Calculate cumulative GPA across semesters.
Cumulative GPA is a credit-weighted average, not an average of averages. Convert each period into quality points by multiplying its GPA by its credits, sum the points, then divide by total credits. The weighting is what makes late improvement so slow: a 3.7 term across 15 credits added to 60 credits at 3.2 moves the cumulative figure only about a tenth, because the existing credits outweigh the new ones four to one. Showing the best possible result with a perfect term makes that inertia concrete and is the honest answer to whether a target GPA is still reachable this term.
Quality points
Points = GPA x credits, summed across all periods
Cumulative GPA
Cumulative = total quality points / total credits
An illustrative estimate only. Grading scales, GPA conversion, weighting, transfer credit and progression rules are set by your institution and vary between programmes and academic years. Confirm all figures with your course handbook, registry or academic adviser before relying on them for any academic decision.
Because of credit weighting. With 60 credits already recorded, a 15-credit term is only a fifth of your total, so its influence is diluted fourfold. The further into a degree you are, the more credits any single term has to outweigh — which is why early terms matter disproportionately.
Only if every term carried identical credits. A 4.0 across 3 credits and a 2.0 across 18 credits is not a 3.0 — it is about 2.29. Averaging GPAs directly ignores weighting and is the most common error in GPA arithmetic.