Points-Based Grade Calculator
For the syllabus that counts in points rather than percentages. Put in what each assignment was out of and what you scored. You get your grade so far, the different number your gradebook might be showing you, and how many of the points left each letter costs.
Leave the score blank for anything you haven't had back — that's how the page knows which points are still in play.
Your syllabus
One row per assignment or category, with what it's out of. Leave the points you scored blank for anything you haven't had back yet.
Where the points put you
You have 387 of the 450 points marked so far, which is 86.0% — a B on the cut-offs you picked. 550points haven't been handed back yet.
Your gradebook may show 38.7% instead. That is the same 387 points divided by the whole 1000-point course rather than by the 450 marked so far — every ungraded assignment counted as a zero. It is not your grade; it is your grade if you hand in nothing else.
To finish at 90.0% you need 513 of the 550 points left — an average of 93.3% on everything still to come.
| Letter | Cut-off | Points for the course | Of the 550 left |
|---|---|---|---|
| A+ | 97% | 970 | out of reach |
| A | 93% | 930 | 54398.7% |
| A- | 90% | 900 | 51393.3% |
| B+ | 87% | 870 | 48387.8% |
| B | 83% | 830 | 44380.5% |
| B- | 80% | 800 | 41375.1% |
| C+ | 77% | 770 | 38369.6% |
| C | 73% | 730 | 34362.4% |
| C- | 70% | 700 | 31356.9% |
| D+ | 67% | 670 | 28351.5% |
| D | 63% | 630 | 24344.2% |
| D- | 60% | 600 | 21338.7% |
Points for the course is the cut-off applied to all 1000 points. The last column subtracts what you have already banked, so it is what the work still ahead of you has to bring in. These cut-offs are two common conventions, not standards — the test grade calculatorlets you type your syllabus's own.
Informational only — this is not your official grade. It's what the points you typed produce, before any curve, drop, late penalty or extra credit your instructor applies. Your instructor records the real grade and your registrar keeps it; if either disagrees with this page, they are right. Nothing you type here leaves your browser.
How this is calculated
A points-based course is one division: everything you earned over everything it was worth. The only real question is what goes in the denominator, and mid-term there are two defensible answers. Both are printed here, because the gap between them is where nearly every “why is my Canvas grade wrong” question comes from.
Grade so far= points earned ÷ points graded × 100
If you hand in nothing else= points earned ÷ points in the course × 100
Points a target needs= target ÷ 100 × points in the course − points earned
Average that demands= points needed ÷ points remaining × 100
Worked through with the example the page loads with. A 1000-point course: homework 132 of 150, quizzes 84 of 100, midterm 171 of 200, with a 150-point project and a 400-point final still to come. That's 387 points earned out of the 450 marked, so the grade so far is 86.0%. The same 387 over the full 1000 is 38.7%— a number that means nothing except “most of the course hasn't happened yet”, and one a gradebook will show without saying so. Finishing at 90% takes 900 points, so the 550 still in play have to bring in 543 of them: an average of 98.7%. A flat A at 93% would take 543 points of the 550 left, which the table marks accordingly.
Points or weights — read your syllabus, not this page
These are two genuinely different grading systems and they produce different grades from the same work. A weighted syllabus fixes each category's share of the final number: the final exam is 40% of your grade whether it is out of 100 points or 400. A points syllabus fixes only the point values, so the size of an assignment is its weight, and points earned in one unit can compensate for points lost in another. If your syllabus prints percentages, the weighted grade calculator is the right tool. If it prints point values and a total, this one is.
What it assumes
- A blank score means not graded, not zero. That is the whole mechanism. A blank row keeps its points in “still to come”; if you missed the assignment outright and it will be scored zero, type
0— the two produce very different answers, which is the point. - Assignments worth no points are dropped. A row with a blank or zero point value leaves both sides of the division untouched rather than being counted as a zero-point assignment.
