GPA Grade Compare answers

Every answer below is aimed at a question people measurably search for, is written from named sources, and links to the page that handles the job itself. None of them is a landing page in disguise.

Every page here answers one measured question a student asks about a number on a transcript, and answers it from what institutions print on their own registrar pages rather than from a table with no source on it. The finding behind most of them is that there is no single 4.0 scale: the same B+ is worth 3.3, 3.33, 3.3333 or 3.5 depending on where it was earned, and three of the five institutions here whose honours rules were read publish no summa cum laude GPA at all.

• How to calculate GPA from a transcript, and how to calculate GPA from percentage where your institution publishes the mapping

  The arithmetic behind a grade point average, worked from the grade point tables institutions actually publish.

• How to calculate cumulative GPA: every graded course, weighted by credit hours

  What a cumulative grade point average is, how it differs from a term average, and how it is calculated from published grade point tables.

• How does weighted GPA work, and why do two schools' figures not compare?

  What a weighted GPA adds for course difficulty, how the extra points are applied, and why weighted numbers are not comparable between schools.

• Unweighted GPA: the number admissions recalculates, and how to work it out

  What an unweighted GPA is, why admissions offices recalculate one, and how to work yours out when the school reports only a weighted number.

• Summa cum laude GPA: a fixed number at some schools, a percentile at others

  What summa cum laude takes at named institutions: a fixed GPA at some, a share of the graduating class at others, with the realised cut-offs.

• What is the highest GPA you can get? Four on a plain scale, and above it

  The ceiling on a GPA, on an unweighted scale, on a weighted high-school scale, and at institutions that price an A+ above four.

• What is 4.0 GPA worth, and is it the same everywhere?

  What a 4.0 GPA is, what a 4.0 scale prices each letter at, and where an institution prices its top grade above four.

• GPA converter to 4.0 scale: what converts exactly, and what cannot

  What a GPA conversion can honestly do, which institutions publish a mapping, and where every converter is guessing.

• Percentage to GPA: where the bands are published, and what to do where they are not

  How a percentage becomes a grade point, which institutions publish the bands, and why a general percentage-to-GPA table is invented.

• What is a 90 GPA on a published scale, and why it is unanswerable elsewhere

  What percentages in the high eighties and low nineties are worth as grade points where an institution publishes the bands.

• What GPA is a 95 on a published band, and why one mark can matter so much

  What percentages from the high seventies to the mid nineties are worth in grade points where an institution publishes its bands.

• GPA calulator: the two inputs any GPA calculator needs, and why answers differ

  What any GPA calculator actually needs, why the grade point table is the input that matters, and where the common tools go wrong.

• How to check your GPA, and which number to trust when two disagree

  Where to find your official grade point average, which of the several figures on a transcript is the one that counts, and what to do if they differ.

• How to get your GPA up: the arithmetic, and the policy that moves it fastest

  What actually moves a cumulative grade point average, why it gets harder with every term, and which registrar policies matter most.

• How to calculate major GPA from a transcript, and what a major GPA calculator has to be told before it can answer

  What a major GPA is, which courses count toward it, and why the answer depends on a list your department publishes.

• What's a good GPA, measured against rules that are actually published

  How to judge a grade point average against published honours thresholds and institutional rules rather than against folklore.

• What is an A worth in grade points, and where the scales disagree

  What each letter grade is worth in grade points across the institutions in this index, and where the published values diverge.

• The UK grading system explained for a student holding an American transcript, and why a degree classification is not a grade point average

  How UK degree classifications work, why they are not grade point averages, and who publishes an equivalence between them.

• Is a 4.1 GPA good? What produced the number decides

  A 4.1 GPA is above the 4.0 that straight A's earn unweighted, so it comes from weighted honors or AP courses. How good depends on the weighting.

• Cumlative GPA is the cumulative grade point average, and this is what it includes, what it excludes and why it moves more slowly every term

  What the cumulative grade point average covers, how repeats and transfer credit change it, and why it is hard to move late in a degree.

• Is a 1.2 GPA good? Closest to a D+, below 2.0 (probation)

  A 1.2 GPA is mostly D+ with some D, in College Board's 66-69% D band. It is below 2.0, the line under which UMBC places a student on academic probation.

• 1.5 grade point average: a 1.5 GPA is midway between D+ and C-

  A 1.5 GPA is an even split of D+ (1.3) and C- (1.7) grades, across College Board's D and C bands (66-79%). Below 2.0, UMBC's academic probation line.

• 1.7 grade point average: a 1.7 GPA is a straight C-

  A 1.7 GPA is a straight C- (C band 70-79%, on College Board's chart). Not good: UMBC puts a GPA under 2.0 on academic probation.

• What is a 2.0 GPA in letter grade? A straight C

  A 2.0 GPA is a straight C, 70-79% on College Board's chart, and it sits exactly on the line: UMBC puts a GPA under 2.0 on academic probation.

• What grade is a 2.1 GPA? The 2.1 GPA letter grade, explained

  A 2.1 GPA is closest to a C, between a C (2.0) and a C+ (2.3), in College Board's 70-79% C band. Good standing, only just over UMBC's 2.0 probation line.

• What is a 2.2 GPA in letter grade? Closest to a C+

  A 2.2 GPA is closest to a C+, between a C (2.0) and a C+ (2.3), in College Board's 70-79% C band. Good standing, only just above UMBC's 2.0 probation line.

