Grade Calculator

Two grade tools in one

• The Grade Calculator weight-averages the work you have done. Grades can be percentages (88) or letters (B+), mixed freely, and the optional planning block says what the work still to come has to average.
• The Final Grade Calculator answers the other question: given where you stand and what the final is worth, what do you need on it?

How the average is worked out

Every grade is read as a letter first. A percentage lands in the band it falls in — 90 is an A−, 88 is a B+ — and that letter becomes grade points. The grade points are then weighted by each item's share of the course, which is why a percentage and a letter can sit in the same column and still be averaged together.

A worked example you can check

Homework 1 scored 90 and is worth 5%; a project scored B and is worth 20%; a midterm scored 88 and is worth 20%. Those become 3.7, 3.0 and 3.3 grade points, and weighting them over the 45% entered gives (3.7×5 + 3.0×20 + 3.3×20) ÷ 45 = 3.21, which is nearest to a B+. The calculator reports it as B+ (3.21).

Note that the total is 45%, not 100%. The average is over the work entered, so it tells you where you stand now rather than what the course will finish at — which is what the planning block and the final grade calculator are for.

What you need on the final

If your current grade is 88, you want to finish on 85, and the final is worth 40% of the course, then the other 60% has already banked 0.6 × 88 = 52.8 points of the 85 you need. The final has to supply the remaining 32.2 across its 40%, so you need 32.2 ÷ 0.4 = 80.5 or higher.

Enter both grades as percentages and the answer is a percentage; enter both as letters and the answer comes back in grade points with its letter. Keep the two on the same scale — a percentage against a letter would be comparing different things.

When the target is not reachable

Sometimes the number that comes back is above 100, or above the 4.3 an A+ is worth. That is a real answer, not an error: it means the target cannot be reached from where you are, and the calculator says so rather than quietly capping the figure. The same goes the other way — if even a zero on the final leaves you above your target, it tells you the grade is already secured.

Letter grades and their numerical equivalents

These are the grade points and percentage ranges both calculators use.

Grading systems differ between countries, schools and even departments — some do not award an A+ or a B−, and the percentage boundaries move. Check your own syllabus if these ranges do not match it. For a whole transcript rather than one course, use the GPA calculator.

Understanding weights

A weight is the share of the final grade an item carries, so a 20% midterm moves your average four times as much as a 5% homework. Weights do not have to add to 100 while a course is in progress: the calculator averages over whatever you have entered and shows that total, so you can see how much of the course the figure actually covers.