How are weighted GPA bonus points applied?

The standard US system adds a bonus to the base 4.0 grade point: +0.5 for Honors courses and +1.0 for AP and IB courses. So an A in an AP class earns 5.0, an A in Honors earns 4.5, and an A in a regular class earns 4.0. Bonuses apply to passing grades on the 4.0 scale.

What is the difference between weighted and unweighted GPA?

Unweighted GPA caps every course at 4.0 regardless of difficulty. Weighted GPA rewards harder courses with bonus points, so it can exceed 4.0 (commonly up to 5.0). Colleges often recalculate to their own scale, so report both if asked.

Do bonus points apply to a grade of F?

No. A failing grade is 0.0 in both weighted and unweighted GPA. Bonus points are only meaningful for passing grades, so this tool does not add a bonus to an F.

What grade points does each letter use?

The tool uses the common scale: A=4.0, A-=3.7, B+=3.3, B=3.0, B-=2.7, C+=2.3, C=2.0, C-=1.7, D+=1.3, D=1.0, D-=0.7, F=0.0. The course rigor bonus is added on top for passing grades.

No. The whole calculation runs in your browser and nothing is uploaded or saved.

Weighted GPA Calculator (AP/IB/Honors)

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Weighted GPA calculation

A weighted GPA rewards harder courses with bonus grade points so that a student taking AP and IB classes is not penalised against someone taking easy electives. This calculator computes both your weighted GPA (which can exceed 4.0) and your unweighted GPA (capped at 4.0), credit-weighted across all your courses.

How it works

Each letter grade maps to a base grade point on the 4.0 scale. For passing grades, the tool adds a rigor bonus:

Regular  +0.0
Honors   +0.5
AP       +1.0
IB       +1.0

So the weighted point for a course is basePoint + bonus (a failing grade gets no bonus and stays at 0.0). The weighted GPA is the credit-weighted average of those weighted points:

weightedGPA   = sum((basePoint_i + bonus_i) * credits_i) / sum(credits_i)
unweightedGPA = sum(basePoint_i * credits_i) / sum(credits_i)

Courses with no credits or no grade are skipped.

Tips and notes

Many high schools cap the weighted scale at 5.0, which matches the +1.0 AP/IB bonus on an A.
Some districts use different bonuses (for example +1.0 for Honors). If yours does, adjust the result mentally or use the unweighted figure as the comparable baseline.
Most colleges recalculate GPA on their own scale, often unweighted, so always keep both numbers handy.