Creating Positive Futures

Why it’s hard for students to “just turn in” missing assignments, and how to get them unstuck

Mar 29, 2023 | Blog

how much does a missing assignment affect your grade

With the end of the semester on the horizon, many students may feel overwhelmed by low grades or feeling behind in some of their classes.

As a parent, it can be stressful to see that your student has overdue work, or get notifications from their teacher that they’re missing assignments. 

It’s even more frustrating when you’ve told them over and over again how important it is to “just turn it in”…but the work is still showing up as missing.

The reality is that no matter how simple it might seem to an outside observer, doing missing work is almost never as easy as “just getting it done.” If they haven’t done the work yet, there’s a good chance that something is getting in their way. 

If you can figure out what the problem is before jumping in to help them (or make them) do the work, you’ll dramatically increase your chances of success.

In our experience, there are usually 3 main reasons students resist submitting their missing work…even when it seems like “just turning it in” would be SO much easier!

Reason 1: They think it won’t make a difference

Once the due date for an assignment has passed, students often de-prioritize it and move on to focus on upcoming assignments instead. It’s tempting for students to justify this by thinking “there are lots of other assignments, missing one or two won’t matter.”

But what they often don’t realize is that because of the way most grading scales are weighted, even one or two zeros can have an enormous impact on their grade. Showing students the difference it makes to turn in just a few assignments can increase their motivation to get the work done. 

Here’s an example of the difference it can make to turn in just a few missing assignments before the end of the semester:

how much does a missing assignment affect your grade

Overall grade with 3 missing assignments: 78.3%

how much does a missing assignment affect your grade

Overall grade when assignments are turned in: 90.1%

It’s hard for students to calculate these averages in their head, so it can be really powerful for them to run the numbers and see firsthand exactly how much they have to gain from making up their missing assignments.

When we do calculations like this with our students, they are almost always surprised by how much this makeup work could improve their grades, and feel much more motivated to submit the assignments when they can see for themselves the difference it will make.

Reason 2: They think it’s too late

Another reason students often resist doing makeup work is that they think it’s too late to get credit for it. 

Even if they’ve done the math and know that submitting the work would make a difference in their grade, they still won’t want to turn it in if they think the teacher won’t accept it.

Especially for introverted or anxious students, it can be very intimidating to have conversations with their teachers. They might think they’ll get in trouble for asking to submit their work late, or worry that the teacher will say “no.”

The good news is that many teachers are flexible with their late work policies and allow students to turn in overdue assignments even when it is past the “official” deadline to submit them.

So if students can find the courage to ask for help, there is a good chance that their teachers will respond positively and allow them an opportunity to make up the work.

For students who are struggling to reach out to teachers, we often find it is helpful to roleplay these conversations in coaching sessions if they’re not sure what to say, or work with them to email their teachers if they’re not sure what to say.

Reason 3: They feel overwhelmed

Students who are behind on their work often have challenges keeping track of due dates, managing time, breaking down complex assignments, prioritizing work, staying focused, or following through with plans….which is why they fell behind in the first place. 

These challenges can become even more daunting when they are behind in their classes, and trying to complete makeup assignments on top of their normal workload.

This can feel so stressful that a lot of students avoid or put off doing makeup work even when they   know   how much it would improve their grade.

how much does a missing assignment affect your grade

For these students to get their work submitted, it’s essential to help them find ways to…

  • Break down the assignments so they have a realistic plan for getting the work done that they’re confident they can actually follow through with
  • Lower the stress they feel while they are doing the work so they will be less tempted to avoid it
  • Visualize the progress they are making so they can see that their efforts are making a difference

Providing support

When students have a lot of makeup work to complete, having some additional support to help them work through it can be invaluable. 

For some students, this may mean finding a tutor to help them with the content they didn’t understand when their teacher was first presenting the material. 

For other students, having a family member or friend nearby as a source of moral support to keep them company while they are working (and a motivating reward to look forward to as soon as the work is completed) can be enormously helpful.

Other students may benefit from working with an academic coach to help them get unstuck and started on their missing work. Sometimes, having someone else who is not a family member step in to help can reduce stress and conflict at home and make it easier for students to take the steps they need to get back on track in their classes. If you think this type of support would be helpful for your student, please feel free to reach out and we’ll be happy to help! 

how much does a missing assignment affect your grade

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  • Academic Success

What’s the big deal if I don’t do an assignment or lab?

  • January 14, 2015

Taking an online course seems so much easier than trekking to campus every week to sit in class, but it isn’t! Without dedicated classroom time, you are always pressured to “carve out” time from your busy schedule to get your work done in each class that you are taking. Online students must have a lot of self-discipline to make sure that each week they set aside time to go online and get their work completed.

One area that can trip up even strong students is when an assignment is missed and you think “That’s no big deal, I have an A average already”. But missing even one assignment can wreck your grade average for that category. For example, in one online class we had a special project that involved recording a job interview. Some students completed it quickly, but others had delays due to finding time to meet with their interviewer, or they had issues with the technology. Those students got a zero on the assignment because they failed to turn anything in on time.

Three students with a high “A” average then had low “C” averages with the missing assignment. For example: before the missing assignment a student’s grade average was 95 for the assignment category, but with a zero for the missing assignment, the grade average dropped to 77. That is a two letter grade drop just from missing one assignment.

Assignments, labs, and discussion boards are things directly under your control – you pick the time to complete it, and you have resources to use to complete the work. It is important to maintain high averages in those areas you do control in order to give you a cushion for a quiz or exam score that may not be as great as you wish.

Discussion board postings are another category where students may not realize the impact of not doing the weekly work. In an online course, the discussion board postings are the equivalent to raising your hand and participating in class. Which means this category is time sensitive and if you miss it – you can’t make up the work.

So how much are those discussion board posts worth to your final grade? You can see the categories of grading by looking at the syllabus for the class. In the syllabus it will indicate what type of work will be graded and the “weight” of that category. For example, if a discussion board category is given a weight of 25% that means that all your work in discussion board postings will be averaged, and that final score then represents ¼ of your final grade! The larger the weighted percent, the bigger the impact that category will have on your final grade.

Patt Peterson, HIT Online Program Coordinator

Grade Calculator

Use this calculator to find out the grade of a course based on weighted averages. This calculator accepts both numerical as well as letter grades. It also can calculate the grade needed for the remaining assignments in order to get a desired grade for an ongoing course.


(optional)
Final Grade Goal
Weight of Remaining Tasks

how much does a missing assignment affect your grade

Grade Format: Points, percentage, mix Letters
Weight Format: Percentage Points
Show Final Grade Planning Options
 

Final Grade Calculator

Use this calculator to find out the grade needed on the final exam in order to get a desired grade in a course. It accepts letter grades, percentage grades, and other numerical inputs.

Related GPA Calculator

The calculators above use the following letter grades and their typical corresponding numerical equivalents based on grade points.

