Combine your current GPA and credits with a new term's GPA and credits to find your updated cumulative number.
Estimate only.
The same formula behind this calculator, current GPA times current credits, plus term GPA times term credits, all divided by total credits, produces very different amounts of movement depending on how many credits are already banked. Here is that same 15-credit term of straight A's (4.0) landing on a few different starting points, worked through with the calculator's own arithmetic:
This table is generated from the same formula the calculator above uses, run at four different starting credit totals; it is not a separate data source, just the arithmetic made visible. The pattern holds in both directions: a bad term also hurts less once you have more credits behind you.
A GPA is already an average, so combining two of them correctly is not as simple as averaging the two GPA numbers together. Each one needs to be converted back into quality points, quality points equals GPA times credits, before they can be added. Once you have quality points and credit totals from both periods, add each pair together and divide the combined quality points by the combined credits. That is exactly what the four fields above do: multiply, multiply, add both products, add both credit totals, divide.
The most common mistake students make doing this by hand is averaging the two GPA numbers directly, which only gives the right answer when both periods have exactly equal credits. As the worked table shows, credits are doing most of the work here, not the GPA values themselves.
Using the default numbers above: a 3.2 GPA on 45 credits gives 3.2 × 45 = 144.0 quality points. A 3.6 GPA on 15 new credits gives 3.6 × 15 = 54.0 quality points. Add the quality points: 144.0 + 54.0 = 198.0. Add the credits: 45 + 15 = 60. Divide 198.0 by 60 and the new cumulative GPA is 3.30, up from 3.2 but well short of the new term's 3.6, because the new term is only a quarter of the combined credit total.
The GPA calculator works from individual course grades for a single term. This tool skips that step and works directly from two GPAs you already have, current cumulative and this term, which is faster if you are not tracking every course's letter grade separately.
The more credits you have banked, the more that history dominates the average. A single strong term is a small fraction of a large denominator once you are past your first year or two, so its effect on the cumulative number shrinks even though the term GPA itself looks great.
Yes. Enter your real current GPA and credits, then try different hypothetical term GPAs in the second field to see what range of outcomes is realistic before you register for classes or decide how hard to push a given semester.
That depends on your school's withdrawal policy. Some withdrawals do not count toward attempted credits at all, others show as a W with no grade-point value but still count toward credits attempted. Check your registrar's policy before entering your current credit total.