Grade Calculator
Calculate your course grade, find out what you need on the final exam, run what-if scenarios, or work out your GPA: free, no signup, and it works right in your browser.
Course Grade Calculator
Add your categories (weighted) or assignments (points-based) and get your current grade.
Weights should add up to 100%.
Final Exam Grade Needed
What do you need on the final to hit your target grade?
If your final has two parts and you already took part 1, fill both fields and we will tell you what part 2 needs.
What-If Scenario
See how a future score changes your grade before it happens.
GPA Calculator
Semester or cumulative GPA — weighted or unweighted.
Scale: A/A+ = 4.0, A- = 3.7, B+ = 3.3, B = 3.0, B- = 2.7, C+ = 2.3, C = 2.0, C- = 1.7, D+ = 1.3, D = 1.0, D- = 0.7, F = 0.
Quick Quiz Grader
For students checking a score — and teachers grading a stack.
Grade Calculator for Your LMS
Each platform grades a little differently. Pick yours — we'll load the right setup into the Course Grade calculator.
Canvas
Uses assignment groups with weights (e.g. Homework 30%, Quizzes 20%, Exams 50%). Matches the Weighted mode.
Blackboard
Weighted totals per category. Same math as Canvas — categories with percentage weights.
Moodle
Gradebook aggregates by mean of grades, often points-based with categories. Start points-based.
Google Classroom
Simple points-based gradebook. Start points-based and enter your scores.
After loading a setup, open the Course Grade tab — your categories are pre-filled. Just enter your scores.
How to use this grade calculator
This grade calculator covers the five calculations students actually need. The Course Grade tab handles your current grade two ways: weighted (categories like homework 30%, exams 50%) or points-based (420 points earned out of 500). The Final Needed tab tells you exactly what score you need on your final exam to reach a target grade. What-If previews how a future score changes your average. The GPA tab computes semester or cumulative GPA, weighted or unweighted. And Quick Quiz grades a single test in seconds.
Everything runs locally in your browser: your grades are never uploaded anywhere. Use the Share result button to generate a link that replays any calculation, handy for showing a teacher or study partner your numbers.
How weighted grades work
Most high school and college courses use weighted grading: different categories count for different shares of your final grade. A typical syllabus might weight homework at 20%, quizzes at 20%, midterms at 25%, and the final exam at 35%. The grade calculator multiplies each category score by its weight and adds the results.
Worked example. Say your scores are: homework 88% (weight 20%), quizzes 92% (weight 20%), midterm 79% (weight 25%), final 85% (weight 35%). The math: (88 × 0.20) + (92 × 0.20) + (79 × 0.25) + (85 × 0.35) = 17.6 + 18.4 + 19.75 + 29.75 = 85.5%, a solid B. Notice how the final exam, worth 35%, pulls the average more than any other single category, which is why finals week matters so much.
One common mistake: entering weights that do not add to 100%. The calculator shows your total weight as you type, so you can catch that before calculating.
Points-based grading
Some teachers skip categories entirely and grade on total points: every assignment is worth a number of points, and your grade is points earned divided by points possible. A 1,000-point course where you earned 873 points gives you 87.3%, a B+. Switch the grade calculator to Points-based mode, enter each assignment's earned and possible points, and it totals everything for you.
Points-based systems reward consistency: a 10-point homework counts exactly one-tenth as much as a 100-point exam. There is no weighting trick: every point is equal.
Grading scale chart
Percentages mean little without the letter-grade scale your school uses. The most common US scale is:
| Letter | Percentage | Grade points |
|---|---|---|
| A+ | 97–100 | 4.0 |
| A | 93–96 | 4.0 |
| A- | 90–92 | 3.7 |
| B+ | 87–89 | 3.3 |
| B | 83–86 | 3.0 |
| B- | 80–82 | 2.7 |
| C+ | 77–79 | 2.3 |
| C | 73–76 | 2.0 |
| C- | 70–72 | 1.7 |
| D+ | 67–69 | 1.3 |
| D | 63–66 | 1.0 |
| D- | 60–62 | 0.7 |
| F | Below 60 | 0.0 |
Scales vary: some schools drop the plus/minus, some set A at 90 flat, and many colleges use their own cutoffs. Always check your syllabus: the calculator's letter grades follow the table above, the most widely used version.
