How U.S. Colleges Calculate GPA! _ Why Should You Take Many AP Classes?

Today, I will post about how colleges calculate GPA! _ Why should you take many AP classes?

When taking high-level courses, the dilemma often comes down to questions like:

• Should I take AP classes?

• Should I take Honor classes?

• Should I take Regular classes?

When considering class rigor, it’s hard to predict how well you can maintain your GPA or how much your grades might drop, which makes it difficult to decide. I hope after reading today’s post, you’ll be able to stop worrying about this.

Many of you might wonder:"If I take AP/HL classes and my grades drop a bit, will it still shine more than taking easier subjects?"To answer this question, I will explain how U.S. colleges calculate GPA.

The image above is the chart I introduced in Part 1. It’s the chart that U.S. colleges use when calculating GPA.

To summarize the explanation from Part 1:

1. They use the transcript provided by the high school without recalculating.

2. If both weighted and unweighted GPA are shown, they use the unweighted GPA.

3. They calculate each grade level with equal weight. 12th-grade grades are weighted 0.5 or 0.333.

Since each school has a different scale, they first convert everything to the 4.0 scale, and the final goal is to convert the GPA to CGS. In the end, if the CGS score is high, that student has an advantage.

For IB schools:

1. Early application: They use one year’s worth of grades.

2. Regular application: They use one year of grades + one semester (trimester: 1/3 semester).

3. If Predicted Grades are provided, they use those.

4. For IB schools outside the U.S.: HL subjects receive double weight.

Based on this standard, calculating the CGS score is called the Quantitative Score, which is the score used to compare students by numbers. At this stage, since it's a purely numerical calculation regardless of course rigor, it may seem like there’s no benefit to taking rigorous courses.

However, after this first quantitative calculation, the Qualitative Score is added, which is a more subjective score. Today, I’ll explain how colleges calculate this Qualitative Score. Since each school does it differently, we’ll look at two main methods of calculation.

Among the representative methods for calculating the Qualitative Score are:

1. Utilizing a Converted Table – colleges use a converted table.

2. Applying Additional Weighting – higher-level courses receive extra points absolutely.

To let you know in advance, what's surprising is that even though the two methods are different, they produce similar results.

Let me show you how it's calculated. The image above is a Converted Table used by some schools. As mentioned earlier, the goal is to calculate a CGS score based on the 4.0 scale.

• Regular A+ = 4.0

• Honor A+ = 4.5

• AP A+ = 5.0

Based on the converted table used by these schools, if you take an AP course, you can receive the highest CGS score of 5.0.

But you’ll also see that if you get a B+ in an AP course, it equals a Regular A+ (80 points), and is slightly lower than Honor A+, based on this table.

In this chart that allows absolute comparison between levels:

• Honor A+ = AP A ~ B+

• AP B = Regular A

• Honor A+ = A-

Let me explain with an example: Suppose a student took only four classes and took only Regular / Honor / AP classes, and received the same grade in each subject.

In the Quantitative analysis based on the unweighted score (equal weight), the total is the same at 287. Dividing the total by the number of subjects gives a Quantitative Score of 71.75 for all.

Now, using the other chart that includes weighting for the Qualitative Score, assuming the same grades:

• Regular Class total: 71.75

• Honor Class total: 74.75

• AP Class total: 83.75

So, going from Regular to AP shows a larger point difference than from Regular to Honor.

But of course, we assume that you’re more likely to get a lower grade in an AP class than in a Regular one, so let’s take an extreme example:

• Regular: all A+

• Honor: all A

• AP: all B+

In the first Quantitative Score, where no additional points are given:

• Regular = 80

• Honor = 77

• AP = 67

However, when using the table for weighted scores for Honor and AP in the Qualitative Score, even though Honor all A drops below Regular all A+, AP B+ is increased by 12 points. Dividing by the number of subjects gives a score of 80, same as Regular all A+.

Although they’re the same score, considering the difficulty of AP courses psychologically, it’s expected that they are evaluated slightly differently.

In short, B+ in AP is okay, but anything below that might be worse than the highest score in Regular.

Let me now explain the method of Applying Additional Weighting where difficult courses receive bonus points regardless of the GPA.

Please note that this varies by school, so what I share here is not absolute.

Some examples include:

• Honors: +3 points vs. Regular

• AP Core: +13 points

• AP Elective: +9 points

• IB: SL(+6-7 points), HL(+12-14)

Now let me explain again with an example:

Assume the student received the same GPA in every class. Then in terms of Qualitative Score:

• Regular (no weighting): 71.75

• Honors (+3 per subject): 74.75

Just like in the converted table method.

If the student took 4 AP Core classes, with +13 points each, that adds 52 points total → 84.75If all 4 APs were Electives, adding 9 each = 36 points → 84.75 again.

Now let’s assume they didn’t receive the same grades:

• Regular: all A+

• Honor: all A

• AP: all B+

If we give weights:

• Honor: add 12 total

• AP Core: add 13 per class

• AP Elective: add 9 per class

Then the result = 80 → same as Regular all A+.

In this extreme case, B+ in AP = A+ in Regular.

But here’s the key: If you get even one A or A+ in an AP course,then your total score (Quantitative + Qualitative) will be much higher than that of someone who only took Regular courses with straight A+.

So, whether you use Utilizing a Converted Table or Applying Additional Weighting, the final qualitative score is similar in both systems.

Therefore, a B+ in AP is okay. But if you’re likely to get a B- or C+, it might not be a bad idea to step down to Honors.

Still, rather than judging yourself too soon,I recommend that you try to take rigorous courses and gain the experience of enduring them every year.

What’s shocking is that the two methods of calculating Qualitative Score are just the tip of the iceberg.

It’s known that there are about 50 different ways U.S. colleges calculate GPA.

But even when I calculate it with just two methods, the results are similar, so I believe the other ~48 methods probably follow a similar pattern.

Therefore, I recommend taking higher-level courses—AP or HL—and aiming for a B+ or higher. That’s the end of today’s post.

Today, we explained how U.S. colleges calculate GPA.I hope this was helpful, and if you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us at A-One Institute.

Thank you!