What is a weighted grade?
Most courses do not treat every piece of work equally. A syllabus might say homework is worth 20%, the midterm 30%, a project 10% and the final exam 40%. Your course grade is a weighted average: each score is multiplied by its weight, so a strong final exam can lift your grade much more than a strong homework set.
Partway through a term, the useful question is usually “how am I doing on the work graded so far, and what do I need on the final?”. This calculator answers both. Your current grade is calculated only from the assessments you have entered, so it stays meaningful even before everything has been marked.
How to use the grade calculator
- For each graded assessment, enter its score as a percentage and its weight from the syllabus.
- Add or remove rows as needed. Your current weighted grade updates instantly.
- Under “What do I need on the final?”, enter the final exam weight and the course grade you want.
- Read the score you need on the final. If it is above 100%, the target may be out of reach without extra credit.
Formulas
Current grade = Σ (score × weight) ÷ Σ weight
Needed on final = (Target − Current × (1 − w)) ÷ w
where w is the final exam weight as a decimal. The second formula assumes the work you have entered makes up the rest of the course, the remaining 1 − w.
Example
Homework 88% (20%), a midterm of 75% (30%) and a project of 92% (10%) give 17.6 + 22.5 + 9.2 = 49.3 points from 60% of the course, a current grade of 82.2%. If the final is worth the remaining 40% and you want 85% overall, you need (85 − 49.3) ÷ 0.4 = 89.25% on the final.
More worked examples
Final exam target: with 78% on 70% of the course and a final worth 30%, reaching 80% overall needs (80 − 78 × 0.7) ÷ 0.3 ≈ 84.7% on the final.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Entering raw points instead of percentages. Convert 18/20 to 90% first, using the percentage calculator if needed.
- Weights adding up to more than 100%. Check your syllabus: weights for graded work should never exceed 100%.
- Ignoring rounding rules. Instructors may round 89.5% up or not. To see the term's effect on your GPA, use the GPA calculator.
Sources and methodology
The calculations on this page follow these published standards and references. The code is covered by automated tests against known values.
- Weighted arithmetic mean, as used in course syllabi