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CalcMax

Grade Calculator

Result

87.60%

Weighted grade

Plain average of the same scores
86.60%
Weights total
100.0
Items in the list
5

One weighted grade is a weighted mean: multiply each assignment's score by its weight, add those products, and divide by the total weight. Paste the scores and the matching weights, either one per line or separated by semicolons, commas and spaces. This grade calculator prints the weighted course grade, the same scores averaged without weights, the weight total and how many assignments were counted. The weights do not have to add up to 100 — the total is printed so you can see what you actually entered.

Formula

Grade = Σ(scoreᵢ × weightᵢ) ÷ Σweightᵢ

scoreᵢ
The score earned on the i-th assignment, as a percentage of the full marks for that item — 92 means 92%, not 0.92. Scores are accepted above 100, because extra credit is real; nothing here caps them
weightᵢ
How much that assignment counts towards the course grade, in whatever unit your syllabus uses — percentages (20), decimals (0.2) or points (2) all work, as long as one unit is used throughout the list
Σweightᵢ
The sum of the weights, printed in the result. It is the divisor, so a list whose weights total 85 rather than 100 still produces a valid weighted grade — and a total that is not 100 is the quickest sign that an item is missing from the list
Grade
The weighted course grade: each score pulled towards the ones with the heaviest weights. With every weight equal it is exactly the plain average of the same scores, which is why both are printed together

Use this page when a syllabus says a course grade is built from parts — homework 20%, quizzes 20%, midterm 30%, final 30% — and you want the number rather than a rough sense of it. It answers the two questions that come up most often during a term: where do I stand right now, and what did dropping one item do to the grade. Because each score is entered with its own weight, the same list can be re-run with a hypothetical score on the final to see the effect before it happens, and the weight total is printed so a missed item is visible. If a course grades you on credit hours instead of percentage weights, the grade point average page uses the same arithmetic with credits as the weights.

Worked examples

  1. Five graded items, weights totalling 100: 87.6 against an unweighted 86.6

    1. Weighted sum: 85 × 20 + 90 × 20 + 78 × 10 + 92 × 20 + 88 × 30 = 1700 + 1800 + 780 + 1840 + 2640 = 8760
    2. Weight total: 20 + 20 + 10 + 20 + 30 = 100
    3. Grade: 8760 ÷ 100 = 87.6
    4. Unweighted average: (85 + 90 + 78 + 92 + 88) ÷ 5 = 433 ÷ 5 = 86.6

    The 78 is the lowest score but carries the smallest weight, and the 88 carries the largest — so the weighted grade sits a full point above the plain average. In a course where the final is worth 30%, this is the difference that matters. Note that the weight total is exactly 100 here; the next example shows it does not have to be.

  2. Weights that total 4, not 100: the grade is still 87.5

    1. Weighted sum: 90 × 3 + 80 × 1 = 270 + 80 = 350
    2. Weight total: 3 + 1 = 4
    3. Grade: 350 ÷ 4 = 87.5 — the same answer that weights of 30 and 10 would give
    4. Unweighted average: (90 + 80) ÷ 2 = 85

    Only the ratio between the weights matters. 3 and 1 describe the same course as 30 and 10, or 0.75 and 0.25, and all of them give 87.5 — the division by the weight total is what makes the units cancel. This is also why the page never insists the weights add up to 100: a mark out of 4 is a complete answer.

  3. One item worth 100, one worth nothing: 100 weighted, 50 unweighted

    1. Weighted sum: 100 × 100 + 0 × 0 = 10000 + 0 = 10000
    2. Weight total: 100 + 0 = 100
    3. Grade: 10000 ÷ 100 = 100 — the second item carried no weight, so it changes nothing
    4. Unweighted average: (100 + 0) ÷ 2 = 50, because a plain average cannot see the zero weight

    A weight of zero means the item does not count, and that is a real thing on a syllabus: a dropped quiz, a practice set, an optional extra. The two numbers printed here are 50 apart, which is the clearest demonstration of why the weighted figure is the one a course uses. If you did not mean to enter a zero weight, this example is also what an accidental one looks like.

Limitations

This page computes a weighted mean; it does not know your syllabus. Which items exist, what each is worth and whether the lowest score is dropped are all decisions the course made, and dropping a score has to be done by removing it from both lists here. Every score is treated as a percentage of its own item's full marks — a midterm marked out of 50 has to be converted to a percentage before it goes in, since the page cannot see the denominators. Grades above 100 are accepted because extra credit exists, but nothing checks them against a course's own cap. The two lists must be the same length, as pairing is by position, and the page never says whether the resulting grade passes: pass marks differ by school and by country.

Frequently asked questions

How do I calculate a weighted grade for a course?
Multiply every assignment's score by its weight, add those products, then divide by the sum of the weights. Scores 85, 90, 78, 92 and 88 on weights 20, 20, 10, 20 and 30 give 8760 ÷ 100 = 87.6. Both the weighted sum and the weight total are printed above, so the division can be rechecked against the panel. The one thing to check before trusting the answer is that the weights describe the same course you are enrolled in.
Do my weights have to add up to 100?
No. The grade is divided by whatever the weights total, so 3 and 1 describe exactly the same course as 30 and 10 — both give 87.5 on scores of 90 and 80. Only the ratio between the weights changes the answer, which is why the page does not reject a total that is not 100. What the total is useful for is bookkeeping: if your syllabus adds up to 100 and the page prints 85, an item is missing from the list.
Why is the weighted grade different from the average of my scores?
Because a plain average treats every item as equally important, while a weighted grade gives the final the same say the syllabus does. In the first example the weighted grade is 87.6 and the plain average is 86.6, and the gap comes from the one item that is worth 30%: the highest score sits on it. Printing both numbers side by side is deliberate — when every assignment carries the same weight they agree exactly, and the difference in any other case is the effect of the weighting.
Can a weighted grade go above 100 percent?
Yes, when the scores going in are themselves above 100. Extra credit is real: a bonus question can make an assignment worth 105, and scores are not capped here because no single rule decides when that stops being possible — that line is set by each course. If every score is at or below 100 and the weights are percentages, the result cannot exceed 100 either, since it is a weighted mean of numbers that are all at most 100. The unweighted average obeys the same rule.
Where do I use the course grade this page gives me?
The usual next step is the final grade page: enter the current grade it gave you, the grade you want and how much of the course the final is worth, and it returns the score the final exam has to reach. The reverse errand uses the same numbers — checking a transcript against your own arithmetic, or working out a grade point average, which is the same weighted mean with credit hours in place of assignment weights.

References

Related calculators

Final Grade CalculatorWhat you need on the final to hit your target grade.Average CalculatorAverage of a list of numbers, with the running total.GPA CalculatorGPA from course grades and credit hours.