Free Online Tool
Grade Calculator
Add your assignments, exams, and quizzes with their weights to find your weighted average, letter grade, and GPA, instantly, in your browser.
Step 1
Enter your assignments
Tip: scores accept either a number (e.g. 90) or a letter grade (e.g. B+). Weights don't need to total 100%. The calculator works with however much of the course you've completed so far.
Result
Your average grade
| Assignment / exam | Score | Weight |
|---|
Optional
Final grade planner
Find the average score you need on the rest of the course to hit a target final grade.
Reference
Letter grade & GPA scale used
| Percentage | Letter | GPA |
|---|---|---|
| 97 to 100 | A+ | 4.0 |
| 93 to 96 | A | 4.0 |
| 90 to 92 | A- | 3.7 |
| 87 to 89 | B+ | 3.3 |
| 83 to 86 | B | 3.0 |
| 80 to 82 | B- | 2.7 |
| 77 to 79 | C+ | 2.3 |
| 73 to 76 | C | 2.0 |
| 70 to 72 | C- | 1.7 |
| 67 to 69 | D+ | 1.3 |
| 63 to 66 | D | 1.0 |
| 60 to 62 | D- | 0.7 |
| Below 60 | F | 0.0 |
How the weighted average is calculated
Most courses don't weigh every assignment equally. A final exam usually counts for more than a single homework set. To find your overall grade fairly, each score is multiplied by its weight before anything is added together.
The formula
In plain terms: multiply each score by its weight, add up all of those results, then divide by the total of the weights you entered. Dividing by the total weight, rather than always dividing by 100, means the calculator still gives an accurate average even if you've only entered grades for part of the course.
Brief history of different grading systems:
At Yale, in 1785, the students were assigned a rank with the highest being optimi, then second optimi, inferiore (lower), and pejores (worse). At William and Mary, students were ranked as either No. 1, or No. 2, where No. 1 represented students that were first in their class, while No. 2 represented those who were "orderly, correct and attentive."
At Harvard students were evaluated using a 1-200 grading system (with 1-100 in math and philosophy). Later, soon after 1883, Harvard adopted a scheme of "Classes" in which students were classified as Class I, Class II, Class III, Class IV, or Class V, the latter of which was the failure grade.
All of these examples illustrate the subjectivity, arbitrariness and inconsistency in how different institutions marked their students' work, and thus the necessity for a more standardised – but still arbitrary – grading system.
The first use of letter grades, similar to those used today, was at Mount Holyoke College in 1887. The college had adopted a grading system based upon the letters A, B, C, D, and E, with E being the failing grade. This grading system however, was far stricter than those commonly used today, with a failing grade being defined as anything below 75%.
The college later revised their system of grading to incorporate the grade F (below 75%). This grading system on the letter grading scale started gaining traction in colleges and high schools, and eventually evolved into the letter grading system commonly adopted nowadays.
But there is quite a bit of difference in opinion, however, about what constitutes an A, or if a system uses pluses or minuses (i.e. Among other things, the differences are A+, B+ and higher.
A worked example
Say a homework assignment scored 90 and is worth 5% of the course, a project earned a B and is worth 20%, and a midterm scored 88 and is worth 20%.
The letter grade is first converted to a representative percentage, each score is multiplied by its weight, the products are added together, and the sum is divided by the total weight entered (45%). The calculator above performs exactly this calculation the moment you click Calculate grade."
Frequently asked questions
Do my weights need to add up to 100%?
No. Because the calculator divides by the total weight you've entered rather than a fixed 100, you can calculate an accurate running average for any portion of a course, even if you've only completed 45% of the total weighted work.
Can I type a letter grade instead of a number?
Yes. Typing a letter grade such as B+ or C- in the score field is automatically converted to a representative percentage before being used in the calculation, so you can mix numeric scores and letter grades in the same table.
How does the final grade planner work?
Enter the overall grade you're aiming for and how much of the course weight is still left. The planner takes the points you've already earned, subtracts them from your goal, and divides what remains by the leftover weight, showing the average you'd need to score on everything still ahead.
Is this the same grading scale my school uses?
The grading scale and GPA scale shown above is a common standard, but individual schools and instructors sometimes use slightly different cutoffs. Check your syllabus for the exact scale your course uses.