The GPA formula (with an example)
A GPA — semester or cumulative — is an average weighted by credit hours, not a plain average of letter grades: a 4-hour course weighs twice as much as a 2-hour one. The formula is GPA = Σ (grade points × credit hours) ÷ Σ credit hours. First example: an A+ course of 3 hours (5.00 × 3 = 15 weighted points) and a B course of 2 hours (4.00 × 2 = 8) total 23 points over 5 hours, so the semester GPA is 23 ÷ 5 = 4.60. A longer example: A in 3 hours (4.75 × 3 = 14.25), B+ in 2 hours (4.50 × 2 = 9) and C in 4 hours (3.00 × 4 = 12) total 35.25 points over 9 hours, a GPA of 3.92. The sensitive step is never the division — it is converting each letter into the correct points of your university's table, where calculators disagree.
For the cumulative GPA, treat everything you have finished as one giant course: its points equal your current cumulative GPA × your completed hours. A student at 3.80 after 60 hours holds 228 points; add a 15-hour semester at 4.60 (69 points) and the total is 297 points over 75 hours — a new cumulative GPA of 297 ÷ 75 = 3.96. This is also why a cumulative GPA gets harder to move over time: the more hours behind it, the heavier a new semester must be to shift it — the fact the target planner below is built on.
The 5.0 grade table (Saudi unified regulation)
Most Saudi public universities use the table of the unified regulation for university studies and examinations on a 5.0 scale, tying every letter to a percentage band and a fixed point value:
| Percentage | Grade | Points (5.0) | Points (4.0, for comparison) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 95 – 100 | A+ | 5.00 | 4.00 |
| 90 – <95 | A | 4.75 | 3.75 |
| 85 – <90 | B+ | 4.50 | 3.50 |
| 80 – <85 | B | 4.00 | 3.00 |
| 75 – <80 | C+ | 3.50 | 2.50 |
| 70 – <75 | C | 3.00 | 2.00 |
| 65 – <70 | D+ | 2.50 | 1.50 |
| 60 – <65 | D | 2.00 | 1.00 |
| Below 60 | F (fail) | 1.00 | 0.00 |
On this scale the honours bands for a cumulative GPA read: Excellent from 4.50 to 5.00, Very Good from 3.75 to below 4.50, Good from 2.75 to below 3.75, and Acceptable from 2.00 to below 2.75 — the line at which most universities set the graduation threshold. The calculator shows your band with every result — for most students the two questions are one.
The 4.0 grade tables
The 4.0 scale comes in two regional forms. The Saudi form — the table of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals and the technical colleges — keeps the same percentage bands and letters as the table above but with the 4.0 values of its last column: A+ = 4.00, A = 3.75, B+ = 3.50, B = 3.00, C+ = 2.50, C = 2.00, D+ = 1.50, D = 1.00, and F = 0.00. The second form is the US/international scale with its plus-and-minus letters: A = 4.0, A− = 3.7, B+ = 3.3, B = 3.0, B− = 2.7, C+ = 2.3, C = 2.0, C− = 1.7, D+ = 1.3, D = 1.0, F = 0.0 — the scale of most private and international universities. Pick your form in the scale selector at the top and every result and plan is built on it alone.
Students graded directly in percentages (Egypt and many Arab systems) get a weighted average of their marks instead, read against the familiar bands: Excellent from 85%, Very Good from 75%, Good from 65% and Acceptable from 50%. For the mark out of 20 used in the Maghreb, the converter here is a simple proportional one (mark ÷ 20 × scale maximum): official equivalence tables differ by country and university, so treat it as a first step, not a verdict.
Why is an F worth 1.00 out of 5 but 0 out of 4?
This is the point students argue about most with calculators, and the truth is that both sides are right — because each is looking at a different regulation. The Saudi unified regulation (the 5.0 scale) sets the lowest point value in its table at 1.00 for an F: the scale effectively starts at 1, not 0, and a failed course still earns one point per hour against its hours. The Saudi 4.0 form (KFUPM and the technical colleges) sets F = 0.00, following the common international pattern. The difference is not trivial: an A+ in one 3-hour course and an F in another give (15 + 3) ÷ 6 = 3.00 on the 5.0 scale, but (12 + 0) ÷ 6 = 2.00 on the 4.0 scale. If a site counts your F as zero while your university follows the unified regulation, it is applying a table that is not yours. That is why this calculator makes the F value a property of the selected scale itself, never a fixed number.
Semester GPA vs cumulative GPA
The semester GPA measures a single term: the points of that term's courses over that term's hours. The cumulative GPA measures your whole record: all points ever earned over all hours ever counted. The semester figure is volatile and fast-moving — one excellent term can lift it to 4.60 — while the cumulative figure is heavy by nature, being an average of years. Their jobs differ: the semester GPA is an instant diagnostic (did this term's plan work? am I above the academic-warning line?), while the cumulative GPA is the official number on your graduation document, driving honours, postgraduate admissions and many employers' screens. Enter your current record and this calculator shows both: the semester GPA from your courses, and the new cumulative GPA after adding them.
Target-GPA planner: what do I need this semester?
The question every student asks before registration: "I want a 4.00 cumulative — what do I need this semester?" The formula is direct: required semester GPA = (target × total hours after the semester − current GPA × current hours) ÷ planned semester hours. On our running numbers: a student at 3.80 after 60 hours targeting 4.00 after a 15-hour semester needs (300 − 228) ÷ 15 = 4.80 — arithmetically possible, but in practice it means an A or A+ in nearly every course. More important is the feasibility verdict: the highest cumulative reachable after that semester is 4.04 even with straight A+ grades, so a 4.50 target would be declared impossible in 15 hours at any grades — the only routes would be more hours or a calmer target. In the comfortable case — your current GPA already above the target — the planner instead reports the floor you must not fall below.
Repeated courses, withdrawal (W) and denial (DN)
Three cases confuse any manual calculation. A withdrawal (W) has no effect at all: the course enters neither points nor hours, and selecting it here excludes it from both the semester and cumulative results. A denial (DN) is the opposite: an administrative failure for absence, counted as an F at your scale's value (1.00 or 0.00) with its full hours — one of the harshest blows to a GPA, because it adds denominator with almost no numerator. Repeated courses split universities into two policies: some replace the old grade with the new one in the cumulative GPA; others count both attempts. This version applies the replacement policy — enter the course once, with its latest grade — and if your university counts both attempts, enter the course twice, once per attempt, and the same tool returns the number matching your policy.