• 2.3 grade point average: a 2.3 GPA is a straight C+

  A 2.3 GPA is a straight run of C+ grades, in College Board's 70-79% C band. It keeps a student in good standing, above UMBC's 2.0 probation line.

• 2.4 grade point average: a 2.4 GPA is closest to a C+

  A 2.4 GPA is closest to a C+, between a C+ (2.3) and a B- (2.7), in College Board's 70-79% C band. Good standing at UMBC, well short of a B average.

• 2.5 GPA explained: what is a 2.5 GPA

  A 2.5 GPA is midway between C+ and B- (C and B bands 70-89%, on College Board's chart). Above UMBC's 2.0 academic probation line, below a B average.

• What is a 2.6 GPA in letter grade? Closest to a B-

  A 2.6 GPA is closest to a B-, between a C+ (2.3) and a B- (2.7), in College Board's 80-89% B band. Above UMBC's 2.0 probation line, below a B average.

• Is 2.67 GPA good? A straight B-, clear of probation

  A 2.67 GPA is a straight B- on scales that print B- as 2.67, Fairleigh Dickinson's among them. Above UMBC's 2.0 probation line, under its 3.5 cum laude.

• Is a 2.7 GPA good? A straight B-, clear of probation

  A 2.7 GPA is a straight run of B- grades, in College Board's 80-89% B band. Above UMBC's 2.0 probation line, below a 3.0 B average and honors.

• What is a 2.8 GPA in letter grade? Closest to a B-

  A 2.8 GPA is closest to a B- (B band 80-89%, on College Board's chart). Above UMBC's 2.0 academic probation line, below a B average.

• What is a 2.9 GPA in letter grade? Closest to a B

  A 2.9 GPA is B- and B in roughly equal measure, leaning to B, in College Board's 80-89% B band. Clear of UMBC's 2.0 probation line, under a B average.

• What is a 3.0 GPA in letter grade? A straight B

  A 3.0 GPA is a straight B: 80-89% on College Board's chart, but a B at 73-76% on Toronto's table. Good standing, under UMBC's 3.5 cum laude line.

• What is a 3.1 GPA in letter grade? Closest to a B

  A 3.1 GPA is closest to a B, between a B (3.0) and a B+ (3.3): mostly B with an occasional B+. Good standing, under UMBC's 3.5 cum laude line.

• What is a 3.2 GPA in letter grade? Closest to a B+

  A 3.2 GPA is closest to a B+ (B band 80-89%, on College Board's chart). Good standing, short of UMBC's 3.5 cum laude line.

• Is 3.22 GPA good? Closest to a B+, below honors

  A 3.22 GPA is a B-heavy record with a few B+, closest to a B+ (3.3) in College Board's 80-89% B band. Good standing, short of UMBC's 3.5 cum laude.

• Is a 3.25 GPA good? Closest to a B+, below honors

  A 3.25 GPA sits between a B (3.0) and a B+ (3.3), in College Board's 80-89% B band. Good standing, under the 3.5 where UMBC's cum laude begins.

• 3.3 GPA letter grade, explained grade by grade

  A 3.3 GPA is a straight B+ (B band 80-89%, on College Board's chart). Good standing, short of UMBC's 3.5 cum laude line.

• What GPA 3.33 means: a 3.33 GPA is a straight B+

  A 3.33 GPA is a straight B+ where B+ is printed as 3.33, Fairleigh Dickinson's among them; South Carolina prints B+ as 3.5. Under UMBC's 3.5 cum laude.

• Is a 3.4 GPA good? Closest to a B+, below honors

  A 3.4 GPA is closest to a B+ (B band 80-89%, on College Board's chart). Good standing, short of UMBC's 3.5 cum laude line.

• 3.5 GPA: an even split of B+ and A-, and what that is worth

  A 3.5 GPA is an even split of B+ (3.3) and A- (3.7), and the first GPA in UMBC's cum laude band (3.5 to 3.7499). Why the same 3.5 differs by school.

• What is a 3.6 GPA in letter grade? Closest to an A-

  A 3.6 GPA is mostly A- with some B+, in College Board's 90-100% A band, and inside UMBC's cum laude band (3.5 to 3.7499); UMass ranks its class instead.

• Is a 3.7 GPA good? A straight run of A- grades, close to honours

  A 3.7 GPA is a straight A- (A band 90-100%, on College Board's chart). Good enough for cum laude at UMBC (3.5 to 3.7499).

• What is a 3.75 GPA in letter grade? Closest to an A-

  A 3.75 GPA is closest to an A- (A band 90-100%, on College Board's chart). Good enough for magna cum laude at UMBC (3.75 to 3.9499).

• Is a 3.8 GPA good? Closest to an A-, magna cum laude range

  A 3.8 GPA is about one A for every two A-, in College Board's 90-100% A band. Magna cum laude at UMBC (3.75 to 3.9499) and over UConn's 3.7 summa floor.

• What GPA 3.83 means: a 3.83 GPA is closest to an A-

  A 3.83 GPA is about four A grades for every five A-, in College Board's 90-100% A band. Magna cum laude at UMBC (3.75 to 3.9499), summa there from 3.95.

• Is a 3.9 GPA good? Closest to an A, magna cum laude range

  A 3.9 GPA is closest to an A (A band 90-100%, on College Board's chart). Good enough for magna cum laude at UMBC (3.75 to 3.9499).