This is how we calculate every result. All eight tools use the same calculation code. They keep every number as an exact fraction and round only when a number is shown. Each result is an estimate, not an official grade. Rules differ by country and by school (the US alone has no national grading standard), so your school's rule comes first.
Points
The Grade Calculator adds up points. Your grade is points earned ÷ points possible × 100.
Made-up example: an Essay scored 45 out of 50 and a Quiz scored 16 out of 20 make 61 / 70 = 87.14%.
The Score box takes 18, 18/20 or 90%. A percent is worked out from the Max box, or from 100 if Max is blank. A score above the max is allowed, so 23 out of 20 is 115%.
Blank, zero, missing and excused
These are four different things, and each row's How this counts setting is in its ⋯ menu. Made-up example: add a Project worth 30 points to the class above.
| What you do | How it counts | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Leave Score blank | Not graded yet, so it stays out for now | 61 / 70 = 87.14% |
| Type 0 | A real zero | 61 / 100 = 61% |
| Choose Missing: counts as 0 | A zero, even with Score blank | 61 / 100 = 61% |
| Choose Excused: does not count | Removed from the grade | 61 / 70 = 87.14% |
Blank and Excused give the same percent here, but only blank work is still open. With the Project blank, the tool also shows Best possible 91% and Lowest possible 61%.
Check Count work not graded yet as zero to treat every blank as a zero. In this example that gives 61%. Gradebooks can show both views. In its CSV export, Canvas has a Current score that ignores unsubmitted assignments and a Final score that counts them as zero. Excused work stays out of the Canvas total.
Extra credit
In an assignment row, check Extra credit in the ⋯ menu. The row's points count, and its max does not. A max of 0 does the same thing. Made-up example: 5 bonus points change 61 / 70 into 66 / 70 = 94.29%. A blank extra-credit row counts only once it has a score, so Best possible leaves it out.
Weights
The Weighted Grade Calculator multiplies each category's percent by its weight, adds those up, and divides by the weight graded so far.
Made-up example: Homework weighs 20% and you have 90. Quizzes weigh 30% and you have 80. The Final weighs 50% and is not graded yet.
(90 × 20 + 80 × 30) ÷ (20 + 30) = 4,200 ÷ 50 = 84%
A category with nothing graded stays out of the divisor, so 84% is your grade so far, not your final grade. Canvas's guide does the same. Its example leaves out an ungraded 30% group: [(.75 × .20) + (.98 × .50)] ÷ .70 = .9143.
With the same numbers, the tool also shows Best possible 92% and Lowest possible 42%. To finish with 85%, you need an average of 86% on the remaining 50%. If you check Count work not graded yet as zero, your grade shows as 42%.
Your weights should add up to 100%. If they do not, the tool tells you and still works out a result from what you entered. Canvas also allows totals above or below 100%, so check your syllabus.
In each category you can type a grade in Grade so far, or choose Enter assignments instead in its ⋯ menu. Assignments replace the typed grade.
A whole category can be extra credit. Check This is extra credit in its ⋯ menu. Its percent times its weight is divided by the total weight of the regular categories, graded or still open, and added to the grade. Its own weight stays out of the total. Made-up example: Homework weighs 20% at 90, the Final weighs 80% and is not graded yet, and a 5% extra-credit category is at 100.
(90 × 20) ÷ 20 + (100 × 5) ÷ (20 + 80) = 90 + 5 = 95%
The bonus is divided by the whole 100%, not by the 20% graded so far, which would give 115%. That way it adds the same 5 points before and after the Final is graded.
Drop rules
Only the Weighted Grade Calculator drops scores, and it needs assignments, not a typed category grade. In a category's ⋯ menu, choose Enter assignments instead, then set Drop lowest. At least one score always stays in the category. For a class that only adds up points, use one category weighing 100%.
Drop method has two options. Best score for me is the default and keeps the scores that give the highest category percent. Lowest percent drops the scores with the lowest percent.
