Finally, bear in mind that getting some expert advice can help! (Well talk about AP and Honors classes and how they affect your GPA, in just a bit). All Rights Reserved. A good grade in an AP class can significantly bump up GPA, but a poor grade can have the same effect in a negative direction. A 4.0 is an A average, a 3.0 is a B average, a 2.0 is a C average, a 1.0 is a D average, and anything below that represents a failing grade. A 3.3 GPA, when converted back into a letter grade, is a solid B+. Could use a little work, but impressive nonetheless. But if there's a subject you're really interested in or think you might want to pursue as a course of study in college, try and push yourself to take high-level classes. However, "good" often depends on context. High school can be overwhelming. An A in a standard course earns you a 4.0 grade, while an A in an advanced course gives you a 5.0. Then, add 0.5 for each mid-level class you took and 1.0 for each high-level class you took. Make a strategic plan to apply to schools where your childs talents and skills are valued. To figure out your cumulative GPA, or high school career GPA, we simply add up all your semester GPAs, divide them by how many semesters completed, and get your average GPA. First, get a copy of your most recent transcript. I will convert them into weighted and unweighted format so you can see the difference: Boy, Jane really stepped up her game junior year! On top of that, some high schools have additional quirks in their GPA calculations. A weighted GPA represents the average value of your final grades earned in classes considering their difficulty. Click above to watch a video on what a good GPA is. Generally, the GPA scale for an honors course is 4.5, and AP courses use a 5.0 scale. You should only follow this advice if your GPA is already good by the numbers but you aren't taking difficult classes. But what is a good GPA? Want to build the best possible college application? That takes into account the fact that these classes are more challenging and its more likely harder to earn an A in those classes. ACT Writing: 15 Tips to Raise Your Essay Score, How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League, Is the ACT easier than the SAT? All rights reserved. For the second semester, let's say you continued to take the same level classes but improved your grades: This time, when we average all the numbers in the last column, your second semester freshman year weighted GPA is a 4.0. You can use the College Insights tool to compare schools and find out more about their eligibility requirements and the average high school GPA of their student populations. The average high school GPA for college-bound students is likely higher than a 3.0. Confused? If you arent reviewing all the homework and class problems in the days leading up to the exam, you may be setting yourself up for failure. The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 160+ SAT Points, How to Get a Perfect 1600, by a Perfect Scorer, Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests. Relative to time spent studying, test scores are the easiest way to improve your chances at college admission. So far, your cumulative weighted GPA is a 3.9. So, how do you know what your GPA means and how admissions officers will view it? It's a number that represents your child's academic performance, and it's cumulative, incorporating grades from all high school courses. Our new student and parent forum, at ExpertHub.PrepScholar.com, allow you to interact with your peers and the PrepScholar staff. If your school is more specific about what grade corresponds to what GPA (i.e. When you have this level of selectivity, students' coursework will be scrutinized just as closely as the numerical values of their GPAs; schools like Harvard are only looking for the top performing students in the highest-level classes. Heres a quick look at that: Now, we divide that total by the number of semesters (7) to get your cumulative GPA: The result? Often, those letter grades correspond to percentages, but those percentages are not part of a GPA calculation. SAT is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination BoardTM. For AP and Honors classes, these are calculated with an A being worth 5 points (instead of 4); a B is worth 4 points, a C is worth 3 points, and so on. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. I would say there are three main things that you can do if you want to make your GPA better in the eyes of colleges: This may seem paradoxical. is only worth 2 credits. Your GPA, or grade point average, is a way for colleges to quickly see a solid, summary indicator of your intelligence, work ethic, willingness to challenge yourself, and skills. For example, lets say that you are shooting for a 3.8 GPA, but your professors dont hand back assignments on that grading scale. At Harvard, for example, almost 90% of incoming freshmen have a GPA that's above a 3.75 (the average GPA is a 3.93), meaning a solid A average. A 3.8 GPA is very good! I'll use a hypothetical example to go through a more detailed description of how to calculate weighted GPA. We make sure students get the career help they need. A 4.1 is a very good GPA. This just means the school will probably be a reach for you. Admissions counselors might unweight and then reweight grades according to their own scale to more accurately compare students academic accomplishments. The College Entrance Examination BoardTM does not endorse, nor is it affiliated in any way with the owner or any content of this site. This GPA is outside of the normal 4.0 range of unweighted GPAs, meaning your school measures GPA on a weighted scale. Now that you know about weighted GPA, you may be wondering whether colleges will consider it more or less strongly than your basic unweighted GPA. It assigns a higher numerical value to grades earned in more challenging courses such as Honors, Advanced Placement (AP), and International Baccalaureate (IB) courses. Likewise, calculating a letter grade is usually done by looking at a particular percentage. So, maybe you have a 2.5 GPA as a freshman, but a 3.0 as a sophomore, a 3.5 as a junior, and a 3.8 as a senior. Ask questions; get answers. It means that you've either been taking the most difficult classes and earning mostly Bs or you've been taking mid level classes and earning As. Basically, to calculate a letter grade, your teacher figured out your class percentage grade, and converted that to a letter grade. GPAs in some classes can hold more weight than others. Maybe, maybe not. Even though both students are earning