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A scale is a translation table
GPA is not a universal number. It is a letter or percentage run through a table. On the common US 4.0 scale, A is 4.0 and F is 0. On a 4.33 scale, A+ can sit above 4.0. On a high school weighted 5.0 scale, AP A can be 5.0. Australia’s 7-point scale uses High Distinction as 7. If you mix those tables, the average is meaningless.
US Standard 4.0
Most US colleges treat A and A+ as 4.0, A− as 3.7, B+ as 3.3, and so on down to F at 0. Percent bands vary: one school’s B starts at 83%, another at 80%. Our US Standard table uses 93–96 for A. Always compare to your syllabus.
Weighted 5.0 high school scales
Many US high schools add 0.5 for Honors and 1.0 for AP or IB, then cap at 5.0. A student with mostly AP A’s can show 4.6 weighted and 3.9 unweighted. Colleges often recompute both. Use the weighted GPA calculator when you need the bonus version.
UK classifications are not GPA
UK degrees are labelled First, 2:1, 2:2, and Third from percentage averages. There is no official conversion to US 4.0 for self-reporting. Harvard GSAS and Stanford Graduate Admissions tell applicants to use transcript format — do not invent a GPA. Our /uk-degree-to-us-gpa-reference page shows illustrative comparisons only when you need rough planning.
Canada, Australia, and New Zealand
Canada may use 4.0 or 4.33 presets that differ by campus — treat our Canadian charts as illustrative, not a single national standard (UBC tells students to use the evaluating body's scale for admissions). Australia uses institution-specific GPA or WAM. Several New Zealand universities use a 9-point letter scale. Open the matching grading-scale page before you convert a mark.
How to pick a scale in our tools
Every calculator has a scale selector. Change it before you trust the letter or GPA output. Geo detection only applies when the host sends a country header; locally it stays on US Standard until you change it.
ATAR is a rank, not a GPA
An Australian ATAR of 80.00 means the student is around the 80th percentile of the Year 12 cohort after scaling. It is not a course average and must not be converted to US GPA with (ATAR ÷ 99.95) × 4, to an Australian university GPA, or to a UK degree class. After enrolment, universities use institution-specific GPA or WAM from coursework — not ATAR.
Transcript legends beat any website
If your PDF says A = 4.3 or HD = 7, that row wins. Use our tables to estimate, then overwrite the letter-to-points map mentally when the legend disagrees.
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Estimate an Australian ATAR from scaled subject scores (educational model). Does not convert ATAR to US GPA, university GPA, or UK degree class.