How your class grade is calculated
In a weighted class, not every assignment counts the same. The syllabus splits the grade into categories, such as homework, quizzes, tests and the final exam, and gives each one a weight. Your class grade is then a weighted average: each category score counts as much as its weight says. This grade calculator works that out for you from your scores, shows the letter grade, and tells you what you still need to reach the grade you want.
Other classes skip weights and simply add up points: every assignment is worth a number of points, and your grade is the points you earned divided by the points possible. Pick Total points for those. Your syllabus or your teacher's gradebook tells you which kind your class uses.
The weighted grade formula
First, each category gets a score. With Add up points, that is the points you earned in the category divided by the points possible, so a 9/10 quiz counts less than a 45/50 test. With Average the percents, every score counts the same, whatever it was worth. Then the categories are combined:
Example: homework counts 20%, quizzes 20%, tests 35% and the final 25%. Your homework is 44/50 after one zero was dropped (88%), quizzes 69/80 (86.25%) and tests 84% and 91% (87.5%). The final has not happened yet. Your current grade is (20 × 88 + 20 × 86.25 + 35 × 87.5) ÷ 75 = 6,547.5 ÷ 75 = 87.3%, a B on the A to F scale. To finish with 80%, you need (80 × 100 − 6,547.5) ÷ 25 = 58.1% on the final. For a 90% you would need 98.1%.
When the weights do not add up to 100%
Two things can make the weights look wrong, and the calculator handles both. If a category has no scores yet, it is left out of your current grade instead of counting as zero, and the grade is scaled over the categories that do have scores. In the example above, the graded categories carry 75% of the weight, so the calculator divides by 75. That is the grade you have earned so far, before the rest of the work comes in.
If the weights of all categories together add up to something other than 100%, for example because the syllabus lists 20, 20, 30 and 25, the calculator divides by their sum and says so in the result. Weights like 2, 3 and 5 work too. If the total is off because you forgot a category, add it, since the missing part changes what you need at the end.
Dropped scores and extra credit
If your teacher drops the lowest homework or quiz score, set Drop lowest on that category and the calculator removes that many scores with the lowest percent before adding up the rest; the dropped scores are listed in the table. At least one score always stays. When assignments are worth different points, dropping the lowest percent and dropping the score that hurts most are not always the same. A 2/10 quiz is 20%, while 60/100 is 60%; dropping the 2/10 is the lowest percent rule, but removing the 60/100 can raise a points total more. If your teacher drops by a different rule, your real grade can differ a little, so ask if you are close to a cutoff.
Extra credit comes in two forms. Bonus points inside a category, like 5 extra homework points, go in that category as +5: they add to what you earned but not to what was possible. Extra credit on the whole grade, like 2 percentage points for a project, goes in the extra credit field. Both can push a grade above 100%.
Letter grades
The calculator turns your percent into a letter on an editable scale. The default is a 10-point scale: A from 90%, B from 80%, C from 70% and D from 60%, with F below. Florida, for example, sets this scale for public middle and high schools in section 1003.437 of the Florida Statutes. Other schools use different cutoffs, plus and minus grades or both, so open Letter grade scale and type the cutoffs from your syllabus. The plus and minus option starts with example cutoffs that split each 10 points into a plus, a plain and a minus grade. Leave a box empty if your school does not use that letter, such as A+. The calculator does not round, so 89.99% is still a B unless you change the A cutoff.
What-if scores and what you need
The what-if score shows your grade if you add one more result. Type a score such as 85/100, or several, and pick the category it would go in. A score you have not taken yet makes it easy to see whether one bad quiz really matters. The needed score works the other way round: it is the average you need on everything still to come to reach your target. In points mode, enter the points still to come, such as the points of the remaining assignments and the final, and the calculator shows how many of them you need. If the answer is above 100%, the target is out of reach without extra credit, and the stats show the best grade you can still get.
If your class only has the final exam left and you know your current grade, the final grade calculator gives you the score you need in one step. To turn letter grades from several classes into one number, use the GPA calculator, and for a quick mean of any list of scores, the average calculator.
How to use the grade calculator
- 1Pick Weighted categories or Total points, the way your syllabus grades the class. For weighted categories, add each category with its weight and your scores, like 18/20, 92 or 45 of 50. Leave the scores empty for work still to come.
- 2Set Drop lowest where your teacher drops scores, and add extra credit as +5 in a category or as percentage points on the class grade.
- 3Pick the grade you want and read your current grade, the letter grade and what you need on the remaining work. Try a what-if score, check the letter grade scale against your syllabus, and copy the result or a link.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate my grade with weighted categories?
Work out your score in each category first, for example homework 88% and tests 87.5%. Multiply each score by the weight of its category, add the results and divide by the total weight of the categories that have grades. With homework 20% at 88% and tests 35% at 87.5%, that is (20 × 88 + 35 × 87.5) ÷ 55 = 87.68%.
What if my category weights do not add up to 100%?
The calculator divides by the sum of the weights instead of by 100, which scales them to 100%, and tells you so. If some weight is missing because a category has no grades yet, such as the final, add that category with its weight and leave its scores empty. Then the calculator can show what you need on it.
How does drop the lowest score work?
For each category you can drop 1 to 5 scores. The calculator drops the scores with the lowest percent, so 4/10 (40%) goes before 45/100 (45%), and always keeps at least one score. If your teacher drops differently, for example the lowest points instead of the lowest percent, your grade can differ a little.
How do I enter extra credit?
Type +5 in the scores of a category to add 5 bonus points there. They raise the points you earned without adding to the points possible, and they are never dropped. If your teacher adds extra credit to the whole class grade instead, enter it in the extra credit field as percentage points.
What grade do I need on the final?
Add the final as a category with its weight and no scores. The calculator then shows the average you need on all work still to come for your target grade. If the final is the only thing left and you already know your current grade, the final grade calculator answers the question in one step.
Is 89.5% an A?
Not on the scale in this calculator, which does not round: 89.5% is a B, and the letter changes at exactly 90%. Whether a grade is rounded depends on your teacher, so check your syllabus. You can edit the letter grade scale to match it, or set the A cutoff to 89.5.