How do I fill out the Courses and Grades section of the Common App correctly?

Enter the Courses and Grades section exactly as your official transcript shows it. Use the same course titles, the same grading periods your school uses, and the same grades without converting or “cleaning them up.” If your transcript says Biology H, enter Biology H, not Honors Biology, and if it reports semester grades, enter semester grades rather than trying to average them into a final grade.

Start by looking at how your high school year is organized in Common App: full year, semesters, trimesters, or quarters. Then enter each course under the correct school year and academic area, using the transcript name as closely as possible. If your transcript includes credits, enter those too, and use the credit value exactly as reported, such as 0.5 or 1.0.

For grades, report what appears on the transcript, whether that is letters, numbers, or another scale. Do not convert a numeric 93 into an A unless the transcript itself shows A, and do not turn plus/minus grades into plain letters. If a course is in progress and no grade appears yet, mark it as in progress if that option is available rather than guessing.

Include all courses that appear on the transcript for the years Common App asks about, and sometimes 12th courses in progress. That includes core classes, electives, world language, PE or health if they are on the transcript, and any high school credit earned in middle school if the transcript includes it. If a class was repeated, withdrawn, pass/fail, or has a nonstandard mark like W, P, NP, or CR, enter that mark as shown.

For honors level, only mark a course as AP, IB, Honors, Dual Enrollment, or similar if your school officially designates it that way. Do not label a class honors just because it felt advanced. If a college course appears on your high school transcript, enter it the way the transcript lists it.

The safest rule is consistency: your Courses and Grades section, transcript, school profile, and self-reported information should all match. Before submitting, compare every entry line by line against the transcript to catch typos in course names, grades, credit values, and term format.