Objective: Students will demonstrate understanding of grade configuration for two different classes that have different assignment types and percentages.
This lesson is designed to teach you how to calculate grades for both a points-based grading system and a percentage/weight-based grading system. Percentage/weight-based systems are may be new to you since many high school courses grade only on a 100 point/percentage scale.
Estimated time 45 minutesThis section corresponds with Module 2 Activity 3 in the College Bound Transition curriculum resources.
How to calculate your GPA in college.
Did you know that calculating grades in college will be very different from calculating grades in high school?
Consider this:
When faced with columns of numbers, calculating grades can seem like a daunting task. This can be complicated by the fact that each course you will take will likely have a different combination of tests, projects, assignments, etc. and each item or category may be worth a different percentage or point value! However, college instructors generally spell out their grading structure in the course syllabus, so students will know from the first day of class how much each item is worth and how to accurately calculate their final grade or current standing in the class.
You may encounter professors who weight assignments by either percentage or by points. In both of these examples the total number of points you can earn is 250. So the corresponding assignments actually carry the same weight. (i.e., 100 points out of 250 total points is 40%, 50 points out of 250 points is 20%).
Points systems are often easier to calculate because the weights are built into the point values. All you have to do is add up the total number of points you’ve earned and divide by the total number of points possible to earn in the class. Then multiply the result by 100 to get the final grade expressed as a percentage. You’re probably familiar with this system because it is used most often in high school. Let’s look at an example:
Assignment | Points Possible | Points Earned |
---|---|---|
Test 1 | 100 | 75 |
Test 2 | 100 | 90 |
Paper 1 | 50 | 45 |
Total: | 250 | 210 |
210 ÷ 250 = .84 .84 x 100 = 84% Final Grade
In this example, the student scored 75/100 on Test 1; 90/100 on Test 2; and 45/50 on Paper 1. This gives her a total of 210 points earned out of a possible 250 points. 210/250 is .84, which is a final grade of 84% in this course.
This video demonstrates how to calculate your grade using the point system. [Transcript]
Percentage‐based grading involves a few more steps to calculate, but still follows the same basic idea. Where it can get a bit more complicated is when assignments aren’t necessarily all graded on the same scale or on a 100‐point scale. If you’re accustomed to seeing grades only on a 100‐point/percentage scale remember that you can’t directly compare grades that aren’t on the same scale. For example, a 50/60 is a actually 2 full letter grades higher than a 50/75, despite both having a raw score of 50.
To calculate the final grade in terms of a percentage/100‐point scale like you’re accustomed to, you need to start by converting the individual assignment grades to a percentage value. Check out this example:
Assignment | Points Possible | Points Earned | Calculations of Grade Earned | % Weight | Calculations of Weighted Grade |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Test 1 | 40 | 30 | 30 ÷ 40 = .75 x 100 = 75 | 40% | 75 x .40 = 30 |
Test 2 | 80 | 72 | 72 ÷ 80 = .9 x 100 = 90 | 40% | 90 x .40 = 36 |
Paper 1 | 10 | 9 | 9 ÷ 10 = .9 x 100 = 90 | 20% | 90 x .20 = 18 |
30 + 36 + 18 = 84 | |||||
84% Final Grade |
Check out this example of how to calculate an average using a weighted grading scale.
Review this example thoroughly with your child to make sure that they understand the steps needed to calculate grades on a percentage/weight-based system. This may be a more difficult task for students who have a disability in math.
As a new college student beware of falling into the trap of assuming that having a large number of high grades means that you’re doing well in the class – regardless of what those grades are on. Some students will say things like, “I don’t understand why my midterm grade is a D. I made 100 on all of my homework. The only bad grade I have is an F on the first test.”
Keep in mind that:
Take a look at this example:
As this example shows, it’s important to understand the weights of each assignment and how they are calculated in order to accurately determine your grade in a class.
This can be a difficult concept for your child to grasp. Carefully review the example with them. Point out that there are 37 individual grades in the course: 2 tests, 2 papers, 5 quizzes, and 28 participation/attendance grades. However, only 4 grades (tests 1 & 2 and papers 1 & 2) account for 80% of the student’s final mark in the class. The other 33 grades have a much more negligible impact on the overall grade.
Assignment | Points Possible | Points Earned | Calculations of Grade Earned | % Weight | Calculations of Weighted Grade |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tests | 200 | 110 | 110 ÷ 200 = .55 x 100 = 55 | 50% | 55 x .50 = 27.5 |
Papers | 100 | 45 | 45 ÷ 100 = .45 x 100 = 45 | 30% | 45 x .30 = 13.5 |
Quizzes | 50 | 41 | 41 ÷ 50 = .82 x 100 = 82 | 10% | 32 x .10 = 8.2 |
Participation | 56 | 54 | 54 ÷ 56 = .96 x 100 = 96 | 10% | 96 x .10 = 9.6 |
27.5 + 13.5 + 8.2 + 9.6 = 58.8 | |||||
59% Final Grade |
In this example, strong grades on quizzes and participation/attendance are not enough to balance out low grades on tests and papers. As a result, the student fails the class despite having an A average in the participation/attendance category and a B average in the quiz category.
If all of these areas had been weighted equally (25% each), the student would have earned a 69.5% in the course—assuming the professor had rounded up to 70, that’s the difference between an F and a C‐ at many schools.
This is one of the reasons why knowing how to correctly calculate grades is so important; without constant feedback from instructors like you often have in high school, you’re on your own to figure out where you stand in a course! Mistakenly calculating your standing can potentially lead to prioritizing your studying/assignments poorly or even to getting a huge shock/disappointment when grades are posted.
Objective: Students will demonstrate understanding of grade configuration for two different classes that have different assignment types and percentages.
If so, congratulations!
If not, review the sections on Points-Based Grading and Percentage/Weight-Based Grading then do some of the extra practice calculations at the links below.