Grade Calculator
Weighted course grade, letter, weight graded so far and the final exam score you need
A score can be a percent or points, so 42/50 counts as 84. Leave anything not yet graded out; a blank is not a zero.
Adding up several courses into a grade point average is a different sum, done on the GPA calculator.
From syllabus to course grade
The same five moves work for any course, whatever the gradebook calls its categories.
- 1Copy the category weights from the syllabus: homework, quizzes, midterm, project, final exam.
- 2Enter each category's average. If it is scored in points, type it as earned over possible, such as 42/50.
- 3Leave out categories with nothing graded yet. Enter a zero only for work you missed and will not make up.
- 4Set your target grade. The final exam weight fills in as whatever share of the course is still ungraded.
- 5Read the range: the lowest and highest grades still possible tell you how much the rest of the term can move you.
Percent to letter grade
The common US plus and minus scale beside the plain letter scale. A 91 is an A on one and an A- on the other, so check which one your syllabus prints.
| Percent | Plus and minus | Plain letters |
|---|---|---|
| 97 and up | A+ | A |
| 93 to 96 | A | A |
| 90 to 92 | A- | A |
| 87 to 89 | B+ | B |
| 83 to 86 | B | B |
| 80 to 82 | B- | B |
| 77 to 79 | C+ | C |
| 73 to 76 | C | C |
| 70 to 72 | C- | C |
| 67 to 69 | D+ | D |
| 63 to 66 | D | D |
| 60 to 62 | D- | D |
| Below 60 | F | F |
Cutoffs are set by each school and instructor. Some put the line at a rounded value, so an A- starts at 90.00 but an A only at 93.50. Whether an 89.5 rounds up is your instructor's call.
Your course grade, and what the final exam still has to do
Weighted categories and points based grading, weights that do not add up to 100, dropped lowest scores, letter cutoffs and the final exam score needed, with worked examples.
A grade calculator turns the numbers in your gradebook into the one number your transcript will show: your course grade. Put in each assignment or category with its score and its weight from the syllabus, and it returns your current grade as a percent and a letter, how much of the course has been graded so far, and the score you need on the final exam to reach the grade you want. It works for courses graded by weighted categories and for courses graded by total points, and it applies a drop lowest rule the way a real gradebook does.
How a weighted course grade is calculated
Most syllabi split the course into categories, each worth a share of the final grade. The course grade is a weighted average: grade = Σ(weight × score) ÷ Σ weight. Weight each category average, sum those weighted scores, then divide that sum by the combined weights.
Say homework is worth 20% and you average 92, quizzes are worth 30% at 84, and tests are worth 50% at 78. That is (20 × 92 + 30 × 84 + 50 × 78) ÷ 100 = (1,840 + 2,520 + 3,900) ÷ 100 = 82.6%. A second course with 30% at 80, 50% at 90 and 20% at 72 comes to 24 + 45 + 14.4 = 83.4%. Notice that the tests pull hardest in the first course: a weak score in a heavy category costs far more than the same score in a light one, which is why a weighted grade often feels lower than the plain average of your marks.
A score does not have to be typed as a percent. Enter 42/50 and the calculator reads it as 84, so you can copy points straight from a returned paper.
Points based versus percentage based grading
There are two common ways a course grade gets built, and your syllabus tells you which one you are in.
Percentage based, or weighted, grading sets a percent for each category, and the categories add to 100. An item's point value only matters inside its own category. Brightspace describes its weighted system this way: items can carry any number of points, but what they contribute to the final grade is the weight assigned to them.
Points based grading simply adds up everything you earned and divides by everything that was possible: grade = points earned ÷ points possible. Earn 425 of 500 points and your grade is 85%. Here the point value is the weight. A 100 point exam counts twice as much as a 50 point project, with no separate percentages anywhere. Switch the calculator to Total points and the two columns become points earned and points possible.
