How to Calculate Weighted and Unweighted GPA for your Homeschool Transcript

Your student’s grade point average or “GPA” is one of the most important numbers on their high school transcript. In a few numbers it summarizes your student’s academic achievement across all their classes to college admissions officers.To set your homeschooler up for success, here’s how it’s calculated and what to think about when deciding whether to use a weighted or unweighted GPA.

How GPA is Calculated

Your student’s GPA comes down to this formula: GPA = Total Quality Points ÷ Total Credits

Let’s break this down. The letter grades assigned to each of your student’s courses are given a numeric value or “grade points.” On the most basic grading scale, grade points are assigned as follows:

A = 4.0

B = 3.0

C = 2.0

D = 1.0

F = 0.0

These grade points are part of “quality points” that contribute to your student’s GPA. Quality points are the number of credits for a particular course multiplied by the corresponding grade points associated with the letter grade your student received. For example, if your student took a 1.5 credit course in Chemistry and got a B, the quality points associated with this course would be 4.5 (1.5 x 3.0). Knowing how quality points are calculated, we can calculate GPA. Here’s an example from Rebekah’s freshman year:

In the above case, plugging total quality points and total credits into the GPA formula, we get GPA = 22.0 ÷ 6.0. Therefore, Rebekah’s freshman year GPA is 3.67.

Unweighted GPA

An unweighted GPA uses a 0.0-4.0 scale and treats every class, regardless of difficulty, the same. The best possible GPA a student can have when their GPA is unweighted is 4.0.

Weighted GPA

A weighted GPA applies extra quality points to harder classes such as Honors or AP/IB courses. A common way of doing this is applying +0.50 to honors courses and +1.00 to AP/IB courses. Taking the example of Rebekah’s freshman year above, let’s say she took AP U.S. History and still got an A. Adding 1.00 quality points to her final grade would give her 5.00 quality points for the course and a weighted GPA of 3.83 (23.0 ÷ 6.0). When using a weighted GPA, it is possible for a student to have a cumulative GPA that is greater than 4.0.

Should I use an unweighted or weighted GPA for my homeschooler?

This is a matter of personal preference and neither is wrong. One advantage of an unweighted GPA is that it reflects pure academic performance, and it prevents the perception that your student’s grades are being inflated. On the other hand, a weighted GPA rewards academic rigor. If you do choose to display a student’s weighted GPA, it’s helpful to include both the weighted and unweighted GPA on their transcript. This helps give colleges the best picture of your student’s academic record.

Our high school transcript builder for homeschoolers takes the hassle out of determining GPA by calculating it automatically for you (weighted or unweighted). If you opt for a weighted GPA, it will display it right next to the unweighted GPA. Just select the “Weight” drop down and indicate the course as Regular, Honors or AP/IB. In the “Academic Summary” section select “Include Weighted GPA” and click “Edit Grading Scale and GPA Calculation” to indicate the exact weight you want to give advanced courses. Try it for yourself today!