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JMU uses plus and minus grades with no A+: A is 4.0, A− 3.7, B+ 3.3, and so on down to D− at 0.7 and F at 0. W, WP and even WF stay out of your GPA, as do CR and NC. A retake counts both grades unless you use repeat forgiveness, which you get for two courses and which keeps the new grade even if it’s lower.
JMU’s points: A 4.00, A− 3.70, B+ 3.30, B 3.00 and so on.
The plus/minus cutoffs Wikipedia lists for US colleges: A+ from 97%, A 93, A- 90, B+ 87, B 83, B- 80 and so on down to D- at 60. It is not universal, so use your syllabus's cutoffs when they differ.Source: Wikipedia, “Academic grading in the United States”.
Your class cutoffs
Letter
Lowest %
Remove
Each letter starts at its lowest percentage and runs up to the next letter.
Rounding and decimal places
Follow your syllabus. A displayed percentage can round up while the unrounded score stays below a cutoff.
Only changes how results are shown. Extra places appear when rounding would push a score over a letter cutoff.
A letter typed as a score counts as the lowest percentage for that letter on this scale. Use the original percentage when you have it.
Only scales that publish GPA points can convert a percentage. Check that your school uses these same points.
Example courses. Change them to yours, or
CourseGradeCredit hours
Include your earlier GPA
Quality points are the more exact input when the displayed GPA has already been rounded. Do not include these same credits again in the course rows.
Raise my GPA: what would it take to reach a target?
These are future credits beyond the courses and earlier record entered above.
Pass/fail or a retake: what would change?
Whether a pass/fail course leaves the GPA and whether a retake replaces the old grade are your school’s rules; the table below shows JMU’s.
One grade higher: which course moves your GPA most?
Each line raises one course by one grade on the grade points above and leaves the others as entered, so a course that carries more credit moves the GPA more. A course you haven’t finished can be marked “Planned” in its ⋯ menu: the GPA so far then leaves it out, and the projection counts it at the grade you chose. A grade already on your transcript changes only under your school’s retake or grade-change rules.
Compare with a GPA line (dean's list, scholarship, good standing)Course groups and equal weights
Set a course's group or term, or mark it planned, in its ⋯ menu. Groups are just your labels: they don’t apply AMCAS or other application-service GPA rules.
Import courses from a transcript or spreadsheet
Copy the courses from your unofficial transcript, degree audit or a spreadsheet and paste them here, one course per line with its grade and credits. Term headings such as “Fall 2025” keep the courses in their terms. Your grades stay in this browser.
Line
Course
Read as
This replaces the courses above. You can put them back afterwards.
Save my courses or compare versions
Nothing is sent to us. Untick the box to forget them.
To compare plans, save the courses as they are now as a version, change them, and save again. Versions stay in this browser until you delete them.
Open a file you saved with “Save the versions to a file”, in this browser or another. It is read in your browser and sent nowhere.
JMU’s rules checked in its 2026–2027 Academic Catalog. Sources are at the bottom of the page.
Grade points at JMU
JMU multiplies each course’s grade points by its credit hours, adds them up and divides by the hours that count. Enter your courses above with these points already set.
James Madison University letter grades and grade points
What W, pass/fail, incomplete, retakes and transfer credit do at JMU
A course left out of the GPA adds no points and no hours. In the calculator, choose its code or “Not counted”; a code that counts as zero lowers the GPA like a failing grade.
