Weighted Grade Calculator
| Component | Score | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17.6 | |||
| 11.85 | |||
| 21 | |||
| not marked yet |
Grade on the work marked so far
84.08%
read over the 60% of the course that has been marked
- Points banked out of 10050.45
- Weight still to be marked40%
- Best final mark still open90.45%
- Final mark if nothing more is earned50.45%
A component left blank is treated as unmarked, and unmarked work is excluded from the grade rather than counted as zero. That is why the figure at the top can fall once the last exam is entered: it is currently an average of the work that has a mark on it, and the two readings underneath show where the total can still end up.
Three syllabus rules routinely make the arithmetic here optimistic, and none of them can be inferred from weights alone: a lowest score that gets dropped, a category graded on points earned over points available rather than as a percentage, and an exam that has to be passed on its own before the weighted total counts for anything. Check for all three before relying on a number.
Every component buys a share of one hundred points
A weighted course hands out a fixed number of points to each category of work. Homework might be worth twenty of them, quizzes fifteen, a midterm twenty-five and the final exam forty. Scoring 88 on the homework does not put 88 anywhere; it puts 88 per cent of twenty, which is 17.6 points, into a running total that can only ever reach one hundred. Reading a course this way makes the size of each opportunity obvious before you spend effort on it.
The example the tool opens on
Homework at 88 buys 17.6 points. Quizzes at 79 buy 11.85. A midterm at 84 buys 21.0. Together that is 50.45 points banked, out of the sixty on offer so far — which reads as 84.08 per cent of the work that has been marked.
The final exam is still blank and still worth forty. So the course can finish anywhere between 50.45 and 90.45 depending on one paper. Both ends are shown deliberately: the first is what happens if the exam is never sat, and the second is the ceiling a perfect paper would reach.
Blank is not zero
Work with no mark yet is left out of the percentage rather than counted as a nought. That is why the headline figure often drops when the last exam is entered — it was never a prediction, only a reading of the marked portion. Gradebook software makes the opposite choice surprisingly often, which is one reason an app can show a cheerful number in week three and a grim one in week twelve.
When the weights do not total a hundred
Nothing here is rescaled to force a total of one hundred, because rescaling invents a course structure nobody described. If the weights add to ninety, either a category has been left out of the table or the syllabus expresses them out of something else. If they add to more than a hundred, a component has usually been entered twice, or a category heading has been listed alongside the individual items inside it.
Both cases are reported plainly with the actual total, so the table can be fixed rather than quietly averaged into something that looks right.
Three rules the arithmetic cannot see
A dropped lowest score changes which marks belong in the table at all. A category graded on points earned over points available behaves differently from one graded on percentages, because a missed ten-point task and a missed hundred-point task are not equivalent. And a hurdle exam has to be passed on its own before the weighted total means anything, so a comfortable total can still fail the course.
Points as weights, dropped scores and extra credit
My weights are given as points, not percentages. Does that work?
Yes, as long as you are consistent. Enter the point values as weights and the tool still reports the total they add up to, which will not be one hundred. The banked figure is then read against that total rather than against a hundred.
How do I handle a category that drops the lowest score?
Work out which marks survive the drop first, average those by hand, and enter the survivor as a single row with the whole category weight. Applying the drop before the weighting is the only order that gives the right answer.
Why does my learning platform show a different figure?
Usually because it counts unsubmitted work as zero, or because it hides ungraded categories entirely rather than reporting them separately. Compare the weight it says has been marked with the weight shown here, and the discrepancy normally explains itself.
Can extra credit push the total above one hundred?
It can, and the arithmetic handles it: add the extra credit as a component with its own small weight, leaving the other weights as the syllabus states them. The total weight will exceed one hundred, which is exactly what extra credit means.