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GPA (Grade Point Average) is a way of measuring academic achievement in high school. It’s a numeric value that correlates with a student’s grades. Each letter grade that a student earns is worth a certain number of grade points depending on how high it is and, in some cases, the level of the class where it was earned. The average of the grade points from all of a student’s converted letter grades in high school makes up his or her final GPA. Typically, one of two GPA scales will be used to measure the grades of students throughout their time in high school.

The unweighted GPA scale goes up to a 4.0 and doesn’t take class difficulty into account. A weighted GPA scale typically goes up to a 5.0 and does consider the difficulty of a student’s classes. I’ll go over the basics of these two scales in the next couple of sections to give you a sense of how they work.

The unweighted GPA scale is the most commonly used GPA scale. It’s found in high schools and colleges alike and is very straightforward. Essentially, the highest GPA you can earn is a 4.0, which indicates an A average in all of your classes. A 3.0 would indicate a B average, a 2.0 a C average, a 1.0 a D, and a 0.0 an F. This scale does not take the levels of your courses into account. For example, if you’re in all honors classes and earn a B average, you’ll have the same GPA as someone in all low-level classes who has earned a B average.

Here’s a table that shows how this scale corresponds to each letter grade:

Instead of using the basic unweighted scale, many high schools will use a weighted GPA scale. On a weighted scale, which typically goes up to a 5.0 instead of the standard 4.0, a student who earns an A in a high level class will have a higher GPA than a student who earns an A in a low-level class. While this scale is used frequently in high schools, you’re unlikely to encounter it in college since it takes course difficulty into account.

For the highest-level classes like honors and AP, students get an extra 1.0 added to the unweighted GPA value of their grades due to the difficulty of the class. A B in an honors class would be equivalent to a 4.0 on a weighted GPA scale, and an A would be equivalent to a 5.0. Some schools also offer mid-level classes between honors and low-level. For these courses, 0.5 points are usually added to the unweighted GPA, meaning an A would be equivalent to a 4.5. Grades in low-level classes are measured using the unweighted scale, so an A in those classes would be equivalent to a 4.0. 

Weighted GPA scales give colleges a better initial sense of the academic potential of students based on the rigor of their coursework. They also lead to greater accuracy in class rankings.Students who take lower level classes won’t surpass high-level students in the rankings as frequently because GPAs are adjusted for class difficulty. This can help incentivize students to take more difficult classes and challenge themselves since it won’t harm their GPAs unless they end up earning signficantly poorer grades.

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