How JMU counts each code
Code
What it means
In the JMU GPA
I
Incomplete: illness or another equally compelling reason kept you from finishing
Left out of your GPA while it stands. Finish the work by the end of the next regular semester (your instructor can set a shorter deadline), or it turns into an F. Rule
W
Withdrew after the drop deadline and before the course adjustment deadline
Left out of your GPA, but it stays on your transcript. A course dropped before the drop deadline doesn’t show on your transcript at all. Rule
WP or WF
Withdrawal while passing or while failing, given only in extraordinary situations after the course adjustment deadline
Both stay out of your GPA, WF included: no hours attempted, no quality points. You have to ask your instructor, who doesn’t have to grant it. Rule
CR or NC
Credit/no-credit: A through C becomes CR, C− and below becomes NC
Left out of your GPA. CR earns the credit hours, NC earns none. You need 28 JMU credit hours and a 2.25 cumulative GPA, and it can’t be used for General Education or major courses. The limit is 15 hours in all, and four hours a semester (or one course of more than four). Rule
Audit
You take the class without credit, with permission from the instructor and the unit head
No effect on your hours or GPA, but you pay tuition for it. Rule
NR
Not reported: your instructor didn’t submit a grade
If it isn’t changed to your earned grade by the end of the next regular semester, it’s recorded as a WP, which stays out of your GPA. Rule
Repeated course
You took the same course again
You can retake any graded JMU course, and every grade counts in your GPA. The exception is repeat forgiveness, for two courses in your whole time at JMU: the earlier grade and hours drop out of your cumulative GPA, whether that grade was higher or lower than the retake. You choose it at registration or before the course adjustment period ends, and both grades stay on your transcript. It can’t be used on a grade given for an Honor Code violation, on a course taken elsewhere, or through a transfer course. A course you passed credit/no-credit can’t be retaken. For graduation honors, the catalog uses all grades from all courses you attempted at JMU. Rule
Transfer credit
Grades from another college
Only JMU courses count in your GPA. Transfer courses earn credit with a C or better (a C− won’t transfer), but their grades stay off your JMU record, and courses taken elsewhere during a suspension can’t raise your JMU GPA. Transfer and exam credit (AP and the like) still count toward your hours for standing, which can raise the suspension threshold you’re held to. Dual enrollment courses taken at JMU bring their grades with them and count toward Latin honors. Retaking a test or transfer credit course at JMU with a D− or better removes that credit for good. Rule
JMU GPA lines
These are JMU’s published undergraduate lines, each with the other conditions its catalog sets. Your college or program may set its own, higher lines.
Published GPA lines at JMU
GPA line
What it means
Also required
Below 2.0 cumulative
Academic probation
Good standing needs a 2.0 cumulative GPA. On probation you can take 13 credit hours a semester at most. A semester below 2.0 with a cumulative of 2.0 or higher is only an academic notice, which isn’t on your permanent record. To graduate you need 2.0 cumulative at JMU and 2.0 in your major and minor. Full rule
Below 1.500 to below 2.000 cumulative, by hours for standing
Academic suspension alert, then suspension
The threshold rises with your hours for standing: below 1.500 at 1–27 hours, 1.650 at 28–44, 1.750 at 45–59, 1.850 at 60–74, 1.900 at 75–89, 1.994 at 90–104, 1.999 at 105–119 and 2.000 at 120 or more. Those hours include all hours attempted at JMU plus transfer, exam and credit/no-credit hours. Falling below it at the end of your first JMU semester, or at the end of a fall semester with no earlier suspension, brings a suspension alert first. Suspension lasts at least twelve months the first time and twenty-four the second; a third means dismissal. Full rule
3.500 to 3.899 in a semester
Dean’s List (3.900 or higher: President’s List)
A full-time load of graded hours (full time is at least 12), not counting credit/no-credit or audited hours. Full rule
3.50 or higher cumulative at JMU
Graduation honors: cum laude 3.50–3.699, magna cum laude 3.70–3.899, summa cum laude 3.9 and above
At least four fall and spring semesters and 60 attempted and earned credit hours at JMU, for students who entered in fall 2015 or later. Using the Transfer Equivalent Option rules you out. Full rule
To see how far you are from one of them, enter it under “Compare with a GPA line” in the calculator, or as your target in the target GPA planner.
A worked example
A WF costs your GPA nothing, unlike an F. Take a 3-hour A, a 4-hour B− and a 3-hour C+, and get a WF in a fourth 3-hour course: the WF has no hours attempted, so (4.0 × 3 + 2.7 × 4 + 2.3 × 3) ÷ 10 = 2.97. An F in that course would count its 3 hours: 29.7 ÷ 13 = 2.28.
The calculator gives an estimate from the grades you enter. Your official GPA is the one on your JMU academic record.
For any other college, the college GPA calculator starts on the common plus/minus 4.0 points and takes your school’s own. Cumulative GPA combines terms you already have, and the GPA guide answers what a GPA means.
