Add this term to everything before it. We show your new cumulative GPA — and, if you give us a target, what the next term would have to be.
Your new cumulative GPA
up from 3.10 · 60 credits total
Change this term+0.15
Credits total60
Needed next termNot reachable
Quality points
195
Credits
60
Cumulative GPA
3.25
Needed next term
Not reachable
This calculator needs JavaScript to recalculate. The answer shown above was worked out when the page was built and is correct for the date in the address bar.
Your cumulative GPA gets harder to move every term
This is the page for the question "can I still fix this", and it deserves an honest answer rather than an encouraging one.
A cumulative GPA is a weighted average of every graded credit you have earned. Early on, when you have 15 credits behind you, one strong term moves it a long way. By the time you have 90 credits, the same term barely registers — you are adding 15 credits to an average built on 90, so the new term carries a sixth of the weight. The arithmetic is not on your side late, and knowing that in advance is more useful than finding out in your final semester.
Worked example
Prior: 3.10 across 45 credits. This term: 3.70 across 15 credits.
A term more than half a grade point above your average moved the cumulative figure by 0.15. That is the honest shape of it.
The reverse question
Suppose you want a 3.50 overall and you have 15 credits left. Solve for the term GPA required:
(3.25 × 60 + x × 15) ÷ 75 = 3.50 → x = 4.50.
Above 4.0, so on an unweighted scale it is not reachable — not with perfect grades. The useful answer is not a required score you cannot hit; it is that a 3.50 needs more than one term, and the calculator says so rather than printing 4.50 and leaving it there. If you have 30 credits left instead of 15, the requirement falls to 4.0, which is at least on the scale even if it means straight As.
We use earned credits, not attempted. That is the more common convention, but it is a choice: institutions that count attempted credits make a withdrawal cost you something, and ours does not.
Where this stops being reliable
Grade forgiveness and repeat policies are the main hazard — if your school replaces a repeated grade, your prior GPA changes retroactively and any calculation built on the old figure is wrong. Transfer credits often add to your credit total without adding grade points, which drags your denominator up and your GPA down in a way that catches people out. Institutions that compute over attempted credits will produce a lower figure than this page after any withdrawal. And your prior GPA has to come from your transcript, not from memory — a 0.05 error in the starting figure propagates through everything here.
Common questions
How do I calculate my cumulative GPA?
Multiply your prior GPA by your prior credit total to get the grade points you have already banked, add this term's grade points, then divide by your combined credits. With 3.10 across 45 credits and 3.70 across 15: (139.5 + 55.5) ÷ 60 = 3.25.
How many credits does it take to raise my GPA by 0.1?
More than you would like, and it grows as you go. At 45 prior credits, a 4.0 term of 15 credits raises a 3.10 by about 0.22. At 90 prior credits, the same term raises it by about 0.13. At 120, about 0.10. Enter your real numbers above — the honest figure is usually the point of the exercise.
Do retakes replace the original grade?
At some institutions yes, at others both attempts stay in the average, and at others both appear on the transcript but only the most recent counts. The three policies give genuinely different cumulative GPAs. Your academic catalogue is the authority and it is worth checking before you plan a retake around it.
Do transfer credits count toward cumulative GPA?
Usually they add credit hours toward your degree without adding grade points to your GPA, which means your credit total goes up while your GPA stays put. A few institutions do import the grades. Either way it changes what a future term can do for you, so check before relying on this calculation.
Where do I find my prior credits and GPA?
On your unofficial transcript in your student portal, usually on a summary line labelled something like "cumulative earned hours" and "cumulative GPA". Use those figures rather than adding up terms yourself — the transcript already applies your institution's repeat and exclusion rules.
What happens to my cumulative GPA if I withdraw from a course?
Under the earned-credits convention this page uses, nothing: a W carries no grade points and no credits, so your GPA is untouched. Institutions that compute over attempted credits treat it differently, and a punitive WF usually counts as an F. The withdrawal deadline separating those outcomes is often earlier than students expect.