Would 3 AP classes really help my GPA go higher?
If you do well in them, absolutely. But more colleges are starting to unweight GPAs (they'll calculate your GPA as if you took regular classes and not AP classes) because some teachers are tough and some are easy and there isn't a uniform way to grade everything. They'll still keep it in mind that you did challenge yourself, however. Colleges only take AP classes for college credit if you take the test and get a good grade on it. Some colleges don't accept all tests, though. For example, you might take the AP English Composition test and find out your school only gives you credit for the AP English Literature test. Look up what your prospective colleges want as far as AP stuff.
Will a C+ always lower my GPA?
Any mark you get that is lower than your GPA will make your GPA go down. Any mark you get that is higher than your GPA will make your GPA go up. So if your GPA is in the D+ to C- range, a C+ will raise your GPA, but if your GPA is in the B to B+ range, a C+ will lower it. It sounds as if these C+'s are the lowest grades you've ever gotten in university, and that means that they are bringing your GPA down lower than, say, B-'s would. To raise your GPA, you need to get marks that are higher than your GPA is. To raise your GPA as much as possible, you need to get the best marks possible. If, in a given term, you have some marks that are higher than your GPA and others that are lower, your GPA may go up or down. It depends on how many credits each mark reflects and how much higher or lower the marks are. But the effect of each individual class will be as I have described it here. (To calculate your GPA, you multiply the number of credits each class is worth by the value your school assigns to the mark earned in that class, add all those numbers up, and divide by the total number of marks.) If you manage to get all marks above your GPA in a given term, you will see your GPA go up, as there will be no marks pulling it back down. I would suggest that when you start classes for a given term, you wait about a week or two and then go to see your professors, taking with you your reading notes, your lecture notes (both the draft you do in class and the final version you prepare later that day, if you do rewrite them after class), any graded work you have already done (if you turn work in and won't get it back until after this conversation, you may want to make a copy of the work to take with you), any other study materials you are using (such as flash cards), and your textbook (so you can look things up). Ask each professor what s/he thinks you are doing right, what s/he thinks you are doing wrong (if anything), and for specific suggestions as to how you can improve your work so that you can earn good grades. Also, if you aren't already doing it, do the reading on each topic before the topic is discussed in class. Many high school students do the reading *after* class (and only if there's something they think they don't understand), but that's not a good approach in university. Good luck with your classes and I hope you are able to get your GPA up to a number you're happy with.
How do you get a higher GPA?
No, the GPA usually incorporates everything you take. Mine in college was brought down by a B in bowling, which I took because at the time we were required to take 2 P.E. classes, and after one semester of ballet, in which I got an A, I decided I hated the teacher! The best way to make it higher is the one which will help you least - take easy classes, and the number will go up. However, anyone who cares about GPA, like graduate schools and some employers, also want to know how rigorous your program was, so that won't really do you much good. What I advise instead are a couple of things. First, don't take too many classes at once. Often, when students have done poorly, their immediate fix is to take MORE classes in an effort to swamp the bad grades. However, that leaves inadequate time to study for each class, and many people end up in a real meltdown by the end of the semester. Secondly, spread out the kinds of things you have trouble with. For example, if anything involving numbers scares you, or if you are a slow reader, you want to make sure you don't end up with three or four classes that are heavy on the math or reading at once.
How do people get a GPA higher than 4.0?
At my high school, when you take AP or even Pre-AP classes, extra points are added on to whatever you make in that class. I'm pretty sure it's 10 extra points. So you could make a 100 in a regular class, but in a Pre-AP class that 100 would turn into a 110. The extra points boost your GPA. Some may say "I have a 4.0 GPA, non-weighted, but a 4.5 GPA weighted". The non-weighted version is if you don't take consideration to the extra points that the advanced classes give you. Anyway, even if you only end up with a 4.0 GPA, that's still really good; and the colleges also take into great consideration the fact that you took AP classes. It's not just your grade, but rather, the types of classes you take and extra curricular things play a big role too. Best of luck.
How much will my gpa raise if i get straight A's senior year?
Hm, well I think it would be helpful to know what classes you plan on taking next year and how confident you are about doing well in them. But think about your GPA like this: A = 4 B = 3 C = 2 D = 1 F = 0 Use those numbers for your grades, add them up, divide by number of classes, and there is your GPA. If you have 6 classes and get straight As senior year, you will have a 4.0. And yes, it is possible to get your GPA back up. Weighted GPAs are nice too because they add on extra points which can pad your GPA nicely if you don't do so well in one class. It's good your taking Honors and AP because it will count as extra towards your GPA. Basically, you need to work really hard. It's tough to get straight As senior year but if you stay on top of your classes and do well, you will be fine. :)
How high can I raise my GPA from a 2.7 going into my junior year?
