Graded Items
How a Weighted Course Grade is Calculated
Most courses grade you on several categories — homework, quizzes, midterms, a final — often with each category worth a different percentage of your final grade.
Step 1: Convert each item to a percentage
Item % = (Score ÷ Max Score) × 100
Step 2: Weight and combine
Overall Grade = Σ (Item % × Weight) ÷ Σ (Weight)
Each item's percentage is multiplied by its weight, summed across all items, then divided by the total weight entered. Dividing by the actual weight sum (rather than assuming it's 100%) means your weights don't need to add up perfectly — the calculator normalizes automatically.
No weights given? Simple points mode
If every weight is left at 0, the calculator switches to a simple points-based total instead: (Σ Score) ÷ (Σ Max Score) × 100 — the same method as adding up raw points across every assignment, which is how ungraded-by-category courses are typically scored.
| Percentage | Typical letter grade |
|---|---|
| 90% and above | A |
| 80% - 89% | B |
| 70% - 79% | C |
| 60% - 69% | D |
| Below 60% | F |
These cutoffs vary by instructor and institution — check your syllabus for the exact scale that applies.
For example, a Homework average of 92% (weight 20%), a Midterm of 78% (weight 30%) and a Final of 85% (weight 50%) give (92×20 + 78×30 + 85×50) ÷ 100 = (1840+2340+4250) ÷ 100 = 84.3%, a B. Enter these same figures into the calculator above to reproduce this result.