Determine your institution's letter grade point equivalent. For instance, in many schools an A is consider a 4.0, but other schools offer 4.3 points for an A+ or 3.8 points for an A-. Copy these point equivalents on your sheet of paper as a reference.
Determine the total number of course credits (hours) you are taking in a semester. In general, the number of credits for a course is the number of hours per week that you spend in that class.
For instructional purposes, let's say you took three 3-credit courses and one 4-credit course in a semester. You would have 13 total course credits for that semester.
4 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 13 credits
Multiply your letter grade's point equivalent (as determined by your institution, which you recorded in Step 1 by the number of course credits (hours) for that class. Record those numbers on your paper, and use your calculator if necessary.
Continuing with our instructional example, let's say you made a 3.5 in your four-credit course, a 3.0 in one of your three-credit courses, a 4.0 in your other three-credit course and a 2.5 in your final three-credit course.
3.5 x 4 = 14 points
3.0 x 3 = 9 points
4.0 x 3 = 12 points
2.5 x 3 = 7.5 points
Add all of your total points for each class. if necessary, use your calculator
In our example:
14 + 9 + 12 + 7.5 = 42.5 points
Divide your total points by your number of course credits. Record this number on your paper, and use your calculator if you need to.
42.5 points/13 hours = 3.27
We did it. The total GPA in this example is 3.27.