the formula and method
Cumulative GPA = (prior GPA × prior credits + Σ(grade points × course credits)) ÷ total credits. Every course contributes quality points — its grade points multiplied by its credit hours — and the GPA is total quality points divided by total credits. Averaging two semester GPAs directly is wrong whenever the semesters carry different credit loads, so this calculator never does that.
How to use this calculator
- Enter your current cumulative GPA and the total credits behind it (from your transcript).
- Add each of this semester's courses with its letter grade and credits.
- If you repeated a course, set the repeat policy to match your school.
- Your new cumulative GPA, total credits and quality points are shown.
Worked examples
Example 1 — a solid semester
Prior GPA 3.0 over 30 credits (90 quality points). This semester: an A in 3 credits (12 points) and a B in 3 credits (9 points). New GPA = (90 + 21) ÷ 36 = 3.08.
Example 2 — why averaging fails
Averaging 3.0 and this semester's 3.5 would give 3.25 — wrong, because the 3.0 covers 30 credits and the 3.5 only 6. The credit-weighted answer is 3.08.
Frequently asked questions
Why can't I just average my two semester GPAs?
Because semesters carry different credit loads. A 3.8 over 12 credits and a 3.2 over 18 credits do not average to 3.5 — the 18-credit semester counts for more. The correct method uses quality points.
What are quality points?
Quality points are grade points multiplied by credit hours. An A (4.0) in a 3-credit course earns 12 quality points. Cumulative GPA is always total quality points divided by total credits.
How are repeated courses treated?
Policies differ: some schools count both attempts, some replace the first grade with the latest. Use the toggle to match your school's policy, and confirm with your registrar.
Does this work on a 4.3 scale?
The grade-point scale used by the calculator follows the standard 4.0 table with A+ at 4.0 and A− at 3.7. If your school awards 4.3 for an A+, check whether it caps cumulative GPA at 4.0 — many do — and treat results as an estimate.