Your semesters
What do I need from here?
Starts from your cumulative GPA above. Set a goal and the credits you still have to take.
Three school policies, side by side
Schools treat a repeated course differently. Pick the old and new grade and the course's credits to see each policy's effect on your cumulative GPA.
Where your cumulative GPA lands
There's no national standard. These are typical fixed cutoffs; many schools instead honour a top percentage of each graduating class, so the real line moves every year.
Below typical cum laude cutoffs (about 3.5). Use the target planner to see what it would take.
A credit-weighted average
Convert each grade to points, multiply by the course's credit hours (these are “quality points”), add them up, and divide by total credits. A 4-credit A moves your GPA four times as much as a 1-credit A.
Cumulative GPA is worked out the same way across every term at once, which is why a heavy term counts more than a light one. Pass/fail courses and withdrawals usually carry no grade points and are left out; an incomplete may count as an F until it's resolved. Transfer credits often count toward your degree but not your GPA, though some schools import the grades.
Add the quality points (grade points × credit hours) from every course in every term, then divide by the total credit hours. Don't average your term GPAs: that ignores how many credits each term carried.