Weighted grades or total points?

Total points gives every point the same value

In a total-points course, add all earned points and divide by all possible points. An assessment worth 100 points affects the result ten times as much as one worth 10 points, because every available point carries the same value.

If the scores are 10/10 and 20/100, the course total is 30/110 = 27.2727…%. Averaging the two percentages, 100% and 20%, would give 60%. That answers a different question: the mean percentage of two equally weighted assessments.

Weighted categories give groups a fixed share

A weighted course allocates a percentage of the final grade to each category. For example, coursework may contribute 40% and exams 60%. Within a category, this toolkit combines assessment points before applying the category weight.

Coursework at 90% contributes 90 × 0.40 = 36 course percentage points. Exams at 80% contribute 80 × 0.60 = 48. The overall grade is 84%. The number of assignments in a category does not by itself change its configured weight.

Match the calculator to the published policy

Look for the denominator in your course policy. If every point has equal value, use total-points mode. If the policy lists category percentages, use weighted-category mode and enter those weights. If every assessment receives an equal share despite different point totals, give each assessment its own equally weighted category; do not combine them as raw points in one category.

Within a category, this calculator adds earned and possible points before applying the category weight. For example, quizzes of 9/10 and 16/20 combine to 25/30 = 83.333…%, not the 85% mean of 90% and 80%. If quizzes account for 30% of the course, that category contributes 25 course percentage points.

• Check that configured category weights total 100%.
• Enter maximum points as well as earned points for each assessment.
• Mark unfinished work as Ungraded; enter a numeric zero only when it is a recorded score.
• Use current-grade mode until all work has a resolved status.

Read an in-progress grade carefully

If only the coursework category has graded work, counting the empty exam category as zero would report 36%. Current-grade mode instead normalizes across the categories with graded work: 36 ÷ 0.40 = 90%. It displays 40% category-weight coverage to make that interpretation visible.

Coverage describes the category weights currently represented. A category can be represented after only one small assessment, so 40% coverage does not mean 40% of all course work has been finished.

Prepare a final-exam calculation

The final-grade calculator expects a current grade normalized to 100% before the final and the final’s share of the course. Do not enter a contribution such as 36 course percentage points as though it were a current grade of 36%.

If the final belongs inside a category that already contains other exams, determine its actual effect on the overall course before using the simple final calculator. It does not automatically model nested final-exam policies, retakes or dropped scores.