They can disagree when max points differ. Canvas's guide gives this example: 50/50, 65/100 and 12/24 add up to 127 / 174 = 72.99%.
- Lowest percent drops the 12/24 and leaves 115 / 150 = 76.67%.
- Best score for me drops the 65/100 and leaves 62 / 74 = 83.78%.
Canvas picks the same drop as Best score for me. Its guide shows 73% before the drop and 84% after it.
Lowest percent has a catch when max points differ and work is still open: a 0 just gets dropped, but a middling score can push out a better one. Made-up example: quizzes of 50/50 and 10/20, a 100-point quiz not graded yet, and Drop lowest 1. A 0 on the open quiz is dropped, leaving 85.71%. A 60 pushes out the 10/20 instead, leaving 73.33%. So in that case the tool shows no Best possible, no Lowest possible and no average needed for a goal.
Final exams
The Final Grade Calculator solves one formula:
score needed = (goal − current × (1 − weight)) ÷ weight
Made-up example: your Current grade is 88.3, the Final exam weight % is 15 and your goal is 90.
(90 − 88.3 × 0.85) ÷ 0.15 = 99.6333...
The tool rounds that up and shows 99.64%. The Score needed for each grade table repeats the math for every letter on your scale.
- If the answer is 0 or less, you reach your goal even with a 0 on the final, if your current grade stays the same.
- If the answer is over 100%, the tool shows it and says it is only possible if the final has bonus points.
- A typed grade like 83.33 is rounded, so the grade behind it can need a little less. If the answer is at most 1 point over 100% and that could bring it to 100% or less, the tool says About 100%. Exact points settle it. Made-up example: 250/300 with a 25% final and an 87.5% goal needs exactly 100%, while a typed 83.33 needs 100.01%.
- Further over 100%, if the grade behind your typed one could still need 100% or less, the tool shows the answer for your grade as typed and says your typed grade is rounded. A small final makes that gap wider. Made-up example: a typed 83 with a 10% final and a goal of 85 needs 103%, but an 83.4 needs 99.4%.
The tool assumes the final is one score out of 100%, with the weight you entered. If your syllabus has any other rule for the final, the tool does not know it, with one exception below.
If your final replaces your lowest test. With that box checked, the final counts on its own and also takes the place of your lowest test when it is higher. The tool splits the course into everything else, the tests, which count equally, and the final. Below your lowest test, each point on the final adds only the final's weight. Above it, each point also lifts the test average, so the tool solves for the goal on both sides and tells you which one you land on.
Test grades
The Test Grade Calculator works out percent = (total − wrong) ÷ total × 100. It takes 1 to 200 questions or points.
Made-up example: on a 20-question test, 2 wrong is 18 right, or 90%. With half credit, 2.5 wrong is 17.5 right, or 87.5%.
Step sets the chart rows to whole, half or quarter points. Every question counts the same, so for questions worth different points, enter the test's total points and the points lost.
Rounding
Rounding happens last, and only for display.
- Exact until shown. 250 out of 300 stays exactly 5/6. It shows as 83.33%, but the next step uses 5/6, not 83.33.
- Percents show up to 2 decimals. The Test Grade Calculator shows a whole number or one decimal, set by Show percent as.
- Letters use the exact percent. On the 10-point scale, 89.5% is a B. Check My teacher rounds .5 up and the percent rounds to a whole number first, so 89.5% becomes 90 and an A, while 89.49% becomes 89 and stays a B.
- A shown percent can sit above its letter. Made-up example: 21 wrong out of 200 is exactly 89.5%. With Show percent as set to Whole number, that shows as 90%, but the letter is still a B. The tool tells you the exact score. It can happen with My teacher rounds .5 up too: with One decimal, 17 right out of 19 is 89.47%, which shows as 89.5%* next to a B. The * note under the chart says the exact score is just under .5, so it rounds down.
- The Grade, Weighted and Final tools do not round across a letter line. 89.995% shows as 89.99%, not 90%, so the number matches the letter.
