Convert your International Baccalaureate (IB) grades to a US GPA. See your unweighted 4.0 GPA and weighted 5.0 GPA side by side.
IB courses use a 1–7 grading scale. To convert to a US GPA, each IB grade maps to a letter grade, which maps to grade points on the 4.0 scale. Because IB courses are treated as the equivalent of AP courses in terms of rigor, they receive a +1.0 point bonus on the weighted 5.0 scale.
| IB Grade | US Letter Grade | Unweighted GPA (4.0) | Weighted GPA (5.0) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | A | 4.0 | 5.0 |
| 6 | A− | 3.7 | 4.7 |
| 5 | B+ | 3.3 | 4.3 |
| 4 | B | 3.0 | 4.0 |
| 3 | C | 2.0 | 3.0 |
| 2 | D | 1.0 | 2.0 |
| 1 | F | 0.0 | 0.0 |
This conversion is the most widely accepted standard, but individual high schools and colleges may use slightly different scales. If your school uses a specific IB-to-GPA policy, check with your registrar to confirm.
In the IB program, courses are divided into Higher Level (HL) and Standard Level (SL). Most US high schools apply the same +1.0 weighted bonus to both HL and SL IB courses, treating them identically to AP courses. Some schools give HL courses an extra 0.5 bonus (treating them like an additional honors bump on top of the IB bonus) while SL courses receive the standard +1.0.
Check your school's specific weighting policy — it varies. For this calculator, both HL and SL are weighted as standard IB (+1.0), which reflects the most common policy.
Students in the full IB Diploma Programme complete six subject groups plus the core components (Theory of Knowledge, Extended Essay, and CAS). Students in IB Course programmes take individual IB courses without pursuing the full diploma.
Both appear on transcripts and are weighted equally for GPA purposes. However, completing the full IB Diploma carries additional signal for selective college admissions — it demonstrates sustained academic rigor across a broad curriculum, similar to how a full AP Scholar designation reads differently from a few individual AP courses.
No. College credit for IB work depends on your final IB exam scores, not your coursework GPA. Most US colleges accept IB scores of 4, 5, 6, or 7 (with the cutoff varying by school and subject) for credit or advanced standing. A strong in-class GPA with a low IB exam score typically earns no college credit, even if the weighted GPA looks impressive.
Check each college's IB credit policy individually — the College Board and IB organization maintain searchable databases of institutional policies.
US colleges treat IB and AP courses as equivalent in terms of rigor. Both receive the same +1.0 weighted GPA boost at most schools, and both signal that a student sought out and completed college-level coursework in high school. Admissions officers evaluate IB and AP performance on the same scale — what matters is the grade earned in the course relative to what was available at your school.
IB students sometimes worry that the 1–7 scale is harder to interpret than letter grades. In practice, a 7 is clearly an A, a 5 is a B+, and so on — admissions offices are familiar with the IB scale and apply the conversion without penalizing IB students.
Most students take a mix of IB courses, regular courses, and sometimes AP or Honors courses. This calculator handles IB courses specifically. For a complete weighted GPA that includes AP, Honors, and regular courses alongside IB courses, use our Weighted GPA Calculator, which lets you set each course type individually.
What is a good IB GPA? A weighted GPA of 4.5+ (5.0 scale) is competitive for most selective US colleges, corresponding to mostly 6's and 7's on the IB scale. A 4.0 weighted GPA corresponds to averaging a 5 (B+) across your IB courses.
Does this calculator account for Theory of Knowledge or the Extended Essay? No — TOK and the Extended Essay are graded separately (A–E) and combined with your subject scores for the IB Diploma's bonus points, but most US high schools don't fold them into your US-equivalent GPA. Check with your school counselor on how your transcript specifically handles them.
Is IB harder than AP for GPA purposes? Colleges don't rank IB as harder or easier than AP — both are treated as equivalent rigor and receive the same weighted bonus at most schools. The bigger difference is structural: IB Diploma students take a more prescribed, broader curriculum, while AP students can pick and choose individual courses.
Can I use this calculator if my school only offers IB Certificate courses (not the full Diploma)? Yes. The grade-to-GPA conversion is per-course and doesn't depend on whether you're pursuing the full Diploma or individual Certificates.
Is there an official IB to GPA conversion chart? No. The IB organization does not publish an official IB-to-GPA conversion — GPA is a US-specific system, and the IB Diploma is reported internationally using the 1–7 subject scale and the 45-point total. The 1–7 to 4.0 conversion used by this calculator (7=A, 6=A−, 5=B+, and so on) is the most widely used unofficial standard among US high schools and colleges, but individual schools may apply a slightly different scale.
How do I convert my IB diploma point total out of 45 to GPA? The 45-point diploma total includes up to 3 bonus points from Theory of Knowledge and the Extended Essay, which most US schools do not fold into GPA. To convert to GPA, use your six individual subject scores (1–7 each) rather than the combined 45-point total — enter each subject grade into the calculator above to get your unweighted 4.0 and weighted 5.0 GPA.
What GPA does an IB score of 5 or 6 convert to? Under the standard conversion, an IB 6 converts to a B+/A− (3.7 unweighted, 4.7 weighted with the IB bonus), and an IB 5 converts to a B+ (3.3 unweighted, 4.3 weighted). See the full conversion table above for every score from 1 to 7.
Weighted GPA Calculator — calculate weighted GPA for mixed AP, IB, Honors, and regular courses.
GPA Calculator — calculate your unweighted cumulative GPA.
GPA Raise Calculator — how many strong grades do you need to hit your target?
Weighted GPA Guide for AP, IB & Honors Classes — the full breakdown of how weighting works.