What grade do you need on the final exam?
This is the most-searched grade question every December and May. The final exam often carries 20–40% of your course grade, so it can rescue a semester or sink one. The Final Needed tab in the grade calculator above does this math instantly, but here is what happens underneath.
Worked example. Your current grade is 84%, you want a 90% (A-), and the final is worth 25%. Needed = (90 - 84 × 0.75) ÷ 0.25 = (90 - 63) ÷ 0.25 = 108%. That is over 100%: mathematically impossible without extra credit. The honest answer: with these numbers, the A- is out of reach, and your energy is better spent locking in the B+ you can actually hold. The calculator tells you this directly instead of letting you hope.
Flip it around: current grade 91%, target 90%, final worth 20%. Needed = (90 - 91 × 0.80) ÷ 0.20 = (90 - 72.8) ÷ 0.20 = 86%. Very doable. Knowing the exact number replaces anxiety with a study plan.
What-if scenarios: plan before the grade lands
What-if thinking is how strong students stay in control. Before a big test, ask: if I score 85 on this 100-point exam, where does my average land? The What-If tab adds a hypothetical score to your current totals and shows the new percentage and letter grade, plus how many points you gained or lost.
This is also the fastest way to set targets. Try 70, 80, 90 on the upcoming test and watch your projected grade move. Students who do this tend to study with a number in mind rather than a vague "do well," and that specificity helps.
GPA: the number that follows you
Your GPA (grade point average) compresses every course into one number colleges, scholarships, and employers actually read. Each letter grade converts to grade points: A is 4.0, B is 3.0, C is 2.0, D is 1.0, F is 0, with plus/minus steps in between, multiplied by the course's credit hours. Add up all grade points, divide by total credits, and that is your GPA.
There are two flavors. Unweighted GPA caps at 4.0 and treats every course equally. Weighted GPA rewards harder courses: typically +1.0 for AP/IB and +0.5 for honors, capped at 5.0. A B in AP Calculus (4.0 weighted) can beat an A in a regular elective (4.0 unweighted), which is exactly why ambitious students load up on AP courses. The GPA tab in the grade calculator above handles both scales; our dedicated GPA calculator goes deeper with semester and cumulative views.
Context for the number: GPAs are commonly discussed on a 4.0 scale, but what counts as competitive varies widely by school and program. Many colleges publish the GPA ranges of admitted students on their admissions pages, and scholarship cutoffs differ by provider. Always check the specific requirements that apply to you.
How to improve your grade before the semester ends
A grade calculator tells you where you stand; strategy decides where you finish. If your numbers are short of your target, these moves have the highest return per hour of effort.
Attack the heaviest weight first. An hour spent preparing for a 35%-weighted final moves your grade roughly seven times more than an hour on a 5%-weighted homework. List your remaining assessments by weight and allocate study time proportionally; most students do the reverse, polishing small assignments while the final looms.
Claim every partial-credit point. On exams, showing work, attempting every question, and writing something relevant for partial credit routinely adds 5–10% to a test score. In a points-based course, those are raw points straight onto your total.
Use office hours as grade insurance. Professors and teachers routinely clarify what an upcoming exam emphasizes, and many will review a past test with you to show exactly where points leaked. One office-hours visit before a major exam is among the highest-ROI hours in a semester.
Negotiate the syllabus margins. Ask about extra credit early, not after grades post. Ask whether the lowest quiz is dropped, and if so, confirm which one, because students often guess wrong. Ask how the curve works before you need it.
Protect the categories you have already won. A student at 94% on homework sometimes coasts and drops to 80% by finals, surrendering a full letter grade in a 20%-weighted category. Run your numbers weekly in the calculator above; a slipping category shows up as a falling projection while there is still time to fix it.
Grade calculators for Canvas, Blackboard, and Moodle
Your school's learning platform already shows a grade, but students still reach for an independent grade calculator, usually because the LMS hides the math or the teacher hasn't published every category yet. Each platform grades slightly differently:
- Canvas groups assignments (homework, quizzes, exams) and weights the groups. If your course shows "Assignments 30%, Quizzes 20%, Exams 50%," that maps directly onto the Weighted mode. Use the My LMS tab and hit "Load Canvas setup" to pre-fill those groups.
- Blackboard uses weighted totals per category: same idea as Canvas, different labels. The Blackboard preset loads a typical four-category split.