Letter GradeGPAPercentage
A+4.397-100%
A493-96%
A-3.790-92%
B+3.387-89%
B383-86%
B-2.780-82%
C+2.377-79%
C273-76%
C-1.770-72%
D+1.367-69%
D163-66%
D-0.760-62%
F00-59%

Brief history of different grading systems

In 1785, students at Yale were ranked based on "optimi" being the highest rank, followed by second optimi, inferiore (lower), and pejores (worse). At William and Mary, students were ranked as either No. 1, or No. 2, where No. 1 represented students that were first in their class, while No. 2 represented those who were "orderly, correct and attentive." Meanwhile at Harvard, students were graded based on a numerical system from 1-200 (except for math and philosophy where 1-100 was used). Later, shortly after 1883, Harvard used a system of "Classes" where students were either Class I, II, III, IV, or V, with V representing a failing grade. All of these examples show the subjective, arbitrary, and inconsistent nature with which different institutions graded their students, demonstrating the need for a more standardized, albeit equally arbitrary grading system.

In 1887, Mount Holyoke College became the first college to use letter grades similar to those commonly used today. The college used a grading scale with the letters A, B, C, D, and E, where E represented a failing grade. This grading system however, was far stricter than those commonly used today, with a failing grade being defined as anything below 75%. The college later re-defined their grading system, adding the letter F for a failing grade (still below 75%). This system of using a letter grading scale became increasingly popular within colleges and high schools, eventually leading to the letter grading systems typically used today. However, there is still significant variation regarding what may constitute an A, or whether a system uses plusses or minuses (i.e. A+ or B-), among other differences.

An alternative to the letter grading system

Letter grades provide an easy means to generalize a student's performance. They can be more effective than qualitative evaluations in situations where "right" or "wrong" answers can be easily quantified, such as an algebra exam, but alone may not provide a student with enough feedback in regards to an assessment like a written paper (which is much more subjective).

Although a written analysis of each individual student's work may be a more effective form of feedback, there exists the argument that students and parents are unlikely to read the feedback, and that teachers do not have the time to write such an analysis. There is precedence for this type of evaluation system however, in Saint Ann's School in New York City, an arts-oriented private school that does not have a letter grading system. Instead, teachers write anecdotal reports for each student. This method of evaluation focuses on promoting learning and improvement, rather than the pursuit of a certain letter grade in a course. For better or for worse however, these types of programs constitute a minority in the United States, and though the experience may be better for the student, most institutions still use a fairly standard letter grading system that students will have to adjust to. The time investment that this type of evaluation method requires of teachers/professors is likely not viable on university campuses with hundreds of students per course. As such, although there are other high schools such as Sanborn High School that approach grading in a more qualitative way, it remains to be seen whether such grading methods can be scalable. Until then, more generalized forms of grading like the letter grading system are unlikely to be entirely replaced. However, many educators already try to create an environment that limits the role that grades play in motivating students. One could argue that a combination of these two systems would likely be the most realistic, and effective way to provide a more standardized evaluation of students, while promoting learning.

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Grade Calculator

Grade Calculator

Grade Calculator

  • Grade calculator
  • Final grade calculator
  • GPA calculator
AssessmentGrade (%)Grade (points)Grade (letter)WeightWeightMax Grade

Understanding how to calculate your current grade in a course is advantageous for planning what you need to achieve your goal’s overall course grade. The following Grade Calculator serves as an easy-to-use helpful tool to calculate your current grade of the course before the final examination.  

What is a Grade Calculator?  

A Grade Calculator is a free online tool designed to help students and educators determine academic grades based on entered scores and weights. It simplifies the process of calculating current grades, helping users navigate their academic journeys.   

The Grade Calculator helps students estimate the impact of each assignment on their course’s weighted average grade. That means the overall grade of a course depends on 2 main factors: the grade of each assignment (g) and the corresponding weight of each assignment (w).  

A Grade calculator helps you find your current average score in a course based on completed assignments up to the current point in the semester. The Final grade calculator then calculates the score you need to achieve in your remaining assignment (the final exam) to reach your desired grade of the course

How to Use a Grade Calculator?  

Using a Grade Calculator is a straightforward process that involves entering relevant information about your academic performance. To utilize this calculator, input your current percentage for each assignment, test, or exam, along with its respective weight towards your final grade. For each additional assignment, test, or exam, click on "Add Assignment." Your results will automatically update as you input each component , allowing you to track your progress throughout the course.  

Here's a step-by-step guide on how to use a Grade Calculator:  

Step 1: Input the Assignments.  

Users manually enter the name of each assignment, for example: Assignment 1, 2, 3, Homework, Final Exam, etc.  

Step 2: Input the grade.  

Enter their scores for each assignment, test, project, or other exam throughout the course. Each entry typically includes the earned percentage (10%, 30%, 50%, etc.), letter (A+, B-, D, etc.), or points (20, 50, 175, etc.).  

Step 3: Input the weight.  

Enter the weight of that assignment into the overall course grade. The weight indicates that different assignments may have varying impacts on the final grade. A final exam might have a higher weight than a small task.  

Step 4: Calculate the grade automatically.  

The tool then automatically calculates the cumulative grade based on the entered grades and weights. Users can see their current grade as well as how each assignment contributes to the overall grade.  

Step 5: Adjust as needed.  

Users can adjust grades or weights to see how changes impact the overall course performance. This dynamic feature allows for real-time exploration of different scenarios, helping users make informed decisions about their academic strategy and goal achievement.  

Weighted Grade Calculation: Formula and Example  

The calculation of a weighted grade involves summing the products of the weights (w) and the corresponding grades (g).  

Weighted Grade = (w₁ × g₁ + w₂ × g₂ + w₃ × g₃ + …) / (g₁ + g₂ + g₃ +...)  

Example 1: Grade type: Percentage  

Determine the weighted grade of a course, in which:  

  • Assignment with a grade (percentage) of 80 and a weight of 30.  
  • Homework with a grade (percentage) of 90 and a weight of 20.  
  • Final exam with a grade (percentage) of 72 and a weight of 50.  

The weighted average grade is determined by the formula:  

Weighted Grade = (w₁ × g₁ + w₂ × g₂ + w₃ × g₃ + …) / (w₁ + w₂ + w₃+...)  

Substituting the values:  

Weighted Grade = (30 × 80 + 20 × 90 + 50 × 72) / (30 + 20 + 50) = 78  

Example 2: Grade type: Letter  

  • Assignment 1 with a grade (letter) of A+ and a weight of 20.  
  • Assignment 2 with a grade (letter) of B and a weight of 20.  
  • Final exam with a grade (letter) of C- and a weight of 60.  

The weighted average grade of the course is calculated by the formula:

Weighted Grade = (w₁ × g₁ + w₂ × g₂ + w₃ × g₃ + …) / (w₁ + w₂ + w₃ +...)  

