Final Grade Calculator

You need three numbers, all of which are usually on your syllabus or your online gradebook.

1. Type your grade in the course so far into Current grade (%). It starts at 88.
2. Type the course grade you are aiming for into Grade you want (%). It starts at 90, the usual cut-off for an A.
3. Enter the share of the course that the final counts for in Final exam is worth (% of the course). It starts at 30.
4. Read the score needed on the final at the top, which is a percent of the exam.
5. Check the rows showing your course grade if you score 0 and if you score 100, and the table of scores needed for 90, 80, 70 and 60.

The current grade should cover everything except the final, so use your overall percent before the exam. If your gradebook shows points rather than a percent, divide points earned by points possible and multiply by 100 first. The weight is the share of the whole course, not of the exam paper, so a final that counts for a fifth of the course is entered as 20.

Your final grade is made of two parts: the part you already earned and the part the exam adds. If the final is worth 30 percent, the earlier work is worth the other 70 percent. The needed score comes from rearranging that sum: needed = (target - current x (1 - weight)) / weight.

With the starting values, 88 percent counts for 70 percent of the course, which is 61.6 points. To reach 90 you must find 28.4 more points from an exam worth 30, so (90 - 61.6) / 0.30 = 94.7 percent. The calculator also shows the two ends of the range. A zero on the final leaves you with 61.6 percent, and a perfect 100 lifts you to 91.6.

The table repeats the sum for each letter boundary:

"Already secured" means that even a zero on the exam keeps you at or above that grade. The heavier the exam, the more it can change the outcome: at 50 percent weight the earlier work counts for half, so the same 88 percent would be worth only 44 points before the exam. A 90 would then need (90 - 44) / 0.50 = 92 percent, and the possible range runs from 44 with a zero to 94 with a perfect score.

Sometimes the answer is above 100. Suppose your current grade is 84, you want a 90 and the final is worth 30 percent. The tool calculates 104 percent and warns that the target is out of reach, because a perfect final gives only 88.8 percent. Unless your instructor offers extra credit or a curve, the realistic choice is a lower target, and the table shows which ones are possible.

The calculator rests on a few assumptions:

• The current grade covers all the non-final work, with the weights already combined.
• Curves, dropped scores, extra credit and rounding rules are ignored, so a 89.5 that your teacher rounds up is not counted as a 90.
• The exam is scored as a percent. If it is out of 80 points, divide your score by 80 first.
• If the final is worth 100 percent, the current grade no longer matters and the needed score simply equals your target.

If you want to build the current grade from separate categories first, the grade calculator accepts scores and weights line by line. For a semester average, use the GPA calculator. The percentage calculator and the average calculator help with the arithmetic around it.

The figures are an estimate for planning, not a promise of a grade, and nothing you type leaves your browser.