Cumulative GPA = total quality points ÷ total credits, across every term
Semester GPA covers one term. Cumulative GPA (sometimes "overall GPA") covers everything since you started. Because it is weighted by credits, a 4-credit course moves it more than a 1-credit one, and the more credits you accumulate the harder it is to shift.
How to calculate cumulative GPA
Multiply your previous GPA by your previous credits to recover the quality points (3.42 × 60 = 205.2). Add this term’s quality points (say 3.8 × 15 = 57). Divide the total by the total credits: (205.2 + 57) ÷ 75 = 3.50.
What is a weighted GPA?
A GPA where harder courses earn extra points, typically +1.0 for AP/IB and +0.5 for honors. It is separate from the credit-weighting above: "weighted" here means course difficulty, while cumulative GPA is always credit-weighted.
What are quality points?
Grade points × credits for a course. A 3-credit A (4.0) is 12 quality points. Colleges add quality points across courses and divide by credits to get GPA, which is why they appear on transcripts.