Weighted Grade = (20 × 4.33 + 20 × 3.00 + 60 × 1.67) / (20 + 20 + 60) = 2.64   

The table below shows how your letter grades convert to a numeric grade (4.0 scale) and percentage grade (% scale):  

 

 

 

A+ 

4.33 - above 

97 - above 

A 

4.00 - 4.32 

93 - 96,99 

A- 

3.67 - 3.99 

90 - 92,99 

B+ 

3.33 - 3.66 

87 - 89,99 

B 

3.00 - 3.32 

83 - 87,99 

B- 

2.67 - 2.99 

80 - 82,99 

C+ 

2.33 - 2.66 

77 - 79,99 

C 

2.00 - 2.32 

73 - 76,99 

C- 

1.67 - 1.99 

70 - 72,99 

D+ 

1.33 - 1.66 

67 - 69,99 

D 

1.00 - 1.32 

63 - 66,99 

D- 

0.67 - 0.99 

60 - 62,99 

F 

0.00 - 0.66 

0 - 59,99 

Example 3: Grade type: Point  

Consider the following case:  

  • For Assignment 1, the grade is 60 out of 80.  
  • For Assignment 2, the grade is 30 out of 50.  
  • For Homework, the grade is 120 out of 120.  
  • For the Final exam, the grade is 60 out of 100.  

The formula to calculate the weighted average grade is:  

Weighted Grade = sum of real grade / sum of maximum grade  

Weighted Grade = (60 + 30 + 120 + 60) / (80 + 50 + 120 + 100) = 77.14  

Important Role of the Grade Calculator in Academic Path  

The Grade Calculator functions as a flexible tool that aids both educators and students, fostering efficiency and transparency. Knowing the average grade is essential for strategic decision-making in scenarios and setting achievable academic goals.  

Scenario Planning:  

Some Grade Calculators allow users to experiment with different scenarios. For instance, students can input hypothetical scores for future assignments or exams to see how they would impact their final grade. This helps in understanding how adjustments to upcoming assessments may impact the overall class performance.  

Teachers can use a Grade Calculator to streamline the grading process. By inputting scores and weights, the tool can quickly calculate overall grades, saving time and ensuring accuracy.  

Goal Setting:    

Users can set grade goals and determine the scores needed on upcoming assessments to achieve those goals. This application is particularly helpful for students who aim for a specific final course grade. Goal-setting helps students set realistic academic goals and understand the scores needed to achieve them. Knowing their current grade and having the ability to plan for future assessments can reduce stress for students.  

The Grade calculator provides the average score for a specific course. Students can use this result to calculate their GPA, which represents the average score across all their courses. In essence, the output from the Grade calculator acts as the input for the GPA calculator.

3 Outstanding Features of Grade Calculator  

Using our Grade Calculator is simple and straightforward, even if you are a first-time user. The Grade Calculator is crafted with the user in mind, offering many noticeable benefits:  

Customizable by Adding or Subtracting Assignments  

Recognizing the diversity of grading systems in different educational institutions, the tool offers customization options. Users have the flexibility to tailor the tool to their specific needs. For example, users can add as many assignments as they want, and adjust the weight to align with their school's unique grading system.  

Compatible with Multiple Devices  

The tool is accessible across various platforms to accommodate different user preferences and device types. It is available as both a web application and a mobile app. Users can access it conveniently from desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.  

Easy-to-Understand and Easy-to-Use Interface  

The user interface is designed to be intuitive and user-friendly, prioritizing ease of use. Input fields are labeled logically, ensuring users can easily understand and input the required information. The overall design focuses on simplicity enhancing the overall user experience.  

To sum up, the Grade Calculator is considered a trusted tool for students and educators alike on their academic journeys. Its friendly interface and accurate calculations make it a valuable companion, helping everyone calculate the grade of the course effectively.  

Grade Calculator - FAQs  

What grade do i need to pass a college class  .

The grade needed to pass a college class varies depending on the grading system used by the schools, colleges, and academic institutions . In many cases, a passing grade is a D or higher, which is usually equivalent to a numerical grade of 60% or more. However, some programs or courses may require a higher minimum passing grade, so it's important to check your college's policies.  

How do you calculate the percentage grade?  

To calculate a percentage grade, you divide the points earned by the total points possible and then multiply by 100. For example, if you earned 85 points out of a possible 100, your percentage grade would be: (85/100) * 100 = 85%.  

How much will a 0 affect my grade?  

A zero can significantly impact your grade, especially if it's for a major assignment or test. Since a zero has a large weight in the calculation of your average score, it can pull down your overall grade significantly.  

How much will a 71 affect my grade?  

The impact of a 71 on your grade depends on several factors, such as the weight of the assignment or test in the overall course grade and the grading scale used by your instructor. If the 71 is for a major assignment or test and carries a significant weight in the course, it could have a noticeable effect on your overall grade, potentially lowering it. However, if the assignment is one of many and has a lower weight in the course, its impact may be less significant.

APS

  • Teaching Tips

Dealing With Students Missing Exams and In-Class Graded Assignments

Teachers often become more aware of students’ out-of-class activities than they might wish. Announcements and memos from the dean of students inform about sporting teams and their games and tournaments, forensics, service learning conferences, community-based work, and the like. And teachers quickly become familiar with student lifestyles and illnesses ¾ mono, strep throat, hangovers, the opening of deer and fishing seasons, quilting bees, family vacations, and their family mortality statistics. The relationship between exams and mandatory in-class work and the death of students’ cousins and grandparents is so high it should be a concern of the National Center for Disease Control. Given all this, it is a certainty that students will miss exams and other required activities. What is a teacher to do?

If you want to hear colleagues express frustration, ask them about make-up exams and assignments. Despite knowing intellectually that such absences will occur, teachers hope and pray, even in public institutions, that all of their students will take exams as scheduled. Alas, such prayers are rarely answered, and teachers are faced with the practical issues of keeping track of students who miss exams and assignments, as well as managing make-ups.

All of our advice, except that related to ethics, should be read through the filter of the type of institution where you teach, and the types of courses you teach and how large they are. For example, at a small liberal arts school, where teaching is a faculty member’s primary responsibility, more time may be spent with students who miss exams or assignments, and more creative (time consuming) alternatives may be practical as compared with someone teaching classes of 300 or 500 or more in a Research I institution.

Ethics Teachers are not to cause students harm; we must treat them fairly and equitably, and they must be allowed to maintain their dignity (Keith-Spiegel, Whitley, Balogh, Perkins, & Wittig, 2002). Whatever your procedures are for students who miss exams and required in-class work, they must be equitable, providing students equal chances to earn a good grade by demonstrating equal knowledge. The hard part may be balancing academic rigor and accountability for what students are to learn with a fair and manageable process for those who miss required exams and assignments.

