How to convert a GPA to a 4.0 scale
Use your institution’s own 4.0 values if it publishes them. MIT, McMaster, the Saudi universities’ common regulation and Christ University do, and the converter above applies each one’s rule when you choose that institution. If the school or service asking for a 4.0 GPA recomputes it from your grades, give it your grades and let it use its own table. Only when neither holds do you need an estimate.
The estimate is a proportion: divide your GPA by your scale’s maximum and multiply by 4. A 3.60 on a 4.3 scale is 3.60 ÷ 4.3 × 4 = 3.35. An 8.0 on a 10-point scale is 3.20. The converter works on the digits you type and rounds once, half up, to two decimals, so 3.348… prints as 3.35.
One limit comes with it. The estimate equals an institution’s published value only where that institution scales the same way, as Christ University does; at the others it lands above or below their own figures.
- Check whether your institution publishes its own 4.0 values; if it does, use them.
- Check whether the place asking for it recomputes it from your grades; if it does, send your grades.
- Otherwise divide your GPA by your scale’s maximum, multiply by 4 and round to two decimals, and call the result an estimate.
Why there is no single conversion formula
Because the institutions that print a 4.0 value beside their own scale get it in different ways. A common answer online, from search summaries and converter sites alike, is GPA × 4 ÷ your scale. Four institutions’ published tables show where it holds and where it does not.
MIT, on a 5.0 scale, converts by letter: A = 4, B = 3, C = 2, D = 1, F = 0. McMaster prints a 4.0 value beside each 12-point grade; its A, 11 points, is 3.9 where the proportion gives 3.67. The Saudi universities’ common regulation prints a 4.00 column that is its 5.00 column minus one at every row, so its F, 1.00, becomes 0.00 against 0.80 by proportion. Christ University prints a 4-point grade equal to its 10-point grade × 0.4, which is exactly the proportion.
So the proportion agrees with all four at the top grade and drifts by up to 0.80 points below it, running above MIT’s and the Saudi values and below McMaster’s. At Christ University it is the institution’s own rule; elsewhere it is an estimate.
| Institution (scale) | Grade | Its own points | Its published 4.0 value | By proportion |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MIT (5) | A | 5 | 4.00 | 4.00 |
| B | 4 | 3.00 | 3.20 | |
| C | 3 | 2.00 | 2.40 | |
| D | 2 | 1.00 | 1.60 | |
| McMaster (12) | A+ | 12 | 4.00 | 4.00 |
| A | 11 | 3.90 | 3.67 | |
| B+ | 9 | 3.30 | 3.00 | |
| B | 8 | 3.00 | 2.67 | |
| C | 5 | 2.00 | 1.67 | |
| D | 2 | 1.00 | 0.67 | |
| Saudi common regulation (5.00) | A+ | 5.00 | 4.00 | 4.00 |
| A | 4.75 | 3.75 | 3.80 | |
| B | 4.00 | 3.00 | 3.20 | |
| C | 3.00 | 2.00 | 2.40 | |
| D | 2.00 | 1.00 | 1.60 | |
| F | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.80 | |
| Christ University (10) | every grade, O 10 to P 4 | — | 10-point × 0.4 | the same |
MIT’s conversion is not valid for students who attended MIT before 1970. McMaster computes its own GPA on the 12-point column. Each Saudi university’s own regulation decides which column governs it.
On a 4.3 or 4.33 scale, an A is still 4.00
On every 4.3 and 4.33 scale on GPAWise, 54 in all and each checked against the institution’s published scale, an A is worth 4.00, as on a 4.0 scale; only the A+ goes above 4. A straight-A record on those scales is therefore 4.00. The proportion lowers it to 3.72 on a 4.3 scale and to 3.70 on a 4.33 scale, and the converter says so beside the figure.
Fanshawe College’s 4.2 scale works the same way: A 4.00, A+ 4.20, and 3.81 for a straight A by proportion. So do six of the eight 4.5 scales, where the A is 4 and the proportion gives 3.56. At Canadian Mennonite University and the University of Winnipeg the A is 4.25 and the A− is 4.
An A+ worth 4.33 does not make a 4.33 scale by itself. Arizona State, NC State (4.333) and Alabama value it at 4.33 and cap the GPA at 4.00.
A 5.0 scale is not one thing
On GPAWise’s 24 checked 5.0 scales, the A is worth one of three amounts. It is 4.75 at the 19 Saudi universities, 5 at four (NUS, NTU and SIT in Singapore, where the A+ and the A are both 5, and MIT, which has no A+) and 4.5 at Durham College. A weighted high school 5.0 is a fourth thing.
MIT publishes a 4.0 figure by letter, the Saudi regulation by its 4.00 column. On an MIT record with no F or O (Absent), MIT’s rule gives the 5.0-scale GPA minus 1, the same shape as the Saudi table. NUS, NTU, SIT and Durham get the estimate only.
Rescaling is not unweighting. A 4.2 on a weighted 5.0 is 3.36 by proportion, and a straight-A record in regular classes becomes 3.20. Nor is 3.60 ÷ 4 × 5 = 4.50 a weighted GPA. The other way round, 4.00 rescaled to a 4.3 scale is 4.30, though an A there is 4.00; the converter notes it beside that figure. For a weighted GPA, use the high school GPA calculator.
9-, 10- and 12-point scales in Canada
Canada has no single scale. Its 62 scales on GPAWise with a maximum other than 4.0, each checked against the institution’s published scale, use eight maxima, and no national grading body publishes one. Some converters print a single “standard Canadian” chart; the nine institutions below print their own tables, and they differ, down to what a C is worth.
