My school doesn’t have midterms, so 80% of the year’s grade in a class comes from the 4 marking periods and the last 20% from the final. (the stats in the examples aren’t mine in case if you were curious)
Is the overall uw gpa calculated by averaging all the classes each marking period and finals and averaging those together?
For example, MP1 was 3.8 for all classes, MP2 was 3.65, MP3 3.9, MP4 3.8, Final 3.8- then take average of all these.
Or is it calculated by taking the average of the overall grade in each class?
For example, 3.9 overall in Algebra 2, 3.6 in APES, 3.9 in World History, etc.- all the overall grades in each class averaged together?
Overall = final grade at the end of the school year, sorry if that was unclear. Thanks for taking the time to read and/or answer.
Your unweighted average is the total of all your points without any weight (ie., an A in health is equal to an A in an AP class) divided by the number of classes.
So, if you have 3.9 + 3.6+ 4.+3.3 + 3.9 + 3.5, you’d add all of those, then /6 = unweighted GPA.
Other schools recalculate.
So, 3.9 = A, 3.6= A-, 4 = A, 3.3= B+, 3.9= A, 3.5= B+ => 3 A’s, 1 A-, 2 B+'s = 3X4, 1X3.7, 2X3.3 = X/6.
Thanks for the clarity! Idk which one my school uses, so I’ll ask my gc tomorrow. Which one is more common? I’m really hoping it’s the second way…
Unfortunately, the only thing that all unweighted GPAs have in common is that honors and AP classes aren’t treated differently than regular classes. If you’re filling out some kind of application where they ask for your GPA, you should just report whatever appears on your transcript (or ask your guidance counselor, if they’re asking for something completely different from what you have).
Colleges will evaluate your transcript either by recalculating your GPA, or just by looking at your letter grades. They understand that different schools have different systems, and they won’t unfairly compare you to someone else.
That said, here’s a common method for calculating unweighted GPA.
Take each letter grade and assign it either 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 “grade points” according to the following scale, regardless of whether it’s an honors class or not:
A+ = 4 points to be safe, but some schools say 4.3 (technically 4.333…). If a school has A+ = 4.3, they have a 4.3 scale and not a 4.0 scale.
A = 4 points
A- = 3.7 points (technically 3.666…)
B+ = 3.3 points
B = 3 points
B- = 2.7 points
C+ = 2.3 points
C = 2 points
C- = 1.7 points
D+ = 1.3 points
D = 1 point
D- = 0.7 points
F = 0 points
This assumes every class you’ve taken is worth one credit. For half-credit classes, divide the number of points by two.
D+ probably isn’t an actual grade anywhere, but just in case. 
I’m not sure if the grade point amounts for plus and minus grades are as standard/universal as the grade point amounts for regular grades, but I’ve seen this scale several places and it will probably give you a pretty good approximation.
Now:
- Add up all the grade points.
- Divide this number by the number of credits attempted. If you’ve never failed a class, this is the same as the number of credits you’ve earned. If every class is worth one credit, this is the same as the number of classes you’ve taken throughout your high school career, excluding pass/fail classes. This is your unweighted GPA.
@halcyonheather if I have a B+ 1st semester (45% of final grade) and an A 2nd semester (another 45%) and an A on the final (10%) what does that average to? MY school goes by the letter, not percent.
If they just use letter grades, you should have (0.45)(B+) + (0.45)(A) + (0.10)(A) = (0.45)(3.3) + (0.45)(4.0) + (0.10)(4.0) = 3.685 grade points, which is either B+ or A- depending on whether they round up. (I would still ask your guidance counselor to be sure, though.)
@halcyonheather don’t you mean A- or A? 3.685>3.67 (A-) so why would it be B+?
You’re right, as long as they actually use A- = 3.666… and not a rounded version. I think A- is the most likely grade; it’s closer to that than anything else.