Make-up Exams These should not be more difficult than the original test but must be, as best as you can design, alternate forms of the same exam. Exam banks that accompany texts make designing such alternate forms of multiple-choice tests relatively easy, and colleagues teaching two or more sections of the same course in a semester, who give alternate forms of exams, are often a good source of advice on this matter. Be thoughtful about the following:

  • An essay make-up exam may be unethical if regular exams are multiple choice or short answer (or vice versa), since students must study differently and they may be more difficult.
  • An oral exam may “punish” students who do not think well on their feet, or are more socially anxious.
  • Scheduling make-up exams at inconvenient or undesirable times may express your frustration, but you or someone else will have to be there at the “inconvenient” time also, and such arrangements raise issues of foul play.
  • It may be inequitable to students who meet all course requirements to allow their peers to do extra credit or drop their lowest grade instead of making up a missed exam.

In-class Assignments The same considerations exist for students who miss in-class required presentations, or other graded work. If possible, students who were to present should be given opportunities to make up the assignment using the same grading criteria.

Planning Ahead

Spell-out Missed Exam Procedure in Course Policies No matter how well you teach or what inducements or penalties you impose, some students will miss exams and required class activities. Good educational practice argues that you plan for this reality as you design your course, not two days before (or after) your first exam. You want as few surprises as possible once the course begins.

Put your policies in your syllabus. Have a section in your syllabus on exams and other graded work. Specify your policies and procedures if students know in advance they will be absent, or how to notify you if, for whatever reason, they were absent, and any effect, if any, absences will have on their grade.

Keep your policy clear and simple. Before finalizing your syllabus, ask a few students to read your make-up policy to determine if it can be easily understood. If your explanation of what students are to do in the case of missing an exam, and how their grade is affected, is not easily understood, revise it. In developing your policy, do you want students to:

  • Notify you if they know they will miss, preferably at least 24 hours in advance, and give you the reason? Talking with you before or after class offers the best opportunity to provide feedback if the reason is questionable, to work out alternatives, and so forth. E-mail also can be useful.
  • Notify you as soon as possible after missing an exam or required assignment and give the reason? Again, in person or e-mail work best.
  • Present a letter from an authority (e.g., physician) documenting the reason? Keep in mind any student can “forge” such documentation or manipulate it in other ways, e.g., “Fred came to see me complaining of a severe headache.”
  • Have their grades lowered if their absence is not “acceptable” (e.g., overslept versus seriously ill)? How will you decide what is acceptable? Our experience suggests that “legitimate” reasons for absence include, but are not limited to: illness of the student or a close relative, accident, court appearance, military duty, broken auto, hazardous weather, and university activities (e.g., athletics, forensics).

Policies should reflect the nature of the exam or graded assignment. If you are teaching an introductory course and each module largely stands alone, it may be appropriate for students to make up a missed exam late in the semester. But if you want students to demonstrate knowledge or competency on an exam or assignment because future course material builds on that which comes earlier, you want to give the students much less time to make up the missed work.

Common policies. A common procedure is for the teacher, teaching assistant, or departmental secretary to distribute and proctor make-up exams during prearranged times (Perlman&McCann, in press). You might also consider allowing students to take make-up exams during exam periods in other courses you are teaching.

Make your policies easy to implement. To maintain your sanity and keep your stress level manageable, you must be able to easily implement your policies. For example, even if you, a secretary, or a graduate student distribute and proctor make-up exams, problems can arise. For example:

  • The secretary is ill or on vacation, or you are ill or have a conference to attend. You never want to change the time make-ups are available to students once these are listed in the course syllabus. Have backups available who know where make-up exams are stored, can access them, and can administer and proctor them.
  • Too many students for the make-up space. Investigate room sizes and number of rooms available. You may need more than one room if some students have readers because of learning disabilities.
  • Students often forget there is a common make-up the last week of the semester. Remind them often and announce this policy on class days when students are taking an exam, as this may be the only time some students who have missed a previous exam come to class.

Encourage appropriate, responsible, mature behaviors. Take the high road and let students know how they “should” behave. For example, one colleague includes this statement in the syllabus:

I expect students to make every effort to take required exams and make course presentations as scheduled. If you know in advance you will miss such a requirement, please notify me. If you are ill or other circumstances cause you to miss a required graded activity, notify me as soon as possible.

One of our colleagues states in her syllabus for a psychology of aging class, “It is very bad form to invent illnesses suffered by grandparents!” By giving students exemplars on how to behave appropriately, you can then thank them for their courtesy and maturity if they follow through, positively reinforcing such behaviors.

God lives in the details. Always err on the side of being “concrete.” If a make-up exam is at the university testing center, tell students where the testing center is. If you or a secretary hold make-up exams in an office, you may want to draw a map on how to get there. It is not uncommon for students to fail to find the office at the time of the exam, and wander around a large university building.

Students Who Miss Exams You have a variety of alternatives available on how to treat students who miss a scheduled exam. Select those that fit your course and the requirements of learning students must demonstrate.

Requiring make-up exams. If you collect all copies of your multiple choice or short answer exams, you may be able to use the same exam for make-ups. Our experience is that it is extremely rare that students deliberately miss an exam to have more time to study, whereas asking peers about specific exam questions more commonly occurs. Your experiences may be different. However, if you put exams on file at the university testing center, and students can take them weeks apart, you may want different forms. If you have concerns, you will need to prepare an equivalent, alternative form of the regular exam, as is often the case for essay tests.

Using procedures other than a make-up exam. Some faculty have students outline all text chapters required for an exam, use daily quiz scores to substitute for a missed exam, use the average of students’ exams to substitute for the one missed, score relevant questions on the comprehensive final to substitute for the missed test, or use a weighted score from the entire comprehensive final substituted for missed exam. Some teachers just drop one test grade without penalty (Buchanan&Rogers, 1990; Sleigh&Ritzer, 2001). Consider whether students will learn what you want from various alternatives and whether this work is equal to what students must demonstrate on exams before adopting such procedures. If your course contains numerous graded assignments of equal difficulty, and if it is equitable for students to choose to ignore a course module by not studying or taking the exam, you should consider this process.

Other teachers build extra credit into the course. They allow all students opportunities to raise their grades, offering a safety net of sorts for those who need to “make-up” a missed exam by doing “additional” assignments such as outlining unassigned chapters in the text.

Scheduling make-ups. Pick one or two times a week that are convenient for you, a department secretary, or teaching assistant, and schedule your make-ups then. Some faculty use a common time midway through the semester and at the end of the semester as an alternative.

Students Who Miss Other In-Class Assignments Allowing students to demonstrate learning on non-exam graded assignments can be tricky. Such assignments often measure different kinds of learning than exams: the ability to work in groups, critical thinking as demonstrated in a poster, or an oral presentation graded in part on professional use of language. But you do have some alternatives.

Keeping the required assignment the same. If the assignment is a large one and due near the end of the semester, consider using an “incomplete” grade for students who miss it. Alternatively, students can present their oral work or poster in another course you are teaching if the content is relevant and time allows it. The oral required assignment also can be delivered just to the teacher or videotaped or turned in on audiotape.

