Is a 2.0 GPA Good? 2.0 GPA as a Letter Grade and Percent

2.0 GPA as a letter grade and percent

On the standard 4.0 scale, a 2.0 is exactly a C average.

Percent ranges come from the common plus/minus scale (C = 73–76%). Your school’s cut-offs may differ — many use a 10-point scale where 90–100 is any A.

What grades add up to a 2.0

With equal-credit classes, a 2.0 is what straight C’s give you. You can also land on it with a mix — every B balances one D if your other grades are C’s.

Pairs of plus/minus grades that average exactly 2.0: B+ + D−, B + D, B− + D+, C+ + C−.

How honors and AP classes change a 2.0

Weighted GPAs add a bonus for harder classes — commonly +0.5 for honors and +1.0 for AP, IB or dual enrollment. If a student’s unweighted GPA is 2.0 and some of their six classes are advanced (with the same grades), the weighted number becomes:

So a weighted 2.0 and an unweighted 2.0 describe different records. Bonus rules are set by each school; the high school GPA calculator shows both numbers from your actual classes.

Raising a 2.0 GPA: what it takes

The further you are into school, the harder a GPA is to move. Example: a 2.0 after 60 credits (about four semesters at 15 credits). The average you’d need on the new credits:

Reaching 2.5 over two 15-credit terms takes a 3.50 average — roughly an A− record. Earlier in school, with fewer credits banked, the same jump is much easier. Plug in your own numbers below.

Is a 2.0 GPA good?

A 2.0 is around a C average. It may be close to the minimum that some schools, teams or programs set, so check the exact rule — and whether it uses weighted or unweighted GPA.

A GPA is read alongside other facts:

• Course rigor and trend. Readers look at which classes you took and whether grades are improving.
• The specific requirement. Scholarships, programs and colleges publish their own minimums and often recalculate GPA their own way — check the source, not a rule of thumb.
• Recalculation. Many colleges strip out electives or re-weight honors and AP classes, so their number can differ from the one on your report card.
• Grade inflation. Average high school GPAs rose from 2.68 in 1990 to 3.00 in 2009 (NCES transcript study), so the same GPA meant more a generation ago — see our grade inflation data.

To compare a 2.0 with other values, use the GPA scale converter or check your school’s letter cut-offs on the grading scale converter. To see how this term changes your number, try the cumulative GPA calculator.