- Scores you need round up. In the final exam example, 99.6% would leave you at 89.995%, just under 90. So the tool shows 99.64%. The Goal box in the Weighted Grade Calculator and the Target box in the GPA Calculator round up the same way.
- Plan my final sends your exact grade. The Grade and Weighted tools pass your points, such as 596/700, not a rounded 85.14. Made-up example: with 596 of 700 points, a 30% final and a goal of 85, the Goal box and the Final Grade Calculator both say 84.67%. A typed 85.14 gives 84.68%.
GPA
The GPA Calculator uses the method that registrars such as RPI and the University of Illinois publish. Multiply each course's grade points by its credits to get quality points. Add the quality points. Divide by your GPA credits.
RPI's own example: 4 credits of B is 12, 4 credits of A is 16, 1 credit of D is 1 and 4 credits of B is 12. That makes 41 ÷ 13 = 3.15.
P, NP and W stay out of GPA here. P earns credit, as at UC Santa Barbara Engineering. NP earns none, and UC Berkeley leaves it out of grade-point computation. W earns no credit, as at the University of Denver. F counts in GPA and earns no credit.
Made-up example: five 3-credit courses graded A, P, NP, W and F. Only the A and F count, so the GPA is 12 ÷ 6 = 2.00. The tool shows GPA credits 6, Earned credits 6 and Attempted credits 15.
To include earlier terms, fill in GPA so far and GPA credits so far under Prior record. Made-up example: a 3.2 over 60 credits, then 15 credits of A: (3.2 × 60 + 4.0 × 15) ÷ 75 = 3.36.
To plan ahead, fill in Target cumulative GPA and Credits next term. Made-up example: with a 3.2 over 60 credits, a 3.3 target and 15 credits next term, the tool says "You need a 3.70 GPA over your next 15 credits."
If the target is out of reach, the tool gives the most you can reach instead. Made-up example: with a 2.0 over 90 credits, a 3.5 target and 15 credits next term, that is 2.28 on a 4.0 scale. This number is cut off, not rounded, so it never overstates what you can reach.
Weighted GPA
The Weighted GPA Calculator is for high school. It works out two GPAs from the same courses. The unweighted GPA is grade points times credits, added up and divided by credits. The weighted GPA first adds extra points for each Honors or college-level course, then does the same sum.
The extra points and the grades that get them come from the rule you pick under Your school's rule, or from the points you type. Each rule's source is on the tool's page. A course with a grade that gets no extra points under the rule, such as an F, counts at its plain grade points.
Made-up example under the Florida rule: an A in a college-level course is 4 + 1 = 5 points, and a B in an Honors course is 3 + 0.5 = 3.5. With one 1-credit course of each, the weighted GPA is 8.5 ÷ 2 = 4.25 and the unweighted GPA is 7 ÷ 2 = 3.50.
Semester grades
The Semester Grade Calculator multiplies Quarter 1, Quarter 2 and the final exam by their weights, adds them and divides by the total weight. Before every part has a score, it divides by the weight of the parts that have one, and calls the result the grade so far.
With both quarters in and the final blank, it works out the score needed on the final the same way the Final Grade Calculator does, with the final's share of the total weight. Made-up example with 40/40/20: quarters of 85 and 88 average 86.5, so a 90 needs (90 − 86.5 × 0.8) ÷ 0.2 = 104%.
It works from percents. A school that combines letter grades instead can give another letter near a cutoff.
Repeated courses
Mark a retake with Repeats an earlier course in its ⋯ menu, then pick your school's rule under Repeated courses. The first option below is the default. Made-up example: 12 credits of A, plus one 3-credit course taken twice, B first and then C.
| Setting | A school that does this | Math | GPA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Latest attempt replaces earlier ones | RPI | 54 ÷ 15 | 3.60 |
| Highest grade counts | University of Arizona | 57 ÷ 15 | 3.80 |
| Both count | Virginia Commonwealth University | 63 ÷ 18 | 3.50 |
Each school has details the tool does not copy. The RPI and Arizona rules above are for undergraduates. At the University of Memphis, the second and later attempts count in GPA, even when a later grade is lower, so a third attempt can differ from our result, which keeps only the latest. VCU counts a repeated course once toward graduation, and our Earned credits does too: 15 in this example. VCU also lets a student exclude a first D or F by filing a form, which the tool cannot know.