Of the nine, only McMaster prints a 4.0 column beside its grades. The others’ published tables, as checked, hold none, so for them the converter gives the estimate only. A 9 on a 12-point scale, at Carleton or Wilfrid Laurier, is 3.00 by proportion; a 7 on a 9-point scale is 3.11.
York University needs one more line. Its undergraduate scale in use now is 9-point, and its Senate has approved a 4.00 grading scale, but York’s calendar gives its effective date as “to be determined”. Until it takes effect, the 9-point scale is the one the converter uses for York.
| Institution | Maximum | A+ | A | A− | B+ | B | C | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Victoria, Camosun College | 9 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 1 |
| York University | 9 | 9 | 8 | — | 7 | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| University of Ottawa, Laurentian University | 10 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| College of the Rockies | 10 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 1 |
| McMaster, Carleton, Wilfrid Laurier | 12 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 2 |
7-point and 10-point scales outside North America
A letter’s name does not carry its meaning across countries. On Australia’s 7-point scales a High Distinction is 7, a Distinction 6, a Credit 5 and a Pass 4. At 13 of the 19 lettered scales the Distinction is written D, and at 11 the Credit is written C, so a D there is a high grade. Griffith, QUT and UQ grade 1 to 7 with numbers. Of the 19 lettered scales, 13 put the fail at 0 and 6 at 1.5.
On India’s 10-point scales the A, below O and A+, is 8 at Christ University, Delhi and Osmania. At JNTU Kakinada, VIT and NIT Trichy the A, below S, is 9. BITS Pilani’s top grade is the A, 10.
So the converter carries no letter from these scales. It gives the estimate, 3.14 for 5.5 on a 7-point scale, and for Christ University its own 4-point figure, the 10-point value × 0.4. For a 10-point CGPA as a percentage, see CGPA to percentage.
Whose 4.0 scale counts
The 4.0 figure that counts is the one the school or service asking for it computes, course by course, from your grades and its own table. The College Board says colleges may recalculate a GPA on their own criteria, and many ask for actual grades on the Common App or the Self-Reported Academic Record (SRAR) “so they can recalculate using their own scale”. It calls its whole-letter chart one commonly used system, not necessarily a true GPA formula. OMSAS, for Ontario medical schools, converts grades with its own table and the scale noted for each university.
A B+ is 3.3 on McMaster’s 4.0 column and on 296 of the 980 US scales with grade points that GPAWise has checked against each institution’s published scale, and 3.33 on 168. So give grades where they are asked for, and a converted figure only where one is asked for. Where a form asks for your GPA on your school’s own scale, give the figure your transcript prints.
The scales on GPAWise, by maximum
GPAWise holds 145 grading scales on a maximum other than 4.0, each checked against the institution’s published scale, from six countries, and each one links to its own calculator, which works on that institution’s table. All of them are universities, colleges and polytechnics; there are no high schools among them. The first table counts them by maximum. The second lists the institutions that publish a 4.0 figure, with each one’s rule, who it governs and its source.
| Maximum | Scales | Where | An A is worth | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.2 | 1 | Canada | 4.00 | Fanshawe College |
| 4.3 | 25 | Canada 18, US 6, Singapore 1 | 4.00 at all 25 | Stanford, Cornell, Queen’s, Concordia |
| 4.33 | 29 | Canada 25, US 4 | 4.00 at all 29 | Caltech, Columbia, Simon Fraser, Toronto Metropolitan |
| 4.5 | 8 | Canada | 4 at six, 4.25 at two | University of Manitoba, University of Winnipeg |
| 5.0 | 24 | Saudi Arabia 19, Singapore 3, US 1, Canada 1 | 4.75 at 19, 5 at 4, 4.5 at 1 | King Saud, Qassim, NUS, MIT, Durham College |
| 5.3 | 1 | Singapore | 5 | SUTD |
| 7 | 22 | Australia | Letters differ (see above) | ANU, Griffith, UQ |
| 9 | 3 | Canada | 8 | University of Victoria, York |
| 10 | 29 | India 26, Canada 3 | Differs by university in India (8 at Christ, 9 at VIT, 10 at BITS Pilani); 9 in Canada | Christ, Delhi, BITS Pilani, University of Ottawa |
| 12 | 3 | Canada | 11 | McMaster, Carleton, Wilfrid Laurier |
| Institution | Its scale | What it publishes | Who it governs | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MIT | 5.0 | Substitute A = 4, B = 3, C = 2, D = 1, F = 0, O = 0 | “not valid for students who attended MIT prior to 1970” | MIT Registrar, Calculating GPA |
| McMaster University | 12 | A 4.0 column beside each grade (A+ 12 = 4 … D− 1 = 0.7, F 0) | McMaster computes its own GPA on the 12-point column | McMaster Registrar, Grades |
| Saudi universities’ common regulation | 5.00 | One table, out of 5.00 and out of 4.00; the 4.00 column is the 5.00 column minus one at every row | Each university’s own regulation decides which column governs it; some print both without saying | Qassim University’s bylaws, Appendix 1 |
| Christ University | 10 | A 4-point grade for every band, the 10-point value × 0.4 | The university “follows a 4-point grading system”; transcripts also show the 10-point | Christite Handbook 2026-27 (copy of 2026-07-23) |
What this converter does not do
It converts a GPA from one scale to another and nothing else. A percentage or a 100-point figure belongs in the percentage to GPA calculator, and a GPA you need as a percentage in the GPA to percentage calculator. Turning a weighted high school GPA into an unweighted one is the high school GPA calculator’s job; working out a GPA from your grades on a 4.0 scale is the cumulative GPA calculator’s. For what each letter is worth in points, see the GPA scale chart. This converter does not take a WAM or an ATAR.