Letter Grade Average Calculator
Average your letter grades directly โ no credit hours needed.
Average Grade
A
Average GPA: 4.00
What This Calculator Does
This tool answers one specific question: if you have a handful of letter grades and want to know their plain average โ no credit hours, no weighting, just the grades themselves โ what letter and GPA value does that average land on? You pick each grade from a dropdown (A through F, including the standard +/- variants), and the calculator converts each one to its GPA point value, averages those numbers directly, and converts the result back into the nearest letter grade using the same US 4.0 scale used across StudyCalc.
It's deliberately the simplest calculator in this family. There's no assumption that any grade matters more than another, and no requirement to know or enter credit hours for anything.
How This Differs From Other Calculators
It's easy to confuse this tool with two others on StudyCalc that also produce an "average" grade, so it's worth being explicit about what makes each one different:
- GPA Calculator requires credit hours for every course, because a real semester GPA is a credit-weighted average โ a 4-credit class should count more than a 1-credit lab. This tool has no concept of credit hours at all; every grade you enter counts exactly the same.
- Weighted Average Calculator requires an explicit weight (any number, not just credit hours) for every item, and works with raw numeric scores rather than letter grades. This tool has no weights at all and works directly with the letters you already have.
In short: no weights and no credit hours here โ just a plain average of the letters you enter. If either of those factors matters for what you're calculating, one of the other two tools will give you a more accurate answer.
The Formula
Average = ฮฃ(GPA value of each letter grade) รท number of grades
Each letter is first converted to its standard GPA point value, then those numbers are added together and divided by how many grades you entered โ an ordinary arithmetic mean, just on converted letter grades instead of raw numbers.
Worked Example 1: A Simple Set
Four grades: A, B+, A-, B. Converted to GPA points: 4.0, 3.3, 3.7, 3.0.
A 3.5 average GPA falls in the A- band (3.70) once rounded up, but since 3.5 sits between B+ (3.3) and A- (3.7), the calculator reports the band whose threshold it has reached โ here, that's B+ (3.3), since 3.5 hasn't reached the 3.7 needed for A-.
Worked Example 2: A Wider Spread
Five grades: A, A, C, D, B. Converted: 4.0, 4.0, 2.0, 1.0, 3.0.
A 2.8 average lands in the B- band (2.70), even though two of the five grades were a perfect A. This is exactly the effect an unweighted plain average produces โ a single D or C can pull the average down more than a few strong grades can pull it back up, since every grade counts equally regardless of how many you have.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this the same as calculating my GPA?
Not quite. A real GPA is credit-weighted โ a 4-credit course counts more than a 1-credit lab. This tool treats every grade as equally important, which is only accurate if every course really does carry the same weight. If your courses have different credit hours, use the GPA Calculator instead for a number that will match your transcript.
Why would I want an unweighted grade average instead of a real GPA?
It's useful for quick, informal checks โ averaging a handful of assignment grades in one class, sanity-checking a report card before your school posts an official GPA, or comparing a small set of grades where credit hours genuinely don't apply (like weekly quiz grades in a single course).
Does the order I enter grades in matter?
No. A plain average is commutative โ A, B, A gives the same result as B, A, A. Only the grades themselves and how many you enter affect the outcome, not the order.
What GPA scale do the letter grades use?
The same standard US 4.0 scale used across StudyCalc: A = 4.0, A- = 3.7, B+ = 3.3, B = 3.0, B- = 2.7, C+ = 2.3, C = 2.0, C- = 1.7, D = 1.0, F = 0.0.
Can I average more than a few grades?
Yes โ add as many rows as you need. There's no fixed limit, though for a full semester's worth of courses with real credit hours, the GPA Calculator will give you a more meaningful number.
Why does averaging A and C give a B and not something else?
A = 4.0 and C = 2.0. Averaged: (4.0 + 2.0) / 2 = 3.0, which lands exactly on B (3.0) in the standard scale. Averages don't always land on a clean letter boundary โ when they fall between two letters, the calculator rounds down to the letter whose GPA threshold the average has reached or passed.
Is a B+ worth more than a B in this calculator?
Yes โ B+ converts to 3.3 and B converts to 3.0 before averaging, so a B+ pulls your average slightly higher than a plain B would.