Grade Calculator
Type a score and a weight for each graded item. Assignments, quizzes and exams can be mixed in one list.
Entering your syllabus
Copy the weighting table from your syllabus: each row needs the name of the item, the score you got as a percentage, and the weight it carries in the course. A paper worth 15% with an 88 goes in as Paper, 88, 15.
Leave out anything not graded yet. The result is then your standing on the work completed so far, which is the number that matters when you are deciding how hard to push the final.
The arithmetic
Grade = Σ(score × weight) ÷ Σ(weight of graded items)
Dividing by the sum of the weights you entered — not by 100 — is what makes a partial list useful. If you have entered items worth 70% of the course, the result is your current grade on that 70%, scaled to 100.
Worked example
| Item | Score | Weight | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homework | 92% | 20% | 18.4 |
| Quizzes | 85% | 30% | 25.5 |
| Midterm | 78% | 20% | 15.6 |
| Total so far | — | 70% | 59.5 |
59.5 ÷ 70 = 85.0%. The final is worth the remaining 30%, so it can move the total by at most 30 points. To finish at 88% the final needs 95%; to finish at 90% it would need 101.7%, which is out of reach without extra credit — use the final grade calculator to run these numbers yourself.
Where a syllabus usually breaks this model
- Drop-lowest rules. “Lowest quiz dropped” cannot be modelled by a fixed weight. Enter only the quizzes that will count.
- Extra credit. Usually added on top of the total, not inside the weighted average. Add it after the fact.
- Curves. If your instructor curves the raw scores before averaging, enter the curved score, not the raw one.
- Replaced grades. Some syllabi substitute the final exam score for a missed midterm. That is a different formula from a weighted average of both.
- Participation points. Often ungraded until the end of term; assume full marks only if your attendance supports it.
Reading the result
A course grade is a running statement about weighted averages, so the same 85% can be fragile or solid depending on how much weight is still outstanding. If 60% of the grade is already locked in, no final exam can rescue a bad term — and if only 30% has been graded, the number you see tells you very little about where you will land.
Common questions
Why does the tool warn that my weights do not add to 100%?
Because something is missing or double-counted. The calculation still runs — it scales by the weights you gave — but a warning means your list is incomplete, which is fine while the term is in progress and a mistake once every item has a score.
How do I handle a category worth 40% made of five equal essays?
Either add five rows at 8% each with their individual scores, or enter one row at 40% with the average of the five. Both give the same answer as long as every essay carries equal weight.
What grade do I need on the final to pass?
Set the final's weight as a row and solve: needed = (target − current × (1 − weight)) ÷ weight. The final grade calculator does this directly, including the case where the answer comes out above 100%.