Attempted credits counts every attempt under every setting, because each one was taken: 18 in this example. Your school may count attempts its own way.
GPA display
Schools also differ on the last digit, so GPA display gives you both options.
- Round to 2 decimals is the default. Dartmouth and Arizona State round.
- Cut off after 2 decimals, the way some registrars do drops the extra digits. The University of Illinois, RPI and the University of Denver do this.
The University of Illinois example is 35 ÷ 16 = 2.1875. Cut off, that is 2.18. Rounded, it is 2.19.
Grading scales and where they come from
The US has no national grading standard. A 2005 U.S. Department of Education overview says there is no national school system, and that classroom teachers typically decide grades. So no scale here is right for every class. Both built-in scales are published rules, and you can make your own grading scale.
Percent to letter
- 10-point scale. From Florida law, for public school grades 6-12. It does not cover colleges, and other states and schools set their own scales.
- Plus/minus scale. From the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing catalog. It is one school's rule. We use it because it is the only full 13-row table we read.
| Letter | 10-point scale, lowest percent | Plus/minus scale, lowest percent |
|---|---|---|
| A+ | None | 97 |
| A | 90 | 93 |
| A- | None | 90 |
| B+ | None | 87 |
| B | 80 | 83 |
| B- | None | 80 |
| C+ | None | 77 |
| C | 70 | 73 |
| C- | None | 70 |
| D+ | None | 67 |
| D | 60 | 63 |
| D- | None | 60 |
| F | 0 | 0 |
A letter runs from its minimum up to just under the next letter's minimum, so there are no gaps. Florida's law prints whole-number ranges and gives no rounding rule. Johns Hopkins nursing rounds final course grades to a whole number, so 89.5 becomes 90 and an A- there. Our Plus/minus scale shows B+ for 89.5 unless you check My teacher rounds .5 up.
Other schools draw the lines elsewhere. The University of the Incarnate Word has no A+ or C-, so its C starts at 70, not 73. Purdue Global's undergraduate table has no A+ or D-, so its D starts at 60, not 63. BigFuture prints D as 66-69 and E/F as below 65.
Our Plus/minus scale marks D grades as passing. That follows Stanford, which calls a D a minimal pass. It does not follow Johns Hopkins nursing, where the progression policy requires a repeat below C- or higher, depending on the program.
Letter to grade points
Schools differ in two ways. An A- is 3.7 at some and 3.67 at others. An A+ is 4.0, 4.3 or 4.33. GPA scale in the GPA Calculator has one option for each pattern.
- 4.0 scale (A- = 3.7): University of Missouri and UC Berkeley.
- 4.0 scale (A- = 3.67): University of Illinois and Drexel.
- 4.3 scale (A+ = 4.3): Cornell and Stanford.
- 4.33 scale (A+ = 4.33): University of Iowa and Arizona State.
| Letter | 4.0 scale (A- = 3.7) | 4.0 scale (A- = 3.67) | 4.3 scale (A+ = 4.3) | 4.33 scale (A+ = 4.33) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A+ | 4.0 | 4.00 | 4.3 | 4.33 |
| A | 4.0 | 4.00 | 4.0 | 4.00 |
| A- | 3.7 | 3.67 | 3.7 | 3.67 |
| B+ | 3.3 | 3.33 | 3.3 | 3.33 |
| B | 3.0 | 3.00 | 3.0 | 3.00 |
| B- | 2.7 | 2.67 | 2.7 | 2.67 |
| C+ | 2.3 | 2.33 | 2.3 | 2.33 |
| C | 2.0 | 2.00 | 2.0 | 2.00 |
| C- | 1.7 | 1.67 | 1.7 | 1.67 |
| D+ | 1.3 | 1.33 | 1.3 | 1.33 |
| D | 1.0 | 1.00 | 1.0 | 1.00 |
| D- | 0.7 | 0.67 | 0.7 | 0.67 |
| F | 0.0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 0.00 |
The second source on a scale can leave out a row. Drexel has no D-, Stanford has no F row, and Arizona State has no C-, D+ or D-. The tool lists those rows anyway, from the first source.