Alternative assignments. As with missed exams, you can weigh other assignments disproportionately to substitute for in-class graded work — by doubling a similar assignment if you have more than one during the semester, for example. The dilemma, of course, is not allowing students easy avenues to avoid a required module or assignment without penalty. For example, oral assignments can be turned in as written work, although this may negate some of the reasons for the assignment.

When we asked colleagues about alternatives for missed in-class graded assignments (as compared with exams), almost everyone cautioned against listing them in the course syllabus. They felt that students could then weigh the make-up assignment versus the original and choose the one that gave them the greatest chance of doing well, and also the least amount of anxiety (in-class presentations often make students nervous). They recommended simply telling students that arrangements would be made for those missing in-class required graded work on a case-by-case basis.

Students Who Miss the “Make-Up” On occasion, students will miss a scheduled make-up. Say something about this event in your syllabus, emphasizing the student’s responsibility to notify the instructor. We recommend that instructors reserve the right to lower a student’s grade by “x” number of points, or “x” letter grades. If you place exams at a university testing center, you may not find out the work has not been made up until the course is over, leaving you little choice but to give the student an “F” on that exam or assignment.

When the Whole Class Misses a Required Exam or Assignment On rare, but very memorable, occasions the entire class may miss an exam or assignment. For example, both authors have had the fire alarm go off during an exam. After a bomb threat cleared the building during his exam, the campus police actually contacted one author to identify whether a person caught on camera at a service station was a student calling in the bomb scare. (It was not.) The other author experienced the bomb squad closing a classroom building during finals week due to the discovery of old, potentially explosive, laboratory chemicals. Of course, the blizzard of the century or a flood might occur the night before your exam. What is a teacher to do?

The exam or graded assignment must be delayed. Prepare beforehand. Always build a make-up policy into your syllabus for the last exam or student presentation in a course. Talk with your department chair or dean about college or university policy. State that if weather or other circumstances force a make-up, it will occur at a certain time and place. This forethought is especially important if you teach at a northern institution where bad winter weather is not unusual. For exams and assignments during the semester, the policy that works best is to reschedule them (again, stating this in your syllabus) for the next regular class period. Call attention to this policy early in the semester, and post it on your course Web site. The last thing you want to do is call or e-mail everyone in the class to tell them an exam has been cancelled.

An exam or graded assignment is interrupted. Graded assignments such as oral presentations are easily handled. If time allows, continue after the interruption; if not, continue the next class period or during your designated “make-up” time.

If something interrupts an exam, ask students to leave their exams and answers on their desks or hand them in to you, take all personal materials, and leave immediately. A teacher can easily collect everything left in most classes in a few moments. Leave materials on desks if the class is large, or be the first person back to the room after the interruption. Fire alarms, bomb scares, and the like usually cause a lot of hubbub. Only if you have a lengthy two- or three-hour class, with time to allow students to collect themselves and refocus, and no concern about their comparing answers to questions during the delay, should the exam be continued that same day or evening.

If the interruption occurs late in the class period, you might tell students to turn in their work as they leave. You can then determine how you want to grade exams or the assignment, using pro-rated points or percentages, and assign grades accordingly.

If the interruption is earlier in the hour, the exam will have to be delayed, usually until the next class period. With a multiple-choice exam, we advise giving students the full (next) class period to finish their exams. If you are concerned about students comparing questions they have already answered, you will have to quickly develop an alternate exam.

A teacher’s decisions are more complicated if the exam is short answer or essay. Students may have skimmed all essay or short answer questions before an interruption. Will they prepare for those questions before the next class period? What if some students only read the first essay question but do not know the others they must answer? Preparing an alternate exam may be feasible, but students need to know you will do so, so they do not concentrate their studying on specific topics you will not ask about.

We know that such class interruptions are rare, but they can wreak havoc with students and teachers, be stressful, and raise issues of fairness that echo throughout the rest of the course. We advise teachers to talk with colleagues, and we have found a department brown bag on the topic fascinating. Your colleagues may have some creative and sound advice.

Summary A teacher needs to plan ahead. Take some time to think about what it means for you and students who miss required in-class work. A little preparation can save a lot of time and hassle later in the semester. Students deserve and will appreciate policies that are equitable and manageable.

Author’s Note: The authors are interested how teachers deal with missed or interrupted graded in-class work (and their horror stories). Contact us with your ideas and experiences at [email protected] .

References and Recommended Reading

  • Buchanan, R. W., & Rogers, M. (1990). Innovative assessment in large classes. College Teaching, 38 , 69-74.
  • Carper, S. W. (1995). Make-up exams: What’s a professor to do? Journal of Chemical Education, 72 , 883.
  • Davis, B. G. (1993). Tools for teaching . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
  • Keith-Spiegel, P., Whitley, B.G. E. Jr., Balogh, D. W., Perkins, D. V., & Wittig, A. F. (2002). The ethics of teaching: A casebook (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
  • McKeachie, W. J. (2001). Teaching tips: Strategies, research, and theory for college and university teachers (11th ed.) Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
  • Nilson, L. B. (2003). Teaching at its best: A research-based resource for college instructors (2nd ed). Bolton, MA: Anker.
  • Perlman, B., & McCann, L. I. (in press). Teacher evaluations of make-up exam procedures. Psychology Learning and Teaching, 3 (2).
  • Sleigh, M. J., & Ritzer, D. R. (2001). Encouraging student attendance. APS Observer, 14 (9), pp. 19-20, 32.

how much does a missing assignment affect your grade

Do you know of any research related to taking points off an exam for students who take a make-up for whatever reason? It is mentioned in this article but I’m interested in evidence to back up that it is fair and/or punitive in a college setting with adult learners. Thank you. Gerri Russell, MS, RN

how much does a missing assignment affect your grade

I teach introductory nutrition and other biology classes. If a student can prove that they missed an exam or assignment for a verifiable reason, even if they let me know ahead of time (usually technology related reasons), I let them make it up without taking points off. If they can’t prove it I take off points as follows: 10% off per day late during the first week after the assignment is due. Half credit earned after that. Even if they know there are always students who just miss things for no apparent good reason. I feel like this is fair because it gives them the responsibility for making it up, and I’d rather people become familiar with the material, rather than just not do it at all.

how much does a missing assignment affect your grade

I think that the mid semester tests must be abolished from all colleges/universities in order to let them prepare for the final exams without any pressure of getting grades,this will not give rise to any decompetition then,so I personally feel that my suggestion will be very useful I want everyone to obey that

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About the Author

BARON PERLMAN is editor of "Teaching Tips." A professor in the department of psychology, distinguished teacher, and University and Rosebush Professor at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh in the department of psychology, he has taught psychology for 29 years. He continues to work to master the art and craft of teaching. LEE I. MCCANN is co-editor of "Teaching Tips." A professor in the department of psychology and a University and Rosebush Professor at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, he has taught psychology for 38 years. He has presented numerous workshops on teaching and psychology curricula, his current research interests.

how much does a missing assignment affect your grade

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Canvas - Total Grade Calculation with Missing Assignments

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How Canvas Calculates Total Grades

  • Student View When a Student looks at their final grade, the blank item will not be included in the calculation, and the assignment counts neither for nor against their score appearing as if it has been Excused .  This means that if the blank item is meant to be a 0, the Student will see an artificially inflated grade.  A Student who notices this is able to use the “What-If” feature  to see what their grade should actually be, this but requires the student to notice the discrepancy and take steps to check the difference.
  • Teacher View Typically, the Teacher view is the same as the Student view for the Total grade; however, there is a setting available only to Teachers that will show the Total grade as if 0’s had been entered.  From Instructure’s documentation we can see that “Treat Ungraded as 0 is a visual change and does not affect any grades”.  What this means, is that the Students’ views are unchanged, and they will still see the artificially inflated grade .

