Final Grade Calculator

How this is calculated

A syllabus that says “Homework 20%, Midterm 25%, Final 40%” is describing a weighted average. Each component contributes points equal to your score on it times its weight, and the course grade is the sum of those points.

Worked through with the example the page loads with: homework at 92 on a 20% weight puts 18.4 points on the board, quizzes at 88 on 15% put 13.2, the midterm at 84 on 25% puts 21. That is 52.6 points from the 60% of the course that has been graded, which is a running grade of 87.7%. The final is worth the other 40%, so reaching 90 for the course needs (90 − 52.6) ÷ 40 × 100 = 93.5% on it.

What it assumes

• The weights you enter are the ones that count. They are used exactly as typed and are never rescaled to total 100. If yours total something else, the tool says so rather than quietly normalizing — a total that isn't 100 is a syllabus to re-read, not a rounding error to hide.
• Ungraded work all comes back at the same score. When more than one component is still outstanding, the “needed” figure is the average across all of them — any split that averages to it works out the same.
• Scores are percentages of what that component was out of. If a midterm was marked out of 80 and you scored 68, enter 85, not 68.
• Nothing is capped. A needed score above 100 means the target is out of reach, and a negative one means it's already secured. Both are printed as they come out, because both are more useful than a clamped number.

Where this stops being right

• Rules your syllabus states in prose. Dropped lowest scores, curves, extra credit, a final that can replace a midterm, a minimum exam score required to pass regardless of the average — none of these are applied here. Resolve them into a score first, then enter it.
• Points-based courses. If your syllabus totals raw points (“850 of 1000”) rather than percentage weights, enter each category's share of the total as its weight.
• Rounding at the boundary. Whether an 89.5 becomes an A− is your institution's rule and often your instructor's discretion. This page reports one decimal place and rounds nothing in your favour.
• This is not your official grade. Your instructor records it and your registrar keeps it. If either disagrees with this page, they are right.

Sources

The arithmetic is a weighted mean and needs no authority. What does need one is the premise underneath it: that the weights printed in your syllabus are the rule your grade is actually computed under. That is institutional policy, and it's written down.

Penn State University Faculty Senate, Policy 47-20, Basis for Grades: “The instructor should provide written (paper or electronic form) notification of the basis for grades to students on or before the first class meeting,” and “any changes in that basis should likewise be presented to students in writing.”

University of Toronto Governing Council, University Assessment and Grading Practices Policy (in force 1 January 2020): the instructor “shall make available to the class … the methods by which student performance shall be evaluated,” including their relative weights, and once those are known “the instructor may not change them or their relative weight without the consent of a simple majority of students attending the class.”

Two institutions, the same rule: the weighting is disclosed up front and can't be moved afterwards without you. That is why this tool asks for your syllabus instead of assuming a standard scheme — the document in your hand is the primary source, and the calculator's job is only to do its arithmetic in the open. Your own institution's registrar or student handbook will state the equivalent rule; the two above are cited as published, verifiable examples, not as policies that govern your course.

Last reviewed: August 2026