What the tools do not handle
The tools only know what you type. They do not read your gradebook, and they do not know a rule unless you set it. These are the gaps we know about.
- Quarter credits. The GPA Calculator does not convert them. To convert, multiply by 2/3, as CU Boulder and UCLA Extension do. 4 quarter credits × 2/3 = 2.67 semester credits, and CU Boulder rounds that to 2.7.
- Transfer credits and incomplete grades. Neither is handled. In Prior record, use GPA credits only.
- Honors or advanced course boosts. The GPA Calculator adds no extra weight for these courses. The Weighted GPA Calculator does, for high school GPAs.
- GPA caps. Arizona State caps cumulative GPA at 4.00, even though an A+ is worth 4.33. Our 4.33 scale has no cap.
- NP that counts like an F. At Stanford, NP carries 0.0 grade points and counts in the GPA. Here it stays out. Choose F to match that rule.
- Withdrawals that count like an F. At the University of Cincinnati, the unofficial withdrawals UW and X count like an F. Here W stays out. Choose F to match that rule.
- Partial credit for missing work. Canvas can award a chosen percent for missing work. Here Missing: counts as 0 is always zero, so type the score instead.
- Other drop rules. Canvas can also drop highest scores and keep a Never Drop list. We have Drop lowest only.
- Curves. No tool applies a curve.
Sources
We read each page below on 2026-11-03. Tool pages and guides list the sources they use.
Percent scales
- Education in the United States: A Brief Overview (U.S. Department of Education, September 2005)
- Chapter 1003 Section 437 - 2026 Florida Statutes - The Florida Senate
- Grading Policy | Johns Hopkins University Academic Catalogue
- Academic Standards for Progression | Johns Hopkins University Academic Catalogue
- Grading Scale | Registrar | University of the Incarnate Word
- Academic Grades and Marks (Purdue Global)
- How to Calculate Your GPA on a 4.0 Scale – BigFuture
- General University Grading System (Stanford)
Grade points
- Grading System (University of Missouri)
- Grades & Grading - Office of the Registrar (UC Berkeley)
- Explanation of Grades | Office of the Registrar | Illinois
- Grading Scale (Drexel)
- Academic Grades and Notations | The ILR School (Cornell)
- How Do I Calculate My Grade Point Average (GPA)? (Stanford)
- Grading | University of Iowa General Catalog
- Grades and grading policies | University Registrar Services | ASU
GPA math and display
- GPA Calculation (RPI)
- Calculate Your GPA | Office of the Registrar | Illinois
- GPA Calculation & Standard Rounding (Dartmouth)
Grades outside GPA
- Grading & GPA | The Robert Mehrabian College of Engineering - UC Santa Barbara
- Grade Points & Terms (University of Denver)
- Grading Scales and Definitions (University of Cincinnati)
Repeated courses
- Repeating a Course | Office of the Registrar (RPI)
- Repeated Courses: GPA Scenarios - Registrar (University of Memphis)
- Repeating a Course & Grading for Repeated Courses (University of Arizona)
- Repeated courses (Virginia Commonwealth University)
Gradebook documentation
- How do I weight the final course grade based on assignment groups? - Instructure Community
- How do I view total scores in the Gradebook as if all ungraded assignments were given zero grades? - Instructure Community
- How do I change the status of a submission in the Gradebook? - Instructure Community
- How do I apply a Missing Submission policy in the Gradebook? - Instructure Community
- How do I create rules for an assignment group? - Instructure Community
Quarter credits
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