Grade calculator

How a weighted grade works

Most high school and college classes split the grade into categories, each worth a fixed share. A category’s score times its weight is what it adds to your grade. Here is a typical class:

Notice how much the tests matter: at 40% of the grade, every point there is worth twice a point of homework. Raising the heaviest category is nearly always the fastest way to raise the grade.

Weighted categories or total points?

Some teachers simply add up every point you’ve earned and divide by the points possible. The two methods give different answers for the same work. Take 180 of 200 homework points and 140 of 200 test points. Counting points, that’s 320 of 400, or 80%. If homework is worth 30% and tests 70%, the same scores give 76%, because the weaker test score counts for more. Pick the mode that matches your syllabus.

When the weights don’t add up to 100

Partway through a term, part of the grade usually isn’t graded yet. Say homework (20%) is at 92% and tests (50%) at 81%, and the final (30%) hasn’t happened. Your grade so far is the weighted average of the 70% that is graded: 84.14%. Leave the final’s score blank and enter a goal, and the calculator solves for the rest: to finish with an 85% you need 87% on the final. For a single exam, the final grade calculator also shows a table of outcomes.

Three mistakes that give the wrong grade

• Averaging the category averages. Adding up homework, quizzes and tests and dividing by three ignores the weights. In the example above that gives 84.75% instead of 83.4%.
• Counting an ungraded category as zero. A blank final is not a 0. Leave it out and your grade is the average of what has been graded; type 0 and you fail a test you haven’t taken.
• Averaging percentages in a points class. A 10-point quiz and a 100-point test don’t count the same. Use total points, or a points score per category, and the calculator adds them up correctly.

Percent to letter grade

Schools set their own cutoffs. The 10-point scale is the most common in the US; some districts use a 7-point scale where an A starts at 93. Many schools also split each band into plus and minus grades, for example 87–89 for a B+, 83–86 for a B and 80–82 for a B−.

Teachers also differ on rounding: some count 89.5% as 90%, some don’t. The calculator’s letter-grade settings let you match your class. Turn class grades into a GPA with the GPA calculator, and teachers can score tests quickly with the test grade calculator. Plotting your grades over a term? Print some graph paper.