- Points are added as stated, never rescaled. If your rows total 1,050 points, the tool grades out of 1,050. It does not normalize to 1,000 or to 100 — a total that doesn't match the syllabus is a row to fix, not a rounding error to hide.
- Nothing is capped. A target that needs more points than remain returns more than 100% of the remaining work, and a target you have already secured returns a negative. Both are printed as they are, because “that is out of reach” and “you have clinched it” are the two most useful things this page can tell you.
Where this stops being right
- Dropped scores, curves and extra credit. A policy that drops your lowest quiz, a curve applied at the end, or bonus points bolted on top are your instructor's rules, applied after this arithmetic. Delete the dropped row, or enter the adjusted points.
- Categories with their own caps. Some syllabi run a points system inside a weighted shell — 500 homework points that together are worth 20% of the course. That is a weighted syllabus wearing points, and the weighted grade calculator handles it: it takes marks as they were handed back, 44/50 and all.
- The letter cut-offs are conventions, not standards. The two scales offered here are common, not authoritative, and they disagree about the same percentage. The test grade calculator takes cut-offs you type in from your own syllabus.
- 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
Dividing points earned by points possible needs no authority. Two claims on this page do: that points-based and weighted grading are distinct systems with different consequences, and that a gradebook's mid-term percentage depends on how ungraded work is counted.
UC Berkeley Graduate Student Instructor Teaching & Resource Center, Calculating Grades: sets the accumulated-points model against fixed percentages and names the difference as one of instructional assumptions, not arithmetic — under points, “if a student does very poorly in one course unit, she can make up for the low number of points scored in that unit by doing very well in another one. The points become, in a sense, transferable.”
UW-Green Bay Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, “Zeroing In” on Canvas Gradebook Accuracy (February 2024): documents the behaviour behind the two percentages — “Canvas ignores all ungraded assignments when calculating a student's total grade, even those that are past due” — with the worked case of five completed 10-point discussions and an unsubmitted 50-point project reading as 100% until the zero is entered, then 50%.
Hostos Community College, CUNY, Point Grading System: a published example of the scheme this tool is built for — a course's activities totalling a fixed point budget, with letter grades assigned to point ranges rather than to weighted percentages.
Those are cited as verifiable descriptions of how these systems work, not as rules governing your course. Your syllabus governs your course, and where it is silent your instructor does.
Last reviewed: August 2026
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate my grade in a points-based class?
Add up every point you have earned, add up every point those assignments were out of, and divide. 387 points from assignments worth 450 is 86%. The trap is the second number: divide the same 387 by the full 1000 points the course is worth and you get 38.7%, which is not your grade — it is your grade if you hand in nothing else. This page shows both and labels which is which.
Why is my Canvas grade different from what I calculated?
Almost always because of ungraded work. Canvas ignores ungraded assignments when it works out your total, so the number you see is over the points marked so far — but the moment your instructor enters a zero for something you missed, that assignment joins the denominator and the percentage drops. UW-Green Bay's teaching centre gives the clean example: five 10-point discussions completed and a 50-point project unsubmitted shows as 100% until the zero is entered, then 50%. If your figure and the gradebook's disagree, check whether missing work has been zeroed or just left blank.
How many points do I need on the final to get an A?
Take the percentage the A starts at, apply it to the whole course, and subtract what you have already banked. An A at 93% of a 1000-point course is 930 points; with 387 earned, the remaining work has to bring in 543. The table on this page does that for every letter at once and says plainly when a letter needs more points than are left — which is a real answer, not an error.
Is a points-based syllabus the same as a weighted one?
No, and the difference changes your grade. A weighted syllabus fixes each category's share — the final is 40% however many points it is worth. A points syllabus fixes only the point values, so a big assignment simply counts for more and points become transferable between units, as Berkeley's GSI Teaching & Resource Center puts it: a bad unit can be made up in another. Read the top of your syllabus: if it lists percentages, use the weighted grade calculator; if it lists point values, use this one.
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