Course Grade Calculator

How this course grade calculator works

A single quiz or test has one percentage. A course usually has many of them — homework, quizzes, tests, projects, exams — and combining them by hand is where spreadsheet errors creep in. This tool offers two ways to combine them, matching the two most common grading methods teachers actually use. Everything runs in your browser; nothing you type here is ever sent anywhere. See the Privacy page for details.

Using Total points mode

Use this when your course simply adds up points across every assignment — there is one running earned-points total and one running possible-points total for the whole course.

1. For each assignment, enter its possible points and, once it's graded, the points earned.
2. Leave an assignment marked Not graded yet until you have a score for it — it is left out of both totals rather than counted as a zero.
3. Select Calculate. The percentage is the sum of earned points divided by the sum of possible points across every graded assignment, not an average of each assignment's percentage.

Worked example: a 10-point quiz with 9 earned, plus a 100-point test with 50 earned, is 59 earned out of 110 possible points — 53.64%, not the 70% you'd get by mistakenly averaging 90% and 50% as if the two assignments counted equally.

Using Weighted categories mode

Use this when your syllabus assigns a percentage weight to each category, such as 20% homework, 30% quizzes, and 50% exams. You supply each category's current average yourself, from your gradebook — this calculator does not add up the individual assignments inside a category.

1. Enter each category's weight from your syllabus. All the weights you enter must add up to exactly 100% before a result can be calculated.
2. For each graded category, enter its current average percentage. Leave a category marked Not graded yet if you don't have an average for it.
3. Select Calculate. The current grade is the weighted average of only the graded categories — their weights are rescaled against each other (the "active weight"), not against the full 100%.

Worked example (weights below are illustrative only — always enter your own syllabus weights): homework at 90% worth 20% of the grade, quizzes at 80% worth 30%, and exams at 70% worth 50%, combine to (90×20 + 80×30 + 70×50) ÷ 100 = 77%.

If the exams category isn't graded yet, the same homework and quizzes combine to (90×20 + 80×30) ÷ 50 = 84%, using only the 50% of the course weight that's currently graded. Once exams comes in at, say, 0% on a rough first attempt, the full 100% weight is active and the grade becomes (90×20 + 80×30 + 0×50) ÷ 100 = 42%.

Current grade vs. final grade

Both modes distinguish a current grade from a complete result. If every assignment or category you entered is marked Graded, GradeKind shows the complete calculation for exactly what you supplied — but a category average can still change later in the course, and this calculator has no way to know whether you've entered every piece of required coursework. If anything is marked Not graded yet, the result is explicitly a current grade based only on what's graded so far. Neither is a substitute for your school's official policy on how current grades are calculated or when a grade becomes final.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Averaging assignment percentages instead of adding points: a 10-point quiz and a 100-point test do not count equally. Use Total points mode so bigger assignments carry more weight.
• Treating an ungraded assignment as a zero: mark it Not graded yet instead, so it's excluded from both totals rather than dragging the grade down before it's even graded.
• Letting weighted categories skip 100%: if your entered weights total 90% or 110%, the plan is invalid and no grade is calculated — check your syllabus and re-enter the weights.
• Assuming a current grade is final: a current grade reflects only what's graded so far. Confirm with your school's policy before treating any result as a final grade.

What this calculator does not do (yet)

This first version is deliberately focused on the two calculations above. It does not include GPA conversion, honors or AP grade-point weighting, standards-based or rubric-level calculations, extra credit above 100% of an assignment's possible points, drop-the-lowest-score rules, or working backward from a target grade to find the score needed on a final exam. A "what score do I need on the final" planner would be a distinct feature with its own assumptions about final-exam weight, and isn't interchangeable with the course grade shown here; it isn't available yet.

Frequently asked questions

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