- Cumulative GPA is the average of all the grades you’ve earned throughout high school and college.
- Cumulative GPA is different from weighted or unweighted GPA.
- Colleges use your cumulative GPA to measure your eligibility for various academic opportunities such as graduation, scholarships, and honors programs.
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During high school and college you’re sure to have heard your teachers, advisors, and friends mention the terms semester GPA, weighted GPA, unweighted GPA, and cumulative GPA. Each of these refer to completely different metrics and they are calculated differently.
For now, we’re focusing on what is cumulative GPA, how it is calculated, why it is so important, and what you can do to raise it. We’ll also highlight the difference between cumulative, weighted, and unweighted GPA.
What Is Cumulative GPA?
Cumulative GPA or cumulative grade point average, is the average of all the grades you’ve earned throughout high school and college classes. The calculation takes into account the grades earned on all courses you’ve taken during this time, regardless of whether you passed or failed any course. Your cumulative GPA gives admissions officers insight into your overall academic performance and progress throughout your entire career.
Here’s how this is different from semester, weighted, and unweighted GPA.
Semester or term GPA reflects your grade points earned in a single semester. It is calculated by dividing the total number of grade points you’ve earned in a single semester by the total number of credit hours you attempted in that same semester. Semester GPA provides insight into your academic performance and progress over a specific window of time.
Weighted GPA is calculated taking into account the difficulty level of the courses you’ve taken. More challenging courses such as Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Honors are assigned a higher value.
In calculating unweighted GPA, equal value is assigned to all grades earned, regardless of difficulty level.
Why Does Cumulative GPA Matter?
A high cumulative GPA can greatly affect college admissions and scholarship awards. A high cumulative grade point average demonstrates your academic ability and your commitment to learning.
Most academic institutions use cumulative GPA as one of the primary criteria for admission. A high cumulative GPA significantly increases your chances of getting accepted into a college of your choice. This can be particularly important when deciding between two equally qualified applicants. In this case, the applicant’s cumulative GPA may be the deciding factor between getting accepted and getting rejected.
After enrollment, colleges and universities will continue to use your cumulative GPA as a marker to determine your eligibility for scholarships, honors programs, graduation, and other academic opportunities. Graduate schools may also use this as one of the factors when making admissions decisions.
With a low GPA, you’ll find it more difficult to get admission into a top-ranked colleges or qualify for some of the more prestigious merit scholarships.
How Do You Calculate Cumulative GPA?
Calculating your cumulative GPA involves adding up the grade points you’ve earned in all the courses you’ve taken and dividing this by the total number of credit hours you’ve taken.
For this calculation, you first need to know your grades in every individual class you’ve taken and how many credits the class was worth. Most college classes are worth 3 credits, but other advanced classes can be worth 4 and a lab may only be worth 1. This means, under a cumulative GPA, that the grade in the 4-credit class can have more weight than the 3 or 1-credit courses.
Steps to calculate your cumulative GPA:
- Start by obtaining your GPA for each semester and the number of credit hours for each.
- Multiply the number of credit hours for each semester by the GPA you earned during that semester. That will give you your total points for the semester. For example, let’s say you earned a 3.0 GPA during the fall semester with 12 credit hours. In this case, your total points would be 3.0 x 12 = 36 points.
- Repeat the step above to calculate your total credit hours and total points for each semester. Add the credit hours and points for each semester to determine your total credit hours and cumulative total points for the academic year.
- Divide your total points for the academic year by your total credit hours. This is your cumulative GPA.
Note: You cannot simply add together the GPA for each semester and divide that total by the number of semesters to calculate your cumulative GPA. This method will not give you your cumulative GPA as it does not account for credit hours.
Different colleges may calculate GPA differently so make sure to check with your school for their specific policy in this regard.
What Is A “Good” Cumulative GPA?
You know how to calculate cumulative GPA but do you know whether yours meets the standard? What is considered a good GPA? What may look like a “good” GPA to one student can be very different from what another student considers a good GPA. A good GPA is all about your goals and abilities, and the classes you take.
Here is an example: During high school, Sam took 2 cooking classes, 2 creative writing classes, and an elective on military history. He scored a 3.9 GPA. Attending the same school, Ryan took a cooking class and four advanced placement courses. He scored a 3.2 GPA.
While Sam technically had a higher GPA, Ryan’s schedule had more academic rigor. And your class schedule can impact your college admission chances!