Many courses mix the two. Canvas, for example, weights its assignment groups by percent but scores each group by points. In a group worth 30% with one 50 point item and one 100 point item, the bigger item is worth 20% of the course and the smaller one 10%. That is why averaging the percentages on your returned papers can drift from what the gradebook shows. One college's Canvas guide gives a quiz group where the gradebook, working from raw points, lands on 44 of 55, which is 80.0%, while averaging the quiz percentages gives 81.7%. When items in a category have different point values, add up the points inside the category first, then enter that category's total as earned over possible, such as 44/55.
When the weights do not add up to 100
Midway through a term they almost never do, because only some categories have been graded. The fix is to divide by the weights you actually entered, not by 100. The page opens with an example: homework worth 20% at 92, quizzes worth 15% at 84, and a midterm worth 25% at 78. Those weights total 60, so the current grade is (1,840 + 1,260 + 1,950) ÷ 60 = 5,050 ÷ 60 = 84.17%, a B. Dividing by 100 instead would report 50.5%, which is not your grade but the floor you would hit if you scored zero on everything left.
That floor is worth knowing, and so is the ceiling. With 40% of the course still open, the lowest grade still possible is 50.5% and the highest is 50.5 + 40 = 90.5%. The calculator prints this range under the tiles, and the Weight covered so far tile shows how much of the course is already decided. Early in a term the range is wide and a single bad quiz means little; near the end it narrows until the grade is almost fixed.
Weights that add to more than 100 are usually a typing slip, and the calculator warns you and scales them down so the answer is still an average. There is one deliberate case. Some Canvas courses show weighted groups totalling 200%: the course is still graded out of 100%, and the extra 100% is a reserve for extra credit that gets added straight onto the final grade.
A blank is not a zero
An empty cell and a zero mean different things. A blank says the work has not been graded yet, so it is left out and the other weights stand in for it. A zero says you were graded and scored nothing. In Canvas, a dash in the gradebook is ungraded and ignored when the total is calculated, and only a typed 0 counts against you.
How a gradebook handles an empty category can shift your grade by several points mid term. A University of Wisconsin example scores 9 of 10 on an essay worth 25% and 8 of 10 on a test, with another test still ungraded. With the tests sharing one group, the ungraded test drags the group down and the grade shows 52.5%. With each test in its own group of 25%, the empty group drops out and the rest is rescaled: (0.225 + 0.2) ÷ 0.75 = 56.67%. Same scores, two answers. This calculator follows the second behaviour, leaving blanks out, so enter a zero only for work you missed and will not make up.
The score you need on the final exam
With a current grade c, a final worth w of the course as a decimal, and a target t, the score you need is needed = (t - c × (1 - w)) ÷ w. The idea is that your current grade fills the part of the course that is not the final, and the final fills the rest.
At 85% going in, with the final worth 40% and a 90 as the goal: (90 - 85 × 0.6) ÷ 0.4 = (90 - 51) ÷ 0.4 = 97.5%. At 87% with a 30% final and the same goal: (90 - 60.9) ÷ 0.3 = 97%. One point lower, at 86%, the answer climbs to 99.33%, which shows how quickly a small final squeezes the margin. On the page's own example, 84.17% on the 60% graded so far with the remaining 40% as the final, an overall 80 needs 73.75%, a C on the final.
If the answer is above 100%, the target cannot be reached with the final alone, and only extra credit or a curve would get you there. If it is zero or below, the target is already locked in. To check a result after the exam, run it forward: course grade = c × (1 - w) + final × w. A student at 91% who scores 88.6 on a final worth 15% finishes on 13.29 + 77.35 = 90.64%.
Leave the final weight blank and the calculator fills in whatever share of the course is not yet graded. If your weights plus the final still fall short of 100, because a project is also outstanding, it assumes the other ungraded work matches your current grade and says so. On a points based course, enter what the final is worth in points instead. The final's weight is then its points divided by the course total. With 127 of 174 points banked and a 100 point final, an 80 overall needs 80% of 274 points, 219.2, minus the 127 you have, so 92.2 points on the final.
Dropped lowest scores
Many courses drop the lowest quiz or homework score. The obvious reading is to throw out the lowest percentage, but that is not always what the gradebook does. Canvas keeps whichever scores give the highest total for the group, and when the items carry different point values that can mean dropping a higher percentage on a heavier item.
