Enter each course as grade,credits (one per line). Credit hours from 1 to 5 are supported. The calculator weights every course by its credit load so heavy courses count more, which is how your registrar actually does it.
Computed in your browser. Add or remove lines to model course changes.
A 4-credit lecture course contributes four times as many grade points to your GPA as a 1-credit lab section. That sounds obvious, but many online calculators just average grades without weighting by credits. This one does the math the right way: quality points (grade value times credit hours) divided by total credit hours.
The formula is the same one your registrar uses. Earn an A (4.0) in a 4-credit class and you bank 16 quality points. Earn a C (2.0) in a 1-credit seminar and you add 2 quality points. Divide the total quality points by total credits and you get the GPA. No mystery.
The cumulative GPA calculator on this site combines your current GPA with past semesters so you can see your full academic record in one number.
A 4-credit course contributes four times as many grade points to your GPA as a 1-credit course. If you earn an A in a 4-credit class and a C in a 1-credit lab, the A carries far more weight. Ignoring credit hours would give every course equal pull on the average, which is not how GPA actually works.
Multiply each course's grade point value by its credit hours to get the quality points for that course. Sum all quality points across all courses. Divide by the total credit hours. The result is your credit-hour-weighted GPA, which is what every US college uses.
Dropping before the deadline typically removes both the grade and the credit hours, so the course has no effect on GPA. Use this calculator to model it: delete the line for the course you are considering dropping and see the updated GPA before you make the decision.
Less than you might fear. A poor grade in a 1-credit course has far less impact than the same grade in a 4-credit course. An F in a 1-credit lab drops a 3.5 GPA by roughly 0.1 points across a 15-credit semester. The same F in a 4-credit class drops it closer to 0.37 points.