As, one is earning them with more challenging material. If you dont understand something from the homework or lecture, or you got something wrong on a test or paper and dont know why, ask your teacher! Let's gothrough an example of how this works in practice bycalculating the weighted GPA of spymaster aliasJane Doe. There is more than one way to think about this. But I got an A+ in gym! What's a Bad GPA for College? Remember, most colleges recalculate weighted GPA so they can compare candidates on an even scale. Here's how a 4.4 GPA compares to the nation: A GPA is a cumulative numerical scale calculated from your high school grades. There are plenty of ways to improve your GPA. This means a student who chooses more challenging courses can potentially have a weighted GPA higher than the standard perfect 4.0 GPA. A weighted GPA is scaled based on the difficulty level of a course, with more challenging courses being worth more. This might seem kind of like Algebra! A weighted GPA uses a scale that typically goes higher than 4.0 to allow for difficult classes. Read this guide on the best way to ask for recommendations. There also are plenty of online search engines and GPA calculators. GPA is usually based on a 4.0 scale where each letter grade is worth a certain number of grade points: A+ = 4.3 A = 4.0 A- = 3.7 B+ = 3.3 B = 3.0 B- = 2.7 C+ = 2.3 C = 2.0 Lastly, keep in mind that college admissions officers will see your senior-year grades, so make sure you continue to get good grades throughout the application process! You'll need to take a look at the average GPA for incoming freshmen at your colleges of choice to get a sense of where you need to be. If you're getting all As in the highest-level classes your school offers, yes, your GPA is amazing, and colleges will be extremely impressed. Do Colleges Look at Weighted or Unweighted GPAs? Once again, colleges will understand these circumstances and take them into account. Though the national average high school GPA is around a 3.0, that might actually be a very good GPA or a not so good GPA for you depending on your circumstances and goals. But if you're serious about improving your grades, this is the bottom line. Schools view this number as an indication of academic potential and college readiness. A 3.8 GPA may be competitive for the top 30 or so schools, but you will need a higher GPA to have a stronger shot for the top 10-15 school such as the Ivy League. #5: As a last step, you should look at the admissions rates for your chosen colleges. If you take classes that are particularly difficult, Advanced Placement (AP), or Honors coursework thats even better. Here's the unweighted scale for reference: One way to calculate your weighted GPA is to find your average unweighted GPA and multiply that by the number of classes you've taken. This is going to be one of the best ways to see a significant positive effect on your grades. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. For the first semester of sophomore year, let's say you decided to take mostly mid-level classes with one high-level class (you were ready to move up in the mid-level class and the regular-level classes where you earned As!). So, if your school uses an unweighted GPA, you want to be at or near a 4.0, the highest GPA. A Comprehensive Guide. See how other students and parents are navigating high school, college, and the college admissions process. If your GPA is above a 3.0, you're most likely doing pretty well, but it all depends on how your school calculates GPA and what your ultimate goals are. The easiest way to figure out GPA is to use a GPA calculator. Find out more here! what constitutes a good or bad GPA for college. So, rather than running from 0.0-4.0, the weighted GPA measures on a 0.0-5.0 scale. At the same time, however, highly selective schools want to see more than slightly above average, so if youre in the low 3s, you may want to step up your game. The higher your GPA, the better. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? What Is a Good GPA? Get Free Guides to Boost Your SAT/ACT Score, Most schools will give you unweighted GPA statistics. Its important to understand why your GPA is important and how it balances or enhances your other high school accomplishments. We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. For each course we multiply the grade points received by the course's credit hours to determine the total points awarded. If so, your child may want to take a couple of easy electives to help balance out a lower grade in a core class. What Is a Weighted GPA? Asking for help is the SMART thing to do, and it's going to allow you to get the individual attention you might need in order to understand concepts better. It might, for example, help you understand that you need to study for a particular final much more than another in a different class. Well, believe it or not, you WILL need Algebra in your life (at least figuring for x)! If a school has an admissions rate of less than 20%, you can assume that you're expected to have a record of very challenging coursework in addition to meeting the average GPA standards. If you're below the average, you may still have a chance depending on how far off you are. Like high school, a good college GPA is generally 3.7 or above, and ideally higher in your major classes. Copyright 2021 Spark Admissions, LLC. The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 160+ SAT Points, How to Get a Perfect 1600, by a Perfect Scorer, Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests. However, you may be able to gain acceptance to a less selective school with a GPA that's as low as a 2.0 or C- average. Lastly, keep in mind that college admissions officers will see your senior-year grades, so make sure you continue to . Highly selective schools look for unweighted GPAs that are very close to a 4.0. But, whats the breakdown of a letter grade, as it relates to the GPA scale in particular? Colleges use this information to put the students GPA in perspective. Now, we average that sum by dividing the total by how many classes you took, or 5: Your average for that semester is a 3.6 GPA. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. If youre feeling lost or overwhelmed, we can help! First, lets add up all the GPA Scale points: 4.0 + 3.0 + 3.0 + 4.0 + 4.0 = 18. Now, we take that percentage, and convert it into a letter grade. On a typical unweighted scale (which is solely based on grades and not on the difficulty of your classes), GPAs are recorded as numbers ranging from 0 to 4.0. 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