How do weighted and unweighted GPA differ under my stated scale?

How we calculated this

The same courses and credits are run through the credit-weighted GPA formula twice, once using your unweighted quality points and once using your weighted quality points; only the scale changes between the two runs. Using the example values above (a 3-credit A and a 3-credit B, unweighted A worth 4.0 and weighted A worth 5.0, B worth 3.0 on both scales), the unweighted GPA is 3.5 and the weighted GPA is 4.0.

The gap between the two GPAs grows with how many of your credits are in courses that get a weighting bonus and how large that bonus is; a transcript with mostly unweighted courses will show only a small gap, while one built mostly from honors or AP courses can show a much larger one.

Limitations

This does not know which grade scale your school actually reports on your transcript, or which colleges recalculate your GPA on their own scale; enter the scales your school states, and treat "weighted" and "unweighted" only as the two scales you defined here, not as a universal standard.

Common mistakes

A common error is giving every grade the same bonus on the weighted scale instead of only the courses that actually qualify for weighting, such as accidentally weighting a regular course the same as its honors equivalent. Another is typing a grade in the course list that does not exactly match a letter grade entered in the scale table above (a stray space, or a different case), which this tool treats as a missing mapping rather than a guessed match, so double-check that every course's grade matches a row in your scale table exactly.

Frequently asked

Why does the calculator refuse to give a result for one of my courses?

Because that course's grade does not exactly match a letter grade you defined in the scale table; add a row for that grade, or fix a typo in either the course's grade or the scale table.

Do all my courses need to appear on the weighted scale?

Every grade used by any course needs an entry in both scales, even if the weighted and unweighted values are identical for a course that does not receive a bonus.

Which GPA do colleges actually look at?

That varies by institution; some recalculate applicants' GPA on their own scale entirely, which neither number here can predict. Use both results as your own reference point, not a prediction of how a specific college will see your transcript.

Can plus/minus grades use their own separate rows?

Yes; add a distinct row for each grade variant your school uses, such as "A-" or "B+", with its own unweighted and weighted quality-point values.

Next decision

To see your GPA over only the courses that count toward your major, see Major GPA.

For why credit-weighting matters even before a weighted scale is applied, read Why Credit-Weighted GPA Isn't a Simple Average.