How the conversion works
Going from a percentage to a GPA is a lookup. Your score falls into a letter band, and the letter has a fixed number of grade points. An 88 is a B+, and a B+ is worth 3.3. Same score, same answer, every time. If you’re starting from a test with questions missed, get the percentage from the EZ grader first.
Going backward is where most converters cheat. A 3.0 tells you the grade was a B, but a B covers everything from 83 to 86. There is no single percentage hiding behind a GPA, so this calculator shows the whole range and marks its middle as a reasonable single estimate.
When a GPA lands between two letters, as an average usually does, the range slides between the two neighboring bands in a straight line:
That interpolation is our estimate, not an official rule. The scale itself only lists the letters.
Worked examples
A 3.0 GPA. It matches a B exactly, so the range is the B band, 83 to 86 percent, with a midpoint of 84.5%.
A 3.5 GPA. It sits between a B+ (3.3, 87–89) and an A- (3.7, 90–92). The distance is 0.2 out of 0.4, so t is 0.5. The low end moves from 87 halfway to 90, which is 88.5. The high end moves from 89 halfway to 92, which is 90.5. The range is 88.5 to 90.5 percent, and the middle is 89.5%.
An 88 percent. It’s at least 87 and below 90, so it’s a B+, worth 3.3 on both the 4.0 and the 4.3 scale.
The averaging trap. Say you have a 92 in one class and an 80 in another. The average is 86, which converts to a B and a 3.0. Convert each class first instead: the 92 is an A- (3.7) and the 80 is a B- (2.7), and their average is 3.2. Your school does it the second way, class by class, so if you have more than one grade, put them into the GPA calculator rather than converting one overall average.
Wondering where your own number lands? What a 3.5 GPA means works through one common case in letters and percent, and is a 3.0 GPA good? covers the B average.
GPA conversion chart
This is the standard plus/minus percentage-to-letter table, the same one every GradeDuck calculator uses. (The College Board’s BigFuture chart is a simpler whole-letter version: A 90–100, B 80–89.) The percentages are whole-number bands as the table prints them; an 86.5 still counts as a B.
| Letter grade | Percentage | 4.0 scale |
|---|---|---|
| A+ | 97–100 | 4.0 |
| A | 93–96 | 4.0 |
| A- | 90–92 | 3.7 |
| B+ | 87–89 | 3.3 |
| B | 83–86 | 3.0 |
| B- | 80–82 | 2.7 |
| C+ | 77–79 | 2.3 |
| C | 73–76 | 2.0 |
| C- | 70–72 | 1.7 |
| D+ | 67–69 | 1.3 |
| D | 65–66 | 1.0 |
| F | below 65 | 0.0 |
Two things surprise people. An A+ is worth 4.0, the same as an A, and there is no D-: anything below 65 is an F.
If your school uses a different scale
The letter bands stay the same here; what changes is the points each letter earns. Some colleges use a 4.3 scale, where only the A+ moves up. Many high schools also weight Honors and AP or IB classes. The bonuses below are the most common ones, and districts differ, so treat them as typical rather than universal.
| Letter | 4.0 scale | 4.3 scale | Honors (+0.5) | AP / IB (+1.0) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A+ | 4.0 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 5.0 |
| A | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.5 | 5.0 |
| A- | 3.7 | 3.7 | 4.2 | 4.7 |
| B+ | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.8 | 4.3 |
| B | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| B- | 2.7 | 2.7 | 3.2 | 3.7 |
| C+ | 2.3 | 2.3 | 2.8 | 3.3 |
| C | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 3.0 |
| C- | 1.7 | 1.7 | 2.2 | 2.7 |
| D+ | 1.3 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 2.3 |
| D | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.0 |
| F | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Plenty of schools also skip plus and minus grades and use a plain ten-point scale, where 90–100 is an A, 80–89 a B, and so on. If that’s your school, your letters can differ from this chart near the edges. The difference between the two GPA types is explained in weighted vs. unweighted GPA, and every common scale, from 4.0 to weighted 5.0, is laid out in the GPA scale guide.
What this converter doesn’t do
- Weighted GPAs above 4.0. A 4.4 weighted GPA doesn’t map to a percentage, because the bonus is extra points for course level, not a higher score. Convert the unweighted GPA behind it.
- International systems. India’s CBSE has used a rule of multiplying a 10-point CGPA by 9.5, but many Indian universities publish their own formulas. UK degrees use classifications (First, 2:1, 2:2) based on marks, not letter grades. Neither is built on the U.S. letter bands, so applying this chart to them would give a confident-looking wrong answer. If a U.S. school asks for a converted GPA, it will usually name the credential evaluator it accepts, and that evaluator’s conversion is the one that counts.
- Your school’s exact cutoffs. If your syllabus says a 92 is an A, your school wins. Every rule we use is listed in how we calculate.