If you choose to utilize SIS Sync, the process will treat blanks scores as 0.  This means that the Student view and the grade submitted via SIS Sync are different if you have any ungraded items in your gradebook.  If you intend for any items to be Excused you will need to mark them as such before starting the SIS Sync process.

Best Practices for Handling Missing Assignments

  • Set Default Grade to 0 on Assignments Zeros need to be entered regularly for students to see a true reflection of their grade.  The fastest way to do this is to use Set Default Grade for an item . 
  • Mark Excused Items In the case where a student will be Excused from an assignment, their grade should be marked as excused.  The fastest way to excuse a student from an assignment is by entering EX  into the grade input field.
  • Late Policy - Automatically Apply Grade for Missing Submissions The Late Policies area can enable Canvas to enter some 0’s on the Teachers behalf.  The Late policy will only work with assignments that require a submission.  This means that any in-class assignments, attendance grades, on paper submissions, live presentations, etc will NOT have the 0 entered automatically, even with this setting turned on. See How do I apply a Missing Submission policy in the New Gradebook .

Verifying Total Grade

  • Load the Grades area in your course.
  • Click on Actions
  • Select Export . 

Common Issues

"Ungraded" icon still appearing on item with grade

  • Open SpeedGrader
  • Scroll to the bottom of the submission
  • Click Update Scores
  • Move to the next student, and repeat the steps for the entire class
Keywordstotal grade, final grade, grade calculation, entering zero, missing assignments, excusedDoc ID91483
OwnerAaron A.GroupUWSA DLE
Created2019-05-02 10:07:20Updated2021-10-27 14:17:07
SitesUW Green Bay, UW Parkside, UW Stout, UW System Administration DLE, UW-La Crosse
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How to deal with missing & late-work: one teacher’s approach

Hey readers! It’s been a while since you’ve seen anything from us at Three Teachers Talk. We, like all of you, feel like we’ve been trudging through this year. Between the zooms, the Nearpods, the screencasts, the quarantines, the cleaning protocols, the bandwith issues…well, you get the picture. It’s been a lot.

Now we’re at the half-point of this year and so many are struggling with engagement. How do we “hold kids accountable” in the midst of all this? And what can we learn that might go beyond the crisis teaching we’re doing now? I’ve been loving following Tyler Rabin’s (@tylerrabin) journey around these issues and invited him to share his thinking with all of you.

We hope you’re safe. We hope you’re well. We hope this helps.

I’ve gone through this cycle more often than I’d like:

  • Realize that grade penalties on late work are bad.
  • Eliminate all grade penalties.
  • Immediately get overwhelmed by late work and a lack of organization.
  • Rush to reimpose late penalties.

I would argue that in most classrooms, grade penalties don’t exist because the teacher likes them; grade penalties exist because we don’t feel like we have an alternative.

On top of that, they work. For some things. The things they work for are the easily visible pieces. Do students hand more things in with grade penalties than without? Typically, yes. 

But, let’s also point out some of the things we know about how extrinsic motivators, especially punishments, impact student learning. This blog captures some of the key points from Daniel Pink’s work on motivation well, and the first point that we have to be aware of is that, while extrinsic motivation does increase short-term motivation, it actually hurts it long-term. This means that we can use it once or twice to convince someone to do something, but eventually that ends up no longer being motivating. Sound like any students you’ve had? 

The second piece is the more concerning piece. Extrinsic motivation increases someone’s drive to complete basic tasks, but it hinders their ability to engage in complex process. Correct me if I’m wrong here, but I believe learning falls under the latter category. While I wish I could put this softly, I don’t know a way around the harshness of this fact: an emphasis on late penalties values compliantly completing a task more than it does the student’s ability to learn. 

Now, here’s where we are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Late penalties are, in essence, a barrier to learning, but in most cases, there doesn’t appear to be a sustainable alternative for teachers. We don’t want to have to use grade penalties, but we are human. We need to have lives, and the constantly ebb and flow of late work is exhausting and time-consuming. 

This concept was weighing heavily on me a few months back. I too often criticize the act of using grade penalties without acknowledging the reality of our context or providing possible solutions. As I wrestled through this in an attempt to provide a solution, I recorded the most helpful info I could into the longest thread I’ve ever posted on Twitter. However, as it always goes on Twitter, it lacked the depth the conversation needs. 

As such, I’ve broken the thread into segments so that I can provide additional details about how to address the late work issue in meaningful ways without using grade penalties and without losing your sanity. 

Part 1: Organizing Assignments into Essential vs. Non-essential

how much does a missing assignment affect your grade

This Tweet probably needs the most explanation. If you remove grade penalties and allow students to turn in ALL their work whenever they want, you will lose every ounce of free time you have. The key is to really identify the assignments that carry the most value. This isn’t to say that the non-essential assignments aren’t valuable, but the non-essential assignments should mean that their function is to allow students to practice specific skills and demonstrate their current level of understanding. They should have more than just that one opportunity to do that for each skill. But…I’m getting ahead of myself. 

Part 2: Non-essential Assignments – Multiple Attempts for Learning

how much does a missing assignment affect your grade

The key with these assignments is that the student will have further opportunities to demonstrate their learning, but these missed assignments demonstrate a need for a different type of support, a support that grade penalties just frankly don’t offer. For your sake, don’t take late work that falls into this category. Tell the student that they missed this opportunity, but they will get another shot at it later. However, if you end there, kids will receive the message that every educator fears: deadlines and completing assignments aren’t important. 

This is why there must be a system or process set up to hold students accountable in a way that actually focuses on building those skills. Like I mentioned, my favorite is to have them stay after class and schedule their week with me. I can also put them on my list of students who receive my Remind messages about upcoming assignments. Somehow there has to be a clear next step for students who miss these assignments so that they know (a) you’re paying attention, (b) it’s important, and (c) you want them to get better at self-management and executive functioning. 

Part 3: Final Evaluation

how much does a missing assignment affect your grade

All of this comes down to the fact that we should be averaging scores over time to determine a final score. Not only does that result in an inaccurate report of student learning, but it means that missing assignments will almost inevitably factor into the final grade (unless you drop scores, which I’m always a proponent of). 

