Grade Calculator
Find the grade you have, the grade you are heading for, and the score you need on the final to get the grade you want. Courses are graded two ways and this page keeps them separate, because mixing them is how grade maths goes wrong: weighted categories (homework 20%, tests 50%, and so on) and total points (everything you have earned over everything that was possible). The final-exam solver works backwards from a target and tells you honestly when a target is already safe, still reachable, or out of reach.
Disclaimer: This calculator gives estimates for general information only. It is not financial, medical or other professional advice. Grading schemes, curves and rounding rules belong to your instructor and institution; the syllabus is the final word on how your grade is built.
What this calculator does
A course grade is built one of two ways, and the first thing to know about yours is which. In a weighted course, each category of work carries a fixed share of the grade: homework might be 20%, tests 50%, the final 30%, and your average inside each category is worth exactly that share. In a points course, there is no structure at all: every point earned counts the same, and the grade is total points earned over total points possible. This calculator handles both systems separately and correctly, rather than blending them into a number that matches neither, and its third mode answers the end-of-term question: given your current grade and the weight of the final exam, what score on that final lands the grade you want, and is it still possible at all.
How to use it
- Weighted categories: enter your average in each, and its syllabus weight. The contribution column shows what each category is actually delivering toward your final grade, which is where surprises live: a 92 average in a 20% category contributes 18.4 points, while a 78 in a 50% category contributes 39, so the mediocre heavy category matters twice as much as the excellent light one.
- Weights that do not add to 100 are reported, not hidden. Enter only the categories completed so far and the page gives you two honest figures: the points earned out of the weight entered, and your grade on that completed portion, renormalized. If the weights add to more than 100, it stops and says so, because that is a syllabus transcription error, not a grade.
- Total points: one row per assessment, with a drop option. Courses that drop the lowest quiz or homework are modelled by ticking "dropped" on that row: it stays visible in the table, marked as dropped, and leaves the totals. Extra credit goes in its own field, because it adds to points earned without adding to points possible, and burying it inside a row would distort that row's percentage.
- The final solver wants three numbers and gives a verdict, not just a figure. Current grade, the final's weight, and the grade you are aiming at (as a percentage, or a letter, which it reads as that letter's lowest percentage). It reports the score needed, and when that number is over 100 it says the target is out of reach and shows the best grade a perfect final could still produce. When the needed score is zero or less, it tells you the target is already banked, which is worth knowing before a stressful week.
- The scenario table is for planning, not comfort. Six final-exam scores and the course grade each produces. Read it before deciding how to allocate study time across courses: the same evening of revision is worth very different amounts in a course where the final is 40% and you sit at a band boundary, and one where you are mid-band with a 15% final.
How it is calculated
Weighted method: grade = sum over categories of (category average x category weight) / 100, with a completed-portion grade computed as points earned / weight entered x 100 when the weights total less than 100. Points method: grade = (total points earned + extra credit) / total points possible x 100, over counted rows only. Final solver: course grade = current grade x (1 - final weight) + final score x final weight, solved for the final score: needed = (desired - current x (1 - weight)) / weight. Letter bands are the common ten-point scale used across this site's education tools: A at 93 and above, then A- 90, B+ 87, B 83, B- 80, C+ 77, C 73, C- 70, D+ 67, D 63, D- 60, F below 60.
Worked examples
Weighted, complete: homework average 92 at 20% weight, quizzes 85 at 30%, tests 78 at 50%. Contributions: 18.4 + 25.5 + 39 = 82.9%, a B-. The tests are both the weakest average and the heaviest weight, and the contribution column makes that impossible to miss.
Weighted, mid-course: only homework and quizzes are done, 50 of the 100 weight points. Points earned: 43.9 of 50 entered. The grade on completed work is 87.8%, a B+, with 50% of the course still to come: the honest mid-term picture, neither the raw 43.9 (which looks like failure) nor a promise about the final grade.
Points, with extra credit: an essay at 45 of 50, a midterm at 82 of 100, labs at 18 of 20, plus 5 extra credit points: 150 earned over 170 possible = 88.24%, a B+. Without the extra credit it is 85.29%, a B: five points of extra credit bought a band, which is more than extra credit usually manages and exactly the kind of thing worth checking before deciding whether a bonus assignment is worth your evening.
The solver, three ways: current grade 85, final worth 30%. Aiming at 90 needs 101.67% on the final: impossible, and the best a perfect paper returns is 89.5%, a B+. Aiming at 88 needs 95.00%: hard but real. Aiming at a B (83) needs 78.33%. And a student at 95 with a 20% final who wants 75 needs nothing at all: a zero on the final still leaves 76%.
Reading your result
In a weighted course, think in contributions, not averages: your grade moves when a heavy category moves. In a points course, think in remaining points: the question is never "what is my average" but "how many of the points left do I need". The solver's scenario table is the bridge between the two habits. And treat band boundaries as the real stakes: the difference between 89.5 and 90 is one letter, while the difference between 84 and 88 is none, which should change where effort goes in the last fortnight of a course.
Limitations
- Curves and instructor adjustments are not modelled. A curve applied at the end, a dropped exam replaced by the final, participation discretion: these are syllabus-specific acts of judgement. The calculator computes the uncurved arithmetic faithfully, which is the baseline every adjustment starts from.
- Letter bands vary. The 93-for-an-A scale printed here is common, not universal; some departments run 90 as an A, some run no plus/minus at all. If your syllabus prints its own bands, compare percentages, not letters, and use the percentage entry in the solver.
- Category averages are inputs, not computed from individual assignments here. If a category's average is itself contested, work it out in points mode for that category alone, then bring the average here.
- Rounding belongs to the institution. An 89.49 and an 89.50 can be different letters under different rounding rules. This page shows two decimals so you can see exactly where you stand relative to a boundary; what a registrar does with the third decimal is their policy.
Frequently asked questions
What do I need on the final to get an A?
That is the solver with the letter option set to A, which it reads as 93%, the floor of the A band on the scale printed here. Enter your current grade and the final's weight and it returns the score, plus the verdict you actually need: comfortably reachable, reachable only with an exceptional paper, or beyond a perfect score, in which case it shows the best grade still available so the goal can be reset to something real.
My weights only add up to 90%. Is the calculator broken?
No: your course has 10% unaccounted for, which is usually an ungraded-yet category, a participation share not yet entered, or a transcription slip from the syllabus. The page reports the shortfall and grades the portion you entered rather than silently scaling your numbers, because silently scaling is how a mid-course check turns into a nasty surprise in December.
Is it better to think in points or percentages?
In a points course, points: the grade is a running total, and the most useful number is points remaining versus points needed. In a weighted course, percentages within categories, then contributions across them. Confusing the two systems, averaging category percentages in a points course, or adding raw points in a weighted one, produces confident wrong answers, which is why this page will not let the modes blend.
Does extra credit go into points possible?
No. Extra credit adds to what you earned and not to what was possible, which is precisely why it can push a grade above its uncredited value and, occasionally, over 100 in a category. Enter it in the dedicated field so the per-assessment percentages stay truthful.
Related calculators
Method: weighted-category and total-points systems computed separately and exactly as defined on this page; final-exam requirement solved algebraically from the weighted course-grade identity; impossible and already-secured targets reported as such; letter conversion on the ten-point bands printed above. Last reviewed: 13 October 2026.