Official sources only
Grade points come straight from registrars and academic catalogs — never aggregator sites or guesswork.
Our Methodology
How we research grading scales, build the calculators, and keep them accurate — and what our tools are, and are not.
Official sources only
Runs in your browser
Independent & free
Every GPA tool on KnowMyGPA is meant to give you a fast, correct answer you can actually trust. This page explains exactly how we build that accuracy — where the numbers come from, how the calculators work, where their limits are, and how to tell us if something is wrong. We keep this transparent on purpose: a grade tool is only worth using if you can see how it reaches its number.
Built per school
Each scale is modeled to the institution that uses it, not forced onto a generic 4.0 template.
Private by design
Every calculation runs in your browser. Nothing you type is uploaded, logged, or stored.
Corrections welcomed
Readers can flag anything that drifts from current official policy, and we review every report.
Step 1 · Research
How we research each grading scale
For every university and exam-board calculator, the grade points, percentage bands, honors thresholds, and academic-standing rules come from the institution’s own official sources. In practice that means we read three layers of documentation:
Registrar & records
Office-of-the-Registrar pages that publish the grade-point values — for example, that an A− is 3.7, or that a school runs a 9-point or 12-point scale.
Catalogs & calendars
Academic catalogs for honors bands (cum laude / distinction / merit), the minimum GPA to graduate, and repeat or grade-replacement policies.
Official regulations
Grading regulations and notifications when a school sets its own rules — such as relative vs. absolute grading, or a unique pass mark.
Where a page relies on a specific official document, we link it in a “source” note on that page so you can verify it yourself. When two reputable sources agree on a scale and the primary page is unavailable, we say so and present the corroborated values.
Step 2 · Calculate
How the calculators actually work
A GPA is a credit-weighted (or unit-weighted) average of your grade points. Every tool runs the same core math, adapted to the scale it targets:
GPA = Σ ( grade points × credits ) ÷ Σ ( credits )
Grade pointsEach letter mapped to its value on that school’s exact scale.
× CreditsWeight every course by its credit hours, units, or points.
÷ Total creditsDivide the weighted sum by all credits attempted.
Crucially, we build each scale to the specific school rather than forcing everything onto a generic 4.0. Real grading systems differ in ways a one-size template gets wrong:
Some scales have no C−
A+ = 4.0 here, 4.3 there
Honors +0.5 vs +1.0
9 · 10 · 12 · 30-point systems
The entire calculation happens locally in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to a server, uploaded, or stored anywhere.
Honest limits
What our tools are — and are not
Our calculators are planning estimates built from published rules. Knowing where that line sits is part of using them well.
What they are
- A fast way to check a semester before grades post
- A what-if planner for testing a future schedule
- A clear way to understand how a specific scale works
- Built from each school’s own published grading rules
What they are not
- Not an official record — your transcript always wins
- They can’t see rounding rules or excluded courses
- They can’t apply transfer-credit or repeat handling
- They don’t know program-specific exceptions
Your official GPA is always the one in your school’s student portal or on your transcript. If a decision matters — graduation, a scholarship cutoff, an application — confirm the number against your official record. We say this on every page, and we mean it.
Step 3 · Maintain
How we keep them current
Updated when policies change
Schools revise scales, retire grades, adjust honors cutoffs, and switch between absolute and relative grading. When we learn of a change we update the affected calculator and, where it matters, note the effective term so you know which rule applies to you.
Who maintains this
Found something that looks off?
KnowMyGPA is an independent project, researched and maintained in-house by its founder, Shaheryar. We are not affiliated with or endorsed by any university, exam board, or government body — the official institution is always the final authority on its own grading. Accuracy improves when readers flag issues: if a grade point, honors band, or rule doesn’t match your school’s current official policy, tell us (ideally with a link to the source) and we’ll review and correct it.