There’s nothing wrong with cooking, creative writing, or other “easy” courses (I took them myself!), especially if they have to do with your goals after high school. These classes can also grant you a much-needed break from your advanced placement classes. However, it’s so very important to strike a balance between easy and rigorous classes. You can take those “fun” and “interesting” classes, but you should also be thinking about academic rigor. This approach will allow you to have a well-rounded high school education, while also increasing your college admission chances!
While there’s no denying that a higher GPA can help your college admission chances, it’s important to note that colleges will look beyond your grades, too. For instance, they will look at your academic rigor, even if you’re attending a high school that uses an unweighted GPA.
How Can You Raise Your Cumulative GPA?
There are several ways you can increase your cumulative GPA. The two most important ways are improving your grades and taking more advanced classes but there are others too.
1. Perform better in your classes
The most obvious way to increase your cumulative GPA is to do well in your classes and strive to raise your grade. Consider some or all of these ideas when exploring ways to improve your performance in your classes:
- Stay focused on your studies
- Don’t hesitate to ask your teacher for additional help
- Ask for extra credit work
- Work with your teacher after class
- Talk to your teacher about your grades, concerns, and struggles
- Join a neighborhood study group
- Discuss your academic concerns or class placements with your guidance counselor
- Work with a tutor
- Ask your parents for help
2. Take More Advanced Classes
In schools that use an unweighted GPA, you may not be able to raise your cumulative GPA by taking more advanced classes. But you can do this in college and in high schools that use a weighted GPA.
Since advanced classes are worth more credits in these programs, higher grades can have a bigger impact on your cumulative GPA. However, this can also backfire if you’re not prepared for the increased coursework. While a high grade can raise your GPA, lower grades can also lower your cumulative GPA!
3. Attend classes regularly, pay attention, and take notes
These three go together. Attending classes regularly is a key step toward improving your GPA. Teachers go beyond the textbook in their classroom discussions. If you miss a class, you could miss out on vital information that will help you understand the material better and be better prepared to complete your assignments and answer exams. It can be incredibly hard to make up for what you missed if you skip classes frequently.
Just attending classes isn’t enough. You must eliminate all distractions, stay focused, and most important of all take notes. By the end of each school day, you will have taken in so much information, it’s almost impossible to retain all of it. Taking notes is an effective strategy for memorizing important points or summarizing a lecture, making it easier to study for exams.
Mistakes To Avoid When Calculating GPA
Calculating cumulative GPA may seem pretty straightforward, but there are some common mistakes that students make, leading to wrong calculations and misleading expectations.
Make sure to avoid these common mistakes when calculating your GPA:
- Not including all courses in the calculation. Your GPA calculation should factor in all the courses you’ve taken, including courses taken that are outside of your major, courses taken again to improve grades, and courses taken at other institutions. Make sure to compile a complete list and add all your courses in the calculation.
- Confusing credit hours and grade points. Confusing these two values will give you the wrong answer. Before you start calculating your cumulative GPA, make sure you understand the difference between credit hours and grade points. Credit hours are the number of hours that a course is worth. Grade point is the numerical value assigned to a letter grade.
- Not factoring in + and – grades. When calculating your GPA, you must account for + and – grades or else you will get a wrong value. For example, a B+ grade may be worth 3.1 point but a B- may be worth 2.5 points.
- Assuming that all schools use the same correct point values. Yes, different colleges assign different point values for letter grades. For instance, most schools assign a 4.0 point value for an A grade, which is considered the standard. However, in some schools, an A may have a 3.7 or 3.8 point value. Taking the time to confirm your school’s point values for letter grades will ensure that your GPA calculations are correct.
- Rounding up inaccurately. As with point values, different colleges also round up differently. Some college round up to the nearest 100th while others round up to the nearest 10th. Your school’s rounding up policy is another thing you must confirm before starting your calculations.
GPA Summary
Your cumulative GPA is a crucial component of your academic career and can impact more than your college acceptance chances. A high cumulative GPA can open doors to your preferred college, as well as scholarships, honors programs, and advanced degree programs. This is an important number that you should not ignore. Focusing on improving your grades and taking more advanced classes are two of the most important things you can do to achieve a “good” cumulative GP that can help you achieve your academic and career goals.
Understanding what colleges and universities are looking for from their students can increase your admission chances. Our College Match tool takes your goals, achievements, and needs into account to identify the best schools for you.