At the end of a term, the goal is that you are doing a summative evaluation (preferably with the student) where you are looking through their data to determine their final scores. If this step isn’t happening, missing and late work usually ends up being a significant factor in a student’s grade. 

Now, I know a lot of people are thinking, “What about the student who doesn’t turn in ANY work?!” At some point, a lack of evidence is a lack of evidence, and that student hasn’t given you enough to demonstrate proficiency in the skill. I have found that this happens WAY less often than we think it does, though. 

Part 4: Authentic Consequences for Authentic Assessments

Tweets: 

how much does a missing assignment affect your grade

While I probably don’t need to elaborate here, I want to make sure one word shines through: authentic. How are we creating experiences where students get to apply their learning in authentic ways so that the cost of not doing something is actually meaningful for the student? Is this a one-size-fits-all thing? Absolutely not. For a consequence to be meaningful, there must be an element of choice in it. The student has to have had some control and ability to bring in their full self – their passions, interests, goals, etc – to the project. That is when the consequences become powerful. 

Part 5: Final Thought

how much does a missing assignment affect your grade

This is why I get so worked up about grade penalties. I know we do them because it feels like we don’t have an alternative, but so often these grade penalties are just kicking a horse who’s already down. These are students who often have already been told they’re bad at school, maybe not explicitly, but the message has been sent over and over. They don’t need another reminder that they can’t do it. We teach them nothing when we add penalties on top of self-doubt. What they need is someone who notices they are struggling, but instead of blaming the student and calling it good, that person goes, “Here’s how we’re going to do better next time. Let’s let this one go and move forward together.”

This is why we have to stop depending on grade penalties. They are a way of washing our hands of the responsibility of educating our kids, of helping them see their best selves. We can do better. It’s not easy, but we can do it, one small change at a time.

Tyler Rablin is a current instructional coach and National Board certified high school language arts teacher in Sunnyside School District in Sunnyside, WA. On the side, he is a consultant with Shifting Schools, contributing writer for Edutopia, and a Google for Education certified trainer. His educational passion is focused on the ways that meaningful technology integration, modernized assessment strategies, and strong cultures of learning can allow us to provide meaningful, powerful, and personal learning experiences for each of our students. In his personal life, he enjoys reading, running, and spending time hiking and camping with his wife and two dogs.

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4 strategies to get those missing assignments turned in

Student doing homework assignment

Published: May 13, 2022

As we get closer and closer to the end of the school year, it happens as reliably as the changing of the seasons—students notice the late, missing, or forgotten assignments that might have a real impact on their grade.

Sound familiar?

Most teachers spend too much valuable time toward the end of the school year reminding students about their missing assignments. This process doesn’t have to be time-consuming or painful though.

Here are 3 simple and repeatable tips to help classroom teachers encourage students to—finally—submit those late, missing, or forgotten assignments.

1. Help students manage their own assignment completion

There’s no better way to promote accountability than to help students to keep track of and manage their own assignments list. LMS tools like Schoology or Google Classroom make the process easier than ever before.

With clear assignment instructions and due dates, every student can log into their LMS and see a clean list of which assignments have been turned in, and which are still outstanding—even if they miss a class!

2. Get parents, families, and caregivers on board to help keep students on track

One of the best ways to keep students from getting too far behind is to recruit the champions they have outside school. When parents and guardians are kept in the loop about the assignments that are upcoming—along with expectations and due dates—they can help students avoid missing assignments well before the due date.

Keeping parents and guardians aware when assignments become late or get entered as missing increases the likelihood that assignment will get completed too. The Parent/Guardian Portal in Schoolytics gives parents and guardians easy access to student assignments in each of their classes. There are even reminders you can automate when an assignment is late or counted missing.

how much does a missing assignment affect your grade

3. Send automated reminders when assignments are past due

You know what they say about an ounce of prevention…

Setting up a Schoolytics account and syncing it with your Google Classroom ( remember: it’s free to sign up! ) lets teachers set up an automated report of late or missing assignments. You never have to click into each Classroom for assignment details!

The Late Work Report in Schoolytics shows all assignments from all students across your active classrooms in Google Classroom that were turned in after the due date

You can even set up automatic reports for late or missing assignments—Friday late work roundup anyone? And now you can send a bulk reminder to every student with a link to their missing work.

Bulk Email Missing Assignments

4. Try a new communication method

Each generation of students is more online than the last, and Gen Z is spending most of its time on video-forward platforms like YouTube and TikTok. As teachers, we can either fight this reality or lean into it in our communication with students.

The good news is that the rise of online video has coincided with the advent of easy-to-use video creation tools, making it easier than ever to create engaging videos for free. Tools like Veed are great for trimming videos and testing your webcam to ensure you get the perfect take to keep students engaged and on top of their assignments.

In conclusion...

These interventions make it quick and simple to keep students on track for assignment completion. And they reduce the headache for teachers to have to manage chasing down late or missing assignments.

Have any other tips for helping keep late and missing assignments under control? Let us know on Twitter at @Schoolytics

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Give Fs for Missing Grades Instead of Zeros

Because of the way averages work, it's hard to overcome a zero..

Posted September 30, 2022 | Reviewed by Vanessa Lancaster

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  • Report card grades should measure students' overall performance and knowledge.
  • When calculating a grade by averaging performance, more extreme values are weighted more heavily than those close to the mean.
  • Because grades typically run from A to F (100 to 50), giving students a zero for a missed assignment significantly affects their grade.
  • Assigning a 50 instead of a zero penalizes missed assignments but balances the possibility of bringing a grade up.

Report card grades are supposed to measure how well students have performed in class.

  • Performance is a construct: What we are trying to measure.
  • Report card grades are measures: They mean to capture the construct.

If grades are valid , people with high grades will perform better than those with lower grades. Although we hope that grades also reflect learning–people who learned more have higher grades–we know that's not always true. Being sick, having a chaotic home that makes it hard to do homework or study, or reading ability can all affect grades differently than they affect learning.

Measures of Central Tendency

Report card grades typically reflect central tendencies. Measures of central tendency are intended to be a single number (or grade) that captures the full construct (performance). A report grade usually captures several different assignments, which often vary.

Nancy Darling

Psychologists use three indicators of central tendencies–the mean, the median, and the mode. Each minimizes a different type of error.

  • The mode is the most common value. In the figure below, students have five grades: a 75, three 85's, and a 95. If you had to guess what grade someone got on an assignment and said "85," you'd be wrong fewer times (have less error) with that guess than by guessing anything else.
  • The median is the value that is in the middle of the distribution. If you use "85" to reflect how well a student did, you are wrong by 10 points for their 75, by 0 points for all three 85's, and you're wrong by 10 points for that 95 they got. In other words, your summed error is 20. The median minimizes summed error.
  • The mean or average is when we take all the numbers in a distribution, add them together, and divide by how many numbers there are. Have you ever considered why that is a good measure of central tendency? What the average does is minimize summed squared error. So your "error" for a mean of 85 and a grade of 75 is 10. For 85, it is zero, and for 95, it is 10. The squared error is thus 10 2 + 0 2 + 0 2 + 0 2 + 10 2 : 200. No number will give you a smaller summed square error than the mean.

