Grade Calculator
What do I need on the final exam?
Weighted average of my scores
This free Grade Calculator answers the two questions students lose sleep over. The first tool works backwards from a target: enter your current grade and how much of the course the final exam is worth, and it tells you exactly what score you need on that final to finish with ninety, eighty or seventy percent — plus any custom target you choose, such as the eighty five you need to keep a scholarship. If the required score is above one hundred, it says so honestly and shows the best grade still reachable; if you have already locked the grade in, it says that too.
The second tool builds a weighted average from any set of components — homework, quizzes, midterms, projects, participation — each with its own score and syllabus weight. Weights do not have to total one hundred: if you only enter the components graded so far, the calculator scales them proportionally and notes that it did, which makes it a fair running estimate of where you stand mid-course. Letter equivalents use the common ninety, eighty, seventy, sixty cut-offs, though your school's boundaries may differ. Everything runs locally in your browser; your grades are never uploaded, stored or shared.
How to use
- For the final exam tool, enter your current course grade.
- Enter the final exam's weight as a percentage of the course.
- Optionally set a custom target, then click What do I need.
- For the weighted average, add one row per course component.
- Enter each score and weight, then click Calculate weighted grade.
Frequently asked questions
How is the needed final score worked out?
Your course grade is a weighted blend: current grade times the non-final share, plus final score times the final's share. Solving that equation for the final score gives the answer. For example, with eighty percent currently and a final worth forty percent, an A needs a score that makes the blend reach ninety.
What if I need more than 100 percent?
Then the target cannot be reached in that course, however well the exam goes. The calculator shows the highest final grade still possible, which helps you redirect effort towards the target just below — often the difference between letter grades is only a few points of exam score.
Why did the weighted average scale my weights?
If the weights entered total, say, sixty percent because the final has not happened yet, dividing by the weights actually entered gives the correct average of your completed work. Without scaling, the missing forty percent would silently count as zeros and badly understate your standing.
Are the letter grade cut-offs universal?
No. Ninety, eighty, seventy and sixty are the most common boundaries in US schools, but plenty of institutions curve, use plus and minus bands, or set different thresholds per course. Always confirm against your syllabus for anything official.