When the Points Table Stops Short of the Total: A 1,050-Point Course

If your syllabus offers 1,050 points but says an A is 901 to 1,000, the A starts at 901 points, not at 90% of 1,050. Reading the table as a percentage of the total moves the line from 901 points to 945, and the work still to come then looks far harder than it is.

UC Berkeley's Graduate Student Instructor Teaching & Resource Center describes exactly this setup. The instructor makes "1050 points in all the activities of the course" available, with "an A grade falls within the range of 901 to 1000 points." The same page adds: "Fifty points are available to make up for a student's low point in the semester." The 50 points between 1,000 and 1,050 are slack the table already accounts for. Berkeley's page is an example of how a points system can be built. Your syllabus is the rule for your course, and your instructor records the grade.

Two ways to read the same table

Take the Berkeley numbers. The course has 1,050 points. The A range starts at 901.

Reading	Where the A starts	As a share of 1,050
The table as printed (points)	901 points	901 ÷ 1,050 = 85.8%
"90%" applied to the total	945 points	90% of 1,050 = 945

The two lines are 44 points apart. Only the first matches what the syllabus says. The second is a convention from percentage-based courses, and it is not what this table says. If your table prints percentage cut-offs instead, use those: Columbia SPS, for example, publishes its A starting at 93, a percentage. A points table and a percentage table are different documents, and each institution or instructor publishes its own.

A worked example you can redo

Use the same 1,050-point course. You have been graded on 700 points of work and have earned 600 of them.

• Points still in play: 1,050 − 700 = 350.
• Grade so far: 600 ÷ 700 = 85.7%.
• Points needed to reach the start of the A range: 901 − 600 = 301.
• Average that demands on the 350 left: 301 ÷ 350 = 86.0%.

Now make the mistake. Read the table as "90% of 1,050":

• Points needed: 945 − 600 = 345.
• Average that demands on the 350 left: 345 ÷ 350 = 98.6%.

Same student, same work. One reading says the rest of the course must average 86.0%, which is what the student has done so far. The other says 98.6%, which is almost no room for any lost point. The only difference is whether the cut-off was read in points or turned into a percentage of the wrong denominator.

Where the estimate goes quietly wrong

The table's top is not the course total. In the Berkeley example the A range ends at 1,000 while the course offers 1,050. Dividing your points by 1,000 instead of 1,050, or the reverse, changes your percentage: 600 points is 57.1% of 1,050 and 60.0% of 1,000. Find out which number your syllabus calls the total.

You convert a points cut-off and round it. 901 of 1,050 is 85.8%, not 86% and not 85%. Rounded, the cut-off can sit a few points away from where the syllabus put it. Enter the exact figure, 901 ÷ 1,050 × 100, as the target percentage.

Blank and zero are not the same row. A score you have not had back is points still in play. A score recorded as zero is points lost. The Points or Percentages guide covers how a gradebook treats the difference.

Putting your own table into the calculator

The Points-Based Grade Calculator takes each assignment's points possible and points earned, and leaves a blank score as "still to come." It grades out of whatever your rows add up to, so enter every row until the total matches your syllabus. For a points table, work out the target as the cut-off points divided by the total, times 100. For 901 of 1,050 that is 85.8%. Enter it as the target and read off the points and the average the remaining work has to bring in. The calculator's own letter list uses percentage cut-offs, so for a points table the target you type in is the number to trust.

Frequently asked questions

If an A is 901 to 1,000 points, is a 1,000-point score the maximum?

In Berkeley's example the A range is 901 to 1,000 while 1,050 points are available. Points above 1,000 are the slack the page describes. Whether a score above 1,000 changes anything is set by your syllabus.

Is a point cut-off the same as a percentage cut-off?

Not unless the course total equals the number the percentage is taken of. 901 points is 90.1% of 1,000 but 85.8% of 1,050. Which one applies is written in your syllabus.

Why not just use 90% for an A?

Because 90% is a convention, not a rule. Columbia SPS starts its A at 93, and a points table such as Berkeley's example starts it where the instructor wrote it. Use the table your syllabus prints.

Does this change if my instructor curves the course?

The arithmetic above holds for the table as printed. If your instructor announces a curve, the syllabus no longer describes your grade alone, and the instructor's announcement does. See How Grade Curves Actually Work for the documented methods.

Informational only, not professional advice. Your syllabus is the rule for your course; your instructor records the grade and the registrar keeps it. Written by Eric, SyllabusMath founder.

Last reviewed: October 2026.