Take three items: 50 of 50 (100%), 65 of 100 (65%) and 12 of 24 (50%). Together they are 127 of 174, or 72.99%. Dropping the lowest percentage, the 12 of 24, leaves 115 of 150, which is 76.67%. Dropping the 65 of 100 instead leaves 62 of 74, which is 83.78%, and that is the score Canvas removes. Choose a number in the Drop lowest box in Total points mode and the calculator tries every combination, drops the one that leaves the highest total, and strikes it through so you can see which it was. With that item dropped, the same 100 point final needs only 77.2 to reach 80 overall. If you teach, the simple way to avoid surprising students is to make every item in a dropping group worth the same number of points.
Letter grade cutoffs
The most common US scale gives an A+ from 97, an A from 93, an A- from 90, and steps every three or four points down to a D- at 60, with anything below 60 an F. A plain letter scale without pluses and minuses gives an A from 90, a B from 80 and a C from 70. So a 91 is an A on one and an A- on the other, and the Letter scale menu switches between them.
Even the plus and minus lines are not universal. One widely used grade calculator sets its cutoffs at half points, so an A starts at 93.50 and a B+ at 86.50, which makes a 93.4 an A- there and an A on the usual table. Whether an 89.5 rounds up to a 90 is set by your instructor, not by the math. The reference table on this page shows both scales side by side, but the syllabus always wins.
One course here, many courses on the GPA calculator
This page works out the grade in a single course. Turning letter grades from several courses into a grade point average is a different sum that weights each course by its credits, and the GPA calculator does it. For a plain or weighted average of any other list, use the average calculator, and to turn a raw score into a percent, the percentage calculator.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my grade here differ from the one Canvas shows?
Usually for one of three reasons. Canvas scores each assignment group by total points, not by averaging the percentages, so a 100 point test counts more than a 20 point quiz in the same group. It also leaves out any group with nothing graded and rescales the rest. And a drop lowest rule removes the score that gives the best total, which is not always the lowest percentage. Enter each category as earned over possible, such as 44/55, leave ungraded categories blank, and the two numbers should agree.
Should I enter a missing assignment as a zero?
Only if it will stay a zero. A blank row is treated as not graded yet and left out of the average, which is how a gradebook shows an ungraded dash. A zero counts in full. If the work is late but you still plan to hand it in, leave it blank to see where you stand now, then add a zero in a second run to see the damage if it never arrives.
Which score does a drop lowest rule actually remove?
In Canvas, the one whose removal leaves the highest total for the group. With 50 of 50, 65 of 100 and 12 of 24, dropping the 12 of 24 gives 76.67%, but dropping the 65 of 100 gives 83.78%, so the 65% item goes even though 50% is the lower percentage. Pick a number in the Drop lowest box in Total points mode and the calculator runs the same search and strikes through the row it dropped.
Is it a mistake if my syllabus weights add up to more than 100?
Usually yes, and it is worth asking the instructor. The calculator still divides by the total you entered, so the result stays a true average, and it flags the total. One deliberate exception is a Canvas course that shows its weighted groups totalling 200%: the course is still out of 100%, and the extra 100% holds extra credit that is added straight onto your final grade.
How much of my course grade is already decided?
Exactly the share shown on the Weight covered so far tile. If 60% of the course is graded, the other 40% can still move your grade by up to 40 points. The note under the tiles gives the full range: what you would finish on with a zero on everything left, and what full marks would give. With 84.17% on the first 60%, that range runs from 50.5% to 90.5%.
Does an 89.5 count as an A minus?
Only if your instructor rounds. On the common scale an A- starts at 90, so an unrounded 89.5 is a B+. Some courses round to the nearest whole number first, which lifts it to 90, and some calculators set their lines at half points, putting an A at 93.50 rather than 93. The math cannot settle it; the syllabus or the instructor can.
How do I work out the final exam score needed when the class uses points?
Add the final's points to the points possible so far, multiply by your target, and subtract what you have earned. With 127 of 174 points and a 100 point final, an 80 overall needs 0.8 × 274 = 219.2 points in total, so 92.2 on the final. Switch to Total points, enter the final's points in the Final exam worth box, and the calculator does this for you.