Editorial Policy
GPA Climb exists to give students and parents correct numbers and calm, practical guidance. This page explains how our content is written, checked and corrected.
How content is written
- Answer first. Each page starts with the direct answer or the calculator, then explains the details.
- Plain, calm language. We describe where a GPA stands and what to do next. We do not call any GPA or student "bad," and we do not use fear to make a point.
- Written for real situations. We write for high school students starting out, juniors and seniors applying to college, students working to raise a low GPA, college students facing GPA minimums, and transfer students.
- Estimates are labeled as estimates. Schools set their own rules, so we say when a result could differ and point readers to their school for the final word.
How numbers are checked
- All GPA and grade math lives in one shared set of formulas that every calculator uses. Those formulas are covered by automated tests that run before each release.
- Worked examples on the methodology page and in the guide to raising your GPA are generated by that same code when the site is built, so they cannot drift from the calculators.
- Worked examples on calculator pages are checked against the same formulas.
- College figures come straight from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, with simple sanity rules (for example, ignoring impossible values). We show the data year on every page that uses them.
Sources
- We prefer primary sources: government data and agencies, and the organizations that run the research we cite.
- Every statistic we state is linked to its source. If we cannot verify a claim, we leave it out.
- We never invent statistics, history, user counts, ratings, reviews, testimonials, team members, credentials or press mentions.
Independence
GPA Climb is run independently and is not affiliated with any school, testing company or government agency. No school or company pays to be included in or ranked by our tools. If ads appear on the site, they never change our calculators, data or guidance.
Corrections
If you find a calculation error, outdated data or a statement that seems wrong, email [email protected] with the page address and what you think is incorrect. We review every report. When we confirm an error, we fix it, and the page's "Last updated" date changes.
"Last updated" dates
The "Last updated" date at the bottom of each page is taken automatically from the site's change history. It shows the last time that page's content or the code behind it changed. We never set these dates by hand.
Read more about GPA Climb or see exactly how each calculator works on the methodology page.
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