Your cumulative GPA is the running average of everything you've taken so far — and because old credits never leave the calculation, each new semester moves it less than the last. This calculator merges your existing GPA with this term's grades so you can see your new overall number before it hits your transcript, and test what it would actually take to reach a target.
Instructions
Start with the "Your GPA so far" box: enter your current cumulative GPA and the total credits it covers (both are on your transcript). Then add this term's classes with their grades and credits. High schooler? This works for you too — count each semester-long class as 1 credit.
Your GPA so far
Current cumulative GPA
Credits completed
Class name (optional)
Grade
Credits
Your classes save automatically in this browser — come back anytime to update grades.
YOUR GPA
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Pick a grade for at least one class to see your GPA.
A GPA takes years to move. A test score takes weeks.
If your cumulative GPA is locked in, your SAT or ACT score is the number you can still change — prep with free adaptive practice tests at Test Ninjas.
Cumulative GPA (sometimes called overall GPA) is the credit-weighted average of every graded course on your record, from your first term to your most recent one. It's the number that follows you: class rank, graduation honors, scholarship renewals, and admissions decisions all key off the cumulative figure rather than any single semester. Term GPAs are snapshots; the cumulative GPA is the movie.
The Cumulative GPA Formula
To merge a new term into your record, convert each GPA back into quality points, add them, and divide by the combined credits:
Suppose you're carrying a 3.2 over 60 credits and you post a 4.0 semester across 15 credits. Your prior quality points are 3.2 × 60 = 192, the new term adds 4.0 × 15 = 60, and the merged total is (192 + 60) / 75 = 3.36. A perfect semester lifted the cumulative GPA by only 0.16 — that's the weight of those 60 existing credits at work.
How Many Credits Does It Take to Raise Your GPA?
Here's the same student — a 3.0 cumulative GPA over 60 credits — earning straight 4.0s from now on:
Starting point: 3.0 GPA over 60 credits, all future grades 4.0
Additional 4.0 credits earned
New cumulative GPA
15 credits (one term)
3.20
30 credits (one year)
3.33
60 credits (two years)
3.50
Even doubling the transcript with perfect grades only reaches a 3.50 — the midpoint between the old GPA and the new grades, exactly as the formula predicts. That's why targets like "get to a 3.8 by graduation" need to be checked against the math early: some are simply out of reach on the remaining credits.
Why Your GPA Gets Harder to Move
Credit inertia: every credit already on your transcript is a vote for your current GPA, and new semesters get only their proportional say. With 15 of 75 total credits, a term controls 20% of the average; by 105 credits, an identical term controls barely 12%. The practical lesson runs both ways — early bad grades are recoverable while the denominator is small, and a strong early GPA is remarkably hard to lose later.
If your credits use hours and you want the full college treatment — quality points, Dean's List, Latin honors — head to the college GPA calculator. For semester-by-semester high school planning with course weights, use the high school GPA calculator.
Frequently Asked Questions
Your semester GPA averages only the classes from one term, while your cumulative GPA averages every graded class you have taken so far, weighted by credits. A great semester GPA moves the cumulative number only in proportion to how many credits that semester adds to your total.
At the new school, usually yes — accepted transfer courses typically bring in credits but not grades, so your GPA there starts from zero with your first graded term. The old GPA doesn't vanish, though: applications for graduate school, and some scholarships and employers, ask for transcripts from every school you attended.
It depends entirely on your school's repeat policy. Under grade replacement, only the newest attempt counts in the GPA, which can move the number dramatically; under grade averaging, both attempts stay in the calculation. Either way, the original grade usually remains visible on the transcript itself.
Yes. A high school cumulative GPA includes every graded class from 9th through 12th grade, which is why senior-year grades move it so little — three years of credits are already locked in. A few college systems recalculate using only 10th and 11th grade, but the transcript number itself covers all four years.
No. Colleges see the exact figure your transcript reports, and a 3.99 is not a 4.0. You also shouldn't round on applications yourself — report the number as printed, since admissions offices verify it against your official transcript.
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