- Moodle gradebooks usually aggregate by mean of grades and lean points-based. The Moodle preset starts you in points mode.
Pro tip: when your LMS grade and your hand calculation disagree, the usual culprits are an unpublished category, a dropped lowest score you forgot about, or weights that do not sum to 100%.
For teachers: grading a stack, fast
Teachers use this grade calculator too. Quick Quiz grades one paper in seconds: enter points earned and possible, get the percentage and letter. For a whole class set, the points-based course mode totals an entire gradebook column. And if you are building the course itself, the weighted mode is a quick sanity check that your category weights actually produce the grade distribution you intended before the semester starts.
Common grading mistakes to avoid
The same calculation errors come up again and again. Avoid these and your results will match the math your school uses.
1. Weights that do not add to 100%. The single most common error. If your syllabus lists homework 20%, quizzes 20%, midterm 25%, and final 30%, that is 95%: the missing 5% is usually participation or attendance hiding in a footnote. Find it before you calculate.
2. Mixing points and percentages. In weighted mode, every entry must be a percentage. A 42/50 assignment is 84%: convert it first, or switch to points-based mode where raw scores belong.
3. Forgetting dropped scores. Many teachers drop the lowest quiz or homework. If your syllabus says so, remove that score from your inputs entirely; leaving it in understates your grade.
4. Using the wrong GPA scale. An A- is 3.7 on the standard scale but 4.0 at schools without plus/minus. One wrong conversion across six courses can shift your GPA by 0.1: enough to matter for scholarships.
5. Ignoring the syllabus curve. If your professor curves (for example, the top score becomes 100%), raw percentages understate your grade. Ask how the curve works before trusting any calculation.
Get these five right and any grade calculator, this one included, will agree with your official grade to the decimal.
Grade calculator FAQs
How do I calculate my grade with weighted categories?
Multiply each category score by its weight as a decimal, then add them up. Example: homework 85% × 0.30 + exams 92% × 0.50 + participation 100% × 0.20 = 25.5 + 46 + 20 = 91.5%, an A-. The Course Grade tab above does this automatically: just enter each category and its weight.
What grade do I need on my final to pass the class?
It depends on your current grade, your target, and the final's weight. Use the Final Needed tab: enter those three numbers and it gives you the exact required score. The formula is: needed = (target - current × (1 - final weight)) ÷ final weight. If the answer comes out above 100%, the target is mathematically out of reach.
How is GPA calculated?
Each letter grade converts to grade points (A = 4.0, B = 3.0, C = 2.0, D = 1.0, F = 0, with plus/minus steps), multiplied by the course's credit hours. GPA equals total grade points divided by total credits. Weighted GPA adds +1.0 for AP/IB courses or +0.5 for honors, usually capped at 5.0.
What is a good GPA in high school?
There is no single national standard. A GPA that is competitive varies by school, program, and year, so the reliable move is to check the admitted-student GPA ranges on the admissions pages of the schools you are considering. For a full breakdown, see our guide on what counts as a good GPA.
Do plus and minus grades affect my GPA?
Usually yes. The common scale is A/A+ = 4.0, A- = 3.7, B+ = 3.3, B = 3.0, B- = 2.7, C+ = 2.3, C = 2.0, C- = 1.7, D = 1.0, F = 0. Some schools use a simpler scale without plus/minus, so check your student handbook, since it changes the math.
What is the difference between weighted and unweighted GPA?
Unweighted GPA caps at 4.0 and treats all courses equally. Weighted GPA rewards course difficulty, adding +1.0 for AP/IB or +0.5 for honors (cap 5.0). Colleges often recalculate your GPA on their own scale anyway, so the weighted number matters most for class rank and the unweighted number for baseline comparisons.
Can a final exam save a bad grade?
Sometimes. A final worth 30–40% can lift a grade by nearly a full letter if you score well above your current average. But the math cuts both ways: scoring below your average on a heavily weighted final drags you down fast. Run the numbers in the What-If tab before finals week so you know exactly what score you need.
Is this grade calculator accurate?
Yes, for the inputs you provide: the math is standard arithmetic both schools and LMS platforms use. Accuracy depends on entering the right weights and scores from your syllabus. If your school uses a custom grading scale or drops the lowest score, adjust accordingly. See our disclaimer.