Grade Needed on the Final
Your mark on everything already counted.
Its share of the whole course, from the syllabus.
Above 100 only if extra credit is on offer.
Score needed on the final
95.5%
on a paper marked out of 100%
- Carried in from marked work46.8
- Best the course can still finish on86.8%
- Where a zero on the final leaves you46.8%
| If the final scores | The course finishes on |
|---|---|
| 50% | 66.8% |
| 60% | 70.8% |
| 70% | 74.8% |
| 80% | 78.8% |
| 90% | 82.8% |
| 100% | 86.8% |
This assumes the final is a straight weighted component and everything else is already marked. Several common rules break that assumption. A final that replaces a lower midterm, a hurdle exam you must pass independently of the total, an assignment still outstanding, and a course marked on points earned out of points available rather than on percentages all change the algebra rather than the arithmetic.
Rounding is worth asking about before you aim at a number. Some departments round a final mark to the nearest whole percent, some round down, and some apply the letter boundaries to an unrounded figure. On a tight target the difference between those three rules is larger than the difference between two exam questions.
One equation, rearranged for the unknown
The course mark is the grade already earned across the marked work, scaled by the share of the course that work represents, plus the exam mark scaled by the exam share. Everything in that sentence is known except the exam mark, so it can be isolated: subtract what is already carried from the target, then divide by the exam weight expressed as a fraction.
With 78 per cent carried on work worth sixty per cent of the course, 46.8 marks are already banked out of a hundred. Aiming at 85 leaves 38.2 marks to find in an exam worth forty, and 38.2 divided by 0.4 is 95.5. That is the honest answer, and it is a demanding one.
The same course, aimed at eight different grades
Because the rearrangement is linear, the required exam mark moves in even steps as the target moves. Hold the worked example fixed — 78 per cent carried on work worth sixty per cent of the course, an exam worth the other forty — and change nothing but what you are aiming at.
| Course target | Marks still to find | Required in the exam |
|---|---|---|
| 60 | 13.2 | 33.0 |
| 65 | 18.2 | 45.5 |
| 70 | 23.2 | 58.0 |
| 75 | 28.2 | 70.5 |
| 80 | 33.2 | 83.0 |
| 85 | 38.2 | 95.5 |
| 90 | 43.2 | 108.0 — unreachable |
| 95 | 48.2 | 120.5 — unreachable |
Every five points of course target costs 12.5 points on the exam, and that step is the reciprocal of the exam weight: a paper worth forty per cent multiplies every ambition by two and a half. It is the most useful number on this page, because it tells you the exchange rate before you pick a target. Halve the exam weight and the multiplier doubles, which is why the same five-point stretch is routine on one course and arithmetically closed on another.
Some targets are arithmetically closed
Raise that target to 95 and the same rearrangement asks for 120.5 per cent. No paper awards that, so this tool says the target is out of reach and prints no percentage at all. Reporting 120.5 as though it were an instruction is the single most common failure in calculators of this kind, and it is worse than useless: it converts a decided outcome into a false hope.
What is reported instead is the size of the gap and the best mark the course can still finish on. The exam remains worth sitting — the difference between a blank paper and a good one is forty marks here — but it will decide which grade you finish with rather than whether the target is met.
And some are already yours
The mirror case is equally worth stating. When the marks carried in already exceed the target, the required score comes out at or below zero, and the tool says the target is banked rather than printing a meaningless negative. A blank paper would still clear it. Knowing that changes how you spend the last fortnight of revision, and no other output on the page tells you.
Where the model stops matching your course
Four common arrangements break the single equation above. An exam that replaces a lower earlier test is not a fixed weight. A hurdle paper must be passed independently, so a total that clears the target can still fail. Outstanding coursework means the marked share is smaller than assumed. And a course scored on points earned out of points available needs the totals, not the percentages.
Rounding is the fifth. Whether a mark is rounded before the grade boundary is applied, and in which direction, decides several borderline cases per class. It is a policy question with a written answer somewhere, and it is worth reading before you decide what to aim at.
Targets that are already out of reach
It told me the target is out of reach. Should I still revise?
Yes. The mark still moves by the full weight of the paper, so it decides the grade you actually finish on even though it cannot reach the one you wanted. Sitting a paper badly also affects any later appeal or resit assessment.
My final replaces my lowest test if it is higher. Can I model that?
Not directly, because the exam then carries two different weights depending on how it goes. Run the numbers twice, once with the replacement applied and once without, and take the better of the two outcomes as the realistic range.
What should I put in the box for what the exam can award?
Leave it at a hundred unless extra credit genuinely exists on the paper. Raising it changes the reachability verdict, so an optimistic figure there quietly turns an impossible target back into a possible one.
How much does the exam weight itself matter?
It sets the multiplier on everything else. Divide one by the exam weight as a fraction: a paper worth 40 per cent turns each point of course target into 2.5 points of exam, one worth 25 per cent turns it into 4. The same five-point stretch is a 12.5-point problem on the first course and a 20-point one on the second.
Does the answer account for grade boundaries?
No, it works purely in percentages against the target you type. Convert the letter you are chasing into its percentage cut-off first, using your own institution boundaries, then aim at that figure rather than at a letter.