An unweighted GPA is a grade point average on a 4.0 scale where every class counts the same, so an A in AP Calculus and an A in a standard class are both worth 4 points.
Calculating it
Convert each final grade to points (A = 4, B = 3, C = 2, D = 1, F = 0), add them, and divide by the number of classes. If classes carry different credits, multiply each grade by its credits first and divide by total credits.
Example. Six year-long classes, all worth one credit:
A, A, B, B, A, C → 4 + 4 + 3 + 3 + 4 + 2 = 20
20 ÷ 6 = 3.33
That student would see 3.33 on an unweighted transcript. If two of those A’s came from AP classes and the school adds a full point for AP, the weighted GPA would be 22 ÷ 6 = 3.67. You can check either version in the GPA calculator.
What a 4.0 means here
On an unweighted scale, 4.0 is the ceiling: straight A’s. There’s no way above it, which makes the number easy to read but blind to course difficulty. Schools that use plus/minus grades may record an A- as 3.7, so a single A- keeps a student just under 4.0. See plus/minus grading for that conversion.
Where you’ll see it
Many colleges, scholarship forms and the Common App ask for the GPA your school reports, and some ask specifically for unweighted. If you want to understand where your number lands, our breakdown of what a 3.33 GPA means and the full GPA guide put it in context, and the grading scale page shows how percentages map to letters.