Test grade calculator

How a test grade is calculated

Score = number right ÷ number of questions × 100. Three wrong on a 20-question quiz is 17 ÷ 20, or 85% (B). Two wrong out of 30 is 93.3% to one decimal, or 93% (A) rounded to a whole percent. Seven wrong on a 45-question test gives 84.4%, a B. With partial credit, 2.5 wrong out of 40 is 93.8%.

For tests where questions carry different points, count in points instead: a student who loses 7.5 points on a 60-point test scores 52.5 ÷ 60, or 87.5%.

Quick reference for common test lengths

What one question is worth on a 100-point scale, and the most a student can miss and still reach 90%, 80% and 70%, with scores rounded to the nearest whole percent:

On short quizzes every question is a big step: on a 10-question quiz each miss costs 10 points, a whole letter grade on the plain 10-point scale. That’s worth knowing when you weigh a quiz against a test in the grade calculator.

Rounding, half points and letter scales

Rounding changes letters at the edges: 31 questions with 3 wrong is 90.32%, an A− either way, but 27 of 30 is exactly 90% while 35 of 39 is 89.74%, which rounds up to 90% but stays a B+ to one decimal. Pick the rounding your gradebook uses. The letter column follows the 10-point scale with plus and minus grades by default; switch to the plain 10-point scale or the 7-point scale (A from 93) to match your district, or turn letters off.

Throwing out a question

When a question turns out to be flawed, there are two fair fixes, and they give different scores. You can drop it and grade out of one question fewer, or give everyone the point. Take a 20-question test where a student missed 3, one of them the bad question. Dropping it leaves 2 wrong out of 19, or 89.5% (B+); giving the point leaves 2 wrong out of 20, or 90.0% (A−). But a student who got the bad question right and missed 3 others scores 84.2% if it’s dropped, and keeps 85.0% if everyone gets the point. Giving the point never lowers anyone’s score, which is why many teachers prefer it. Either way, set the calculator to the number of questions you’re grading out of and print a fresh chart.

Printing the grading chart

The PDF lists every possible number wrong in columns, as large as the page allows, with a thin rule wherever the letter grade changes so the cutoffs stand out. Choose Letter or A4 and print at actual size. Keep a chart for each test length you use, or copy the chart into a spreadsheet with the Copy chart button.

Students checking a grade can see what they need on the final with the final grade calculator, or work out a GPA with the GPA calculator. For the classroom, try the random name picker and the team generator, or print graph paper and bingo cards for review day.