Assuming you take the same number of credits in your junior and senior years as you did during your freshman and sophomore years, then you could get to a 3.35 GPA if you got a 4.0 in all of your remaining 4 semesters.If you take more credits in the final 2 years than you first 2 years, then slightly higher than 3.35 (but not much), and if you take fewer credits in your last two years, then somewhat lower than 3.35.The way to calculate your GPA is to do the following: for each class, multiply the number of credits by the grade value using the scale belowA+ or A = 4.0A- = 3.67B+ = 3.33B = 3.0B- = 2.67C+ = 2.33C = 2.0….F = 0Then add all the results and divide by the total number of classes to get your GPA. For example, consider if you took 15 credits in one semester (5 classes, 3 credits each) and you got an A, an A-, 2 Bs, and a B-. Your GPA would be calculated as follows:1 A = 4.0 x 3 =121 A- = 3.67 x 3 = 112 Bs = 3.0 x 6 = 181 B- = 2.67 x 3 = 8Then add each of these up, (12+11+18+8)=49. Then divide by the total number of credits, 15, to give 49/15 = 3.27.Do this for all classes you've taken across all semesters and you get your cumulative GPA.
My average high school GPA is a 3.6. How should I raise it to a 4.0 my junior year?
My first reaction was that it would be impossible, but after running the numbers I realized there just might be a way you could pull this off.Some schools calculate GPAs differently, but my assumption is you took the same number of academic classes each semester your first two years. I recall high school schedules being very rigid, so I think this is a fair assumption to make. Anyways, that means we can distribute your GPA across 2 units, representing freshman and sophomore years. The number of grade points across both terms would therefor be 3.6 freshman year 3.6 sophomore year. It doesn’t really matter what your actual GPA was during this period as it averages to the same:(3.6+3.6)/2 = 3.6, which is where you are nowNow let’s add a hypothetical junior year where you take the same number of academic courses as each prior year and earn straight A’s:(3.6 + 3.6 + 4.0) / 3 = 3.733.73 is not a 4.0, but there may technically be a way to charge that via honors, AP, or IB coursework. If you take the same number of academic courses as each prior year, earn straight A’s, and only enroll in classes graded on a 5 point scale, your GPA will be:(3.6 + 3.6 + 5.0) / 3 = 4.06 (repeating 6, but I always round my GPAs down when doing these calculations)Now there are a few key caveats to this: first, this is now a weighted GPA, which colleges may not consider. Next, this assumes you can take only honors coursework (or at least as many honors courses as academic courses from previous years). Further, every honors class you take must be graded on a 5 point scale, and the math only works if you never attempted a 5 point course before. Finally, the demands of this courseload would likely be much worse than previous years.If your goal is college applications, a 3.73 unweighted GPA is very respectable, especially if you take a couple of honors courses to compliment it. Given your academic record, I think you could easily handle that, but taking on a full honors course load without having top notch studying skills could be catastrophic. No matter what anybody else tells you, a B in an AP/Honors class is worse than an A in a general class. You need to take a few to be a successful college applicant, but do not take a course you aren’t confident you will be successful in.
Why is my unweighted gpa higher than my weighted gpa?
If you did very poorly in classes which carry a lot of weight, that is why. For example... An A in a class worth 12 quality points is a 12/12 An F in a class worth 15 quality points is a 0/15, versus a 0/12 if it were unweighted. So, if you got an A in 4 classes with no added weight, and an F in a weighted class your GPA would be... 12+12+12+12+0 ---------------------- = .76, a 2.1 12+12+12+12+15 Unweighted, the calculation would be as follows: 12+12+12+12+0 ---------------------- = .8, a 2.5 12+12+12+12+12 I know you have many more than 5 classes, and probably did not fail any, but that is just an example of how an unweighted GPA can be higher than your weighted GPA.
How does a student get a high school GPA that is greater than 4.0?
Some high schools calculate (or otherwise weight) GPA resulting from honors, AP, or college classes differently than they do with other classes. The scales are highly variable but often give an A in an AP or college course a value of 4.33 in the GPA calculation.Such weighting may be relevant when it comes to a determination of high school class rank* but carry little importance when it comes to college admissions, especially at highly selective colleges and universities. Many admissions officers will look specifically at the grades earned in specific classes. I know some students who obtained GPAs of "4.0" by earning enough As in AP courses (carrying a 4.33 weight) to offset Bs earned in other courses. It definitely does not look as impressive as an unweighted 4.0 GPA (with the maximum grade points from any individual class capped at 4.0), which is part of the reason many high schools still decline to use a system that awards GPAs higher than 4.0.*Systems that award GPAs higher than 4.0 present unique problems when it comes to class rank. Many high schools will look individually at the curricula of the students with the top-10 GPAs or so, but some simply rank the students from highest to lowest GPA, which can lead to some bizarre outcomes.One of my friends, despite having straight As and having taken more AP courses than anyone else in his high school, was ranked outside of the top five in his high school class. It turns out that he had also taken more classes overall than all of the students ranked in the top five. Since his non-AP classes didn't award grade points over 4.0, the fact that he had taken more classes ultimately "diluted" his GPA, bring it below the GPAs of his peers who had taken proportionally fewer non-APs (but also fewer APs overall). Meanwhile, a college looking at his transcript would immediately see his unweighted 4.0 GPA and know the difference.