Grading scales Simply GPA supports

The eleven built-in scales

Setup asks which one your school uses before it shows you a number, so your first result is right for your school. You can change it at any time in Settings, and every scale is free.

• US 4.0 with plus and minus

  4.0

  The default, and the most common US table.

  A+ through to F, with every plus and minus, each carrying a percentage band. You choose whether an A+ is worth 4.0 or 4.3, and whether a minus lands on 3.7 or 3.67.

• US 4.0 letters only

  4.0

  For schools that do not award pluses or minuses.

  A 4.0, B 3.0, C 2.0, D 1.0, F 0, banded 90 to 100, 80 to 89 and so on. A fixed table, unaffected by the plus and minus settings.

• US weighted 5.0

  5.0 weighted

  High school, where rigour is rewarded.

  The same letters as the 4.0 table, with headroom above it. This is the shipped scale where the Honours, AP and IB bumps apply. Both the weighted and unweighted figures are always worked out.

• Percentage

  100

  Schools that average marks rather than letters.

  The mark out of 100 is the grade point, credit weighted across the term. Bands are editable, and the pass mark sits at 60.

• CGPA 10 point

  10

  Indian universities and technical institutes.

  O and A+ at 10, A 9, B+ 8, B 7, C 6, P 5, F 0, passing at 5. Grades are entered as grades. Percentage conversion waits until you enter your own university’s multiplier, because there is no single correct one.

• CGPA 4.0

  4.0

  Institutions that report a CGPA on a four point table.

  Plus and minus letters with A+ fixed at 4.0, and a percentage conversion of CGPA times 25.

• 5 point CGPA

  5

  Nigerian universities on the NUC table.

  A 5 for 70 and above, B 4, C 3, D 2, E 1, F 0. An E still earns its credits. An F does not.

• 7 point GPA

  7

  Australian universities.

  High distinction 7, distinction 6, credit 5, pass 4, then three failing rows that still carry their points into the GPA. Passing sits at 4, and grades are entered as grades.

• 9 point GPA

  9

  New Zealand universities.

  A+ 9 down to C− 1, each with its own band, and the three D grades worth nothing.

• UK degree classification

  100

  UK undergraduate degrees.

  A credit weighted mark mapped to a class: First at 70, Upper second at 60, Lower second at 50, Third at 40. Every boundary is inclusive, so exactly 70.0 is a First.

• GCSE 9 to 1

  9

  English GCSEs.

  Grades 9 down to 1, plus U, passing at 4. No percentage bands ship with it. GCSE boundaries are set per subject and per exam series, so there are none to hard code.

Three ways to enter a grade

Pick whichever you have to hand, and mix all three in the same term.

• A letter, from the active scale’s own table.
• A percentage, which lands on the letter its band covers.
• Points earned out of points possible, which works the same way a percentage does.
• Percentage and points entry appear on any scale that publishes bands. GCSE 9 to 1, the 10 point CGPA and the 7 point GPA take grades only, because inventing a conversion for them would be inventing your result.

Pass, fail, withdrawn, incomplete and audit

Every scale carries the same set of markers, and each follows its own rule rather than becoming a silent zero.

• Pass and transfer earn their credits without moving the GPA.
• Withdrawn, incomplete, audit and not passed do not move either figure, so they are not counted as attempted either.
• A graded F counts as credits attempted and earns nothing, which is what a registrar does.
• Credits attempted and credits earned are tracked separately throughout.

Honours, AP and IB

Rigour is a bump on the grade point, and you set the size of it because schools differ.

• Honours adds 0.5 and AP, IB or dual enrolment adds 1.0 by default. Both are editable in Settings, and changing one moves every course tagged with it.
• A bump can never carry a grade above the scale’s weighted maximum, and a zero never takes one.
• The control appears only where a scale has headroom above its plain maximum. In practice, that means the weighted 5.0 table or a custom scale you have given a higher weighted maximum.

Rounding, and how the figure is displayed

Rounding is display only. Every sum underneath is exact decimal arithmetic, and the record stores the exact figure.

• Round half up, the default, so 3.455 shows as 3.46.
• Banker’s rounding, so 3.455 shows as 3.46 and 3.445 shows as 3.44.
• Truncate, so 3.459 shows as 3.45 and nothing is ever rounded up. Set this if your school truncates.
• Decimal places follow the scale unless you pick a number from 0 to 3 yourself.

Credit hours

• Half and decimal credits are handled properly, so a 4 credit course genuinely outweighs a 1 credit one.
• Your cumulative GPA is credit weighted across every term, rather than an average of term averages.
• If your school simply averages courses, switch credits to one credit per course and the credits field disappears from the calculator.

Build your own scale

If none of the eleven match, make one. This is free, because leaving out a scale would mean getting a number wrong.

• Name it, set its maximum, its weighted maximum and how many decimal places it shows.
• Add rows in any order, each with a label, its grade points, an optional percentage band, and whether it counts towards the GPA.
• There is no limit on rows, and no limit on how many scales you build.
• Pass, fail, withdrawn, incomplete and audit are added for you, so a custom scale handles them the same way a built-in one does.

What show the maths actually shows

One term on a 4.0 scale with plus and minus, laid out the way the app lays it out. Every quality point, the two totals, the single division, and the rounding rule that decided the last digit.

Course            Grade   Points   Credits   Quality points

Biology 101       A       4.00    x   4    =   16.00
Statistics        B+      3.30    x   3    =    9.90
World history     A-      3.70    x   3    =   11.10
Studio art        B       3.00    x   2    =    6.00

Quality points                                  43.00
Credits                                            12

43.00 / 12 = 3.5833...        rounded to 3.58

A cumulative GPA works the same way, with the quality points and credits of every saved term added together before the one division. It is never an average of term averages.