Most students do this sum on the back of a notebook the week before exams. Take the marks so far, guess at the weights, hope the answer is close. It usually isn't, and one wrong weight can move the result by several points. This free grade calculator does the sum properly in a few seconds, and it keeps going where a basic calculator stops. It works out your weighted average, tells you what grade you need on your final, turns a test score into a percentage, and calculates your GPA, all from the tool above.

What this grade calculator does

Think of it as four small calculators that share one screen. The tabs at the top let you move between them:

• Average is a weighted grade calculator. Add each assignment with its mark and weight and it gives you your current course grade.
• Final exam is a final grade calculator. It answers the question "what grade do I need on my final?"
• Test score is a test grade calculator. It turns questions right or wrong into a percentage and shows how many questions you can get wrong for each grade.
• GPA calculates the GPA for one term, or your cumulative GPA if you add earlier results.

A dropdown in the top right corner switches between five grading scales: A to F letters, A+ to F with plus and minus, UK degree classes, the Australian HD/D/C/P system, and Distinction/Merit/Pass. The same marks can therefore be read the way your own school reads them, wherever you study.

How to use this grade calculator

The calculator opens on the Average tab. Every tab follows the same pattern: type your numbers, press the large Calculate button (or hit Enter on your keyboard) and the result appears in place. Press Edit if you want to go back and change something.

Choose your grading scale

Open the dropdown and pick the scale your school uses. A–F letters is the usual choice for US-style classes, while UK degree and Australian HD/D/C/P suit university courses in those systems. The scale only changes the grade label and the boundaries. Your percentage never changes. On the GPA tab the dropdown is replaced by a fixed "4.0 GPA scale" label, because GPA always works from grade points.

The Average tab (weighted grade calculator)

Each row is one assessment. Type a name if you like (homework, midterm, lab report), then the mark you received and how much it counts towards the whole course.

• Mark. Enter a percentage such as 85 or 85%, or a fraction such as 17/20. A fraction is converted to a percentage for you. Decimals work with either a dot or a comma.
• Weight. This is the share of the course grade that the assessment is worth. A final exam that counts for 40% gets a 40.
• Add row and the red x. You can use up to eight rows, and the x removes a row you don't need.
• No weights. Leave every weight box empty and you get a simple average where each mark counts equally. If you fill in some weights but not others, the calculator points out which ones are missing.
• Work still to come. If a mark is empty but has a weight, that part of the course is treated as not done yet. The result is labelled "Your grade so far" and shows how much of the course it covers.
• Weights above 100%. If your weights add up to more than 100, they are scaled proportionally and the calculator tells you it did so.
• Extra credit. Marks up to 150% are accepted.

After you press Calculate you see a large percentage, the grade, a ruler showing where you sit between the boundaries, and three tiles: your average, the points you need to reach the next grade, and how much of the course has been counted. Underneath, a coloured bar shows how many points each assessment added to your grade. That bar is useful for spotting which piece of work is holding you back and which one is carrying you.

When part of the course is still to come, a button called "What do I need on the rest?" appears. Tap it and the Final exam tab opens with your current grade, the remaining weight and the next grade up already filled in.

The Final exam tab (final grade calculator)

This is the tab for the question students ask near the end of term: what grade do I need on my final? You need three numbers.

• Current grade % is your grade before the final. If you don't know it, work it out on the Average tab first.
• Final is worth % is how much the final exam counts towards the course.
• Grade you want % is your target. The quick target buttons fill it in using the boundaries of the scale you picked, for example A 90% or B 80%.

The answer is the minimum score you need on the final. There are three possible outcomes:

• A number, which is the score to aim for. It is always rounded up to the next hundredth, so the figure you see is enough to reach your target.
• "Already secured", which means even 0% on the final would leave you at or above your target.
• "Out of reach without extra credit", which means even a perfect 100% would fall short. The screen then shows the best grade you could still finish on.

Below the result, a slider lets you test scenarios. Drag it to any score and the calculator shows the overall grade you would finish with. A second block lists the score needed for every grade on the scale, so you can see how far away each one is. A cell that says "Over 100%" means that grade is no longer possible.

The Test score tab (test grade calculator)

Use this one for quizzes, class tests and practice papers. Enter the total number of questions or points, choose whether you are typing the number you got wrong or the number you got right, and type it in.

You get the percentage, the grade, how many answers were right and wrong, and how much each question is worth. The part people use most is the block at the bottom called "Most wrong answers allowed for each grade". It answers the question "how many questions can I get wrong?" for every grade on the scale. On a 40-question test, for example, you can get 4 wrong and still hold 90%. If your test is marked in points rather than questions, you can type decimals and the block switches to showing the points needed for each grade.

The GPA tab (GPA calculator)

Add each course with its letter grade and its credits (some schools call them credit hours). Course names are optional. The grade dropdown runs from A+ down to F, and both A+ and A count as 4.0. You can enter up to eight courses.

To include earlier terms, switch on "Previous GPA" and enter your GPA so far and the credits it covers. The calculator then shows your term GPA and your new cumulative GPA, along with total credits and grade points. The previous GPA must be on the 4.0 scale.

Copy, Reset, Edit and saved numbers

• Copy copies a one-line summary of your result, ready to paste into a message or a note.
• Edit takes you back to the input screen with everything still filled in.
• Reset clears the tab you are on.
• Saved numbers. What you type is stored in your own browser, so it is still there when you come back on the same device. The calculations happen on your device and nothing is sent to us. If you clear your browser data, the saved numbers go with it.

The formulas behind the results

There is no black box here. These are the calculations the tool runs, written out so you can check any result yourself.

Percentages are shown to two decimals, and the grade label is chosen from that rounded number so the two never disagree. A result of 89.995% is displayed as 90.00% and graded A on the A–F scale. The score you need on a final is always rounded up, never down. If all you need is a quick fraction or percentage conversion, our percentage calculator does it in one step.

Four worked examples

Example 1: a weighted course grade

Say your course is graded like this. The last column is the mark multiplied by the weight.

The course grade is 85.15%. That is a B on the A–F scale and on A+ to F, a First on the UK degree scale, and a High Distinction on the Australian scale. The marks are identical in every case, only the labels change, which is exactly why the scale dropdown exists.

Example 2: what do I need on the final?

Your current grade is 82%, the final is worth 30% and you want 85% overall.

You can check it: 57.4 + (92% of 30) = 85. Anything lower than 92% leaves you short of the target.

Example 3: test score and wrong answers

A 40-question test with 6 wrong answers means 34 correct. That is 34 ÷ 40 = 85%. The table shows how many you could have missed for each grade on the A–F scale.

With 6 wrong, this score sits in the B band, two answers short of an A.

Example 4: term GPA and cumulative GPA

The term GPA is 45.3 ÷ 13 = 3.48. If you already had a 3.10 GPA over 60 credits, the cumulative GPA becomes (3.10 × 60 + 45.3) ÷ 73 = 3.17.

Grading scales compared

Boundaries differ between schools, so always check your own handbook. These are the cut-offs the calculator uses.

A–F letter grades

A+ to F with plus and minus

UK degree, Australian and Distinction/Merit/Pass compared

HD = High Distinction, D = Distinction, C = Credit, P = Pass. Some Australian universities set their HD line at 80% instead of 85%, and many UK universities review results that fall one or two points below a boundary. Distinction/Merit/Pass follows the common 70/60/50 pattern used for UK postgraduate awards. If you are working out a full UK degree across several years, our University Grade Calculator UK handles the year weightings.

Two charts that explain how grades behave

Chart 1: how the weight of the final changes the score you need

Here the current grade is 78% and the target is 80%. Because the current grade is below the target, a heavier final gives you more room to catch up, so the score you need drops as the weight rises. If your current grade were above your target, the pattern would flip.

Score needed on the final exam. Each bar is the minimum percentage required.

Chart 2: what one wrong answer costs on tests of different lengths

One wrong answer costs 100 ÷ the number of questions. On a short quiz a single slip is expensive, and on a long paper it barely registers.

Percentage points lost for each wrong answer.

Practical tips to raise your grade

• Enter marks as soon as they come back. A grade you check every week is a grade you can still change. A grade you check once, after the last exam, is only a result.
• Look at the weights before you pick what to revise. A project worth 40% can lift your grade more than ten quizzes worth 1% each. The "points added" bar in the Average tab shows this clearly.
• Test a realistic scenario, not a dream one. Use the slider on the Final exam tab with the score you would honestly expect. If the answer is a grade you are happy with, good. If it isn't, you now know how much more you need.
• Ask how your school rounds. Some courses round 89.5 up to 90 and others don't. That half a point can decide a grade, so it is worth one email to find out.
• When the target is out of reach, change the target. If the calculator says "Over 100%", look at the next grade down. You can also ask whether extra credit or a resit is available.
• Keep one scale per calculation. Switching between letter grades and percentages halfway through is the quickest way to end up with a number that means nothing.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Weights that don't add up. If your syllabus lists categories (homework 20%, exams 50%, project 30%), enter one row per category with the average mark for that category, not one row per assignment with the category weight repeated.
• Dropped scores. If your course drops your lowest quiz, leave that quiz out. The calculator counts every row you fill in and doesn't drop anything automatically.
• Typing a letter into a percentage box. The Average tab needs percentages or fractions. If you only have letter grades, use the GPA tab or look up the percentage range in the tables above.
• Weighted GPA scales. Some schools give extra points for honours or advanced courses and report GPAs above 4.0. This tool uses the standard unweighted 4.0 scale, so its result can differ from your transcript.
• Treating the result as official. The numbers are an estimate to help you plan. Your school's records are the ones that count.

Frequently asked questions

Final thoughts

Knowing exactly where you stand takes a lot of the stress out of exam season. You can see which assessment matters most, what the final has to deliver, and how much room a test leaves for mistakes. Bookmark this page and come back whenever a new mark arrives. If you are also planning how to pay for your studies, the student loan repayment calculator is a useful next stop.

Add this tool to your website

Want this grade calculator on your own site, school blog or class page? Copy the code below and paste it into the HTML of your page. The calculator will appear in a frame and stays up to date by itself. You can change the height number if you want more or less space; 820 suits most layouts.