Because you are squaring errors to determine the mean, it is sensitive to outliers (sensitive to values far from the center). That's why many of us were taught always to use means unless a distribution was very lopsided .

When a distribution is lopsided, you have large errors. When you have large errors in lopsided distributions, most of us were taught that's when you use medians. In other words, means are the standard because they are the 'fairest'. Medians were invented to fix this unusual problem means have. That's not actually the case. Medians minimize error. Means minimize BIG errors. We are weighting large errors by squaring them and moving the mean until we find the number that does that best.

I understand means, medians, and modes. What’s that got to do with giving zeros for missing assignments?

In the figure above, if you calculate a report card grade using the mean, median, or mode all, you will get the same grade–an 85 or B.

Let's look at what happens if a student misses an assignment, and the teacher uses an average to compute their grade.

 Nancy Darling

In this example, the students got 85s on the first four assignments. What happens on Assignment 5?

  • Student 1 got an 85 on Assignment 5 and earned their expected 85.
  • Student 2 aced it! They got a 100, raising their grade from an 85 to an 88 (a three-point gain).
  • Student 3 did poorly on Assignment 5, earning a 60. This dropped their report grade by five points to an 80.

All of these changes are more or less what we expect.

But now look at Student 4, who missed the last assignment. They were assigned a zero. This dropped them a full 17 points (from 85 to 68).

Notice that doing as well as possible–getting a 100 like Student 2–can only raise your grade by three points. However, doing as poorly as possible– skipping the assignment–drops your grade by 17 points.

Why? Because averages are very sensitive to outliers. One hundred is only 15 points higher than the average of the first four grades. It is relatively close to the central tendency. On the other hand, a zero is a full 85 points lower. It has a very large error, and the average has to move a lot to minimize the sum squared error.

That's because the functional range of grades is not zero to 100. No teacher I've ever seen has a class with an average of 50 and a range from zero to 100. Instead, most teachers hope for an average of perhaps 85. In reality, grades go from F (a 50) to A+ (100). That's the functional range for grades.

how much does a missing assignment affect your grade

What if we assigned the lowest grade in the functional range for missing assignments instead of a zero?

As I wrote in the beginning, grades are meant to assess performance. What would happen if we assigned a solid F for missing grades? In other words, what if we assigned 50s for missing grades instead of zeros? Look at the last column, with Student 5. When assigned a 50, Student 5's grade drops seven points after the last assignment–from an 85 to a 78. That's a significant penalty but not insurmountable.

Is assigning students 50s for missing grades instead of zeros fair? Let's look at the students. The student who got four Bs and a D (Student 3) would earn an 80 on their report card (B-). The student who got four Bs and missed the last assignment and got a 50 for it (Student 5) would earn a 78 (C+). Had that student's teacher followed the more standard practice of assigning a zero for the missing assignment, they would have earned a 68 (D+).

Deciding how to calculate grades needs to reflect the teacher's belief about which grade best reflects the student's performance. It needs to be consistent across students–unbiased. But given the functional range of grades 50 to 100, there is an argument to be made that counting missing assignments as 50s produces fairer grades than assigning them zeros.

Nancy Darling Ph.D.

Nancy Darling, Ph.D. , is a professor of psychology at Oberlin College.

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Grade Calculator

Our weighted grade calculator shows your average and what to earn for the final grade you want. A timesaver if you don't know how to calculate grades!

Asgmt./Exam

Your current grade

The grade you want

Your final is worth

Related Calculators

GPA Calculator

AVERAGE GRADE
ASSIGNMENT/EXAM GRADE WEIGHT
Homework 90 5%
Project B 20%
Midterm exam 88 20%
B (3.21) 45%

FINAL GRADE

A grade of 80.5 or higher is needed for the remaining 40% of tasks to ensure a final grade of 85.

There was an error with your calculation.

Table of Contents

  • Grade Calculators: Useful Tools to Show You What You've Accomplished and Help Plan Your Next Move
  • Where You Are and How to Get Where You're Going

Saving Time

How to determine your weighted average, forming a game plan to reach your target grade, know what you need on the last big test, students and teachers often misunderstand weighted averages.

  • It's Pretty Simple When You Have All the Data

Missing Grades Make the Math More Complicated

The reason we need these calculators, 6 ways to evaluate student progress, grade calculators: useful tools to show you what you've accomplished and help plan your next move.

A weighted grading calculator can be a lifesaver for students who need to know where they stand at any point in the grading period. These convenient programs save time and give students and teachers quick, accurate information. But what is it they do? This article will investigate what functions grade calculators perform, how they operate, and why we have grades in the first place.

Where You Are and How to Get Where You're Going

The three calculators above can help teachers and students answer urgent questions about grades in seconds. First, the Grade Calculator computes a weighted average for any course, accepting both number and letter grades.

Letter Grade GPA Percentage
A+ 4.3 97-100%
A 4 93-96%
A- 3.7 90-92%
B+ 3.3 87-89%
B 3 83-86%
B- 2.7 80-82%
C+ 2.3 77-79%
C 2 73-76%
C- 1.7 70-72%
D+ 1.3 67-69%
D 1 63-66%
D- 0.7 60-62%
F 0 0-59%

In addition, the Final Grade Planning Calculator displays the grade needed on outstanding assignments to reach a target final grade. Also, the Final Grade Calculator determines what a student needs to score on their final exam to reach their target final grade.

Compared to the normal average, a weighted average requires more calculations. When you figure out a weighted average, the many numbers you use are given varying weights or values in relation to one another. This phenomenon occurs in most high-school and college courses, where different assignment types are worth different percentages of the final grade. A course grade calculator makes finding weighted averages quick and accurate.

In addition, many students become concerned near the end of a quarter, semester, or year. They often worry that they will not get a good grade, but they can rely on a Final Grade Planning Calculator to tell them how to perform to reach their desired goal.

Similarly, students often need to achieve a specific score on their final project or exam to get the desired grade. In this case, a Final Grade Calculator lets them know how hard they must work to get where they need to go.

Suppose a grading period is over and all grades are accounted for. In that case, a student can use the Grade Calculator to ensure the teacher made no mathematical errors. In this example, the student enters each assignment, grade, and weight into the calculator.

Assignment/Exam (optional) Grade Weight
Homework Average 76 20%
Quiz Average 90 15%
Test Average 88 35%
Classwork Average 100 10%
Final Exam 91 20%

After clicking "Calculate," the Grade calculator provides a numerical and letter grade.

Average Grade: 87.7 (B+)

Provided there are still grades or categories outstanding, enter the target final grade and the weight percentage weight of the outstanding assignments.

Assignment/Exam (optional) Grade Weight
Homework Average 76 20%
Quiz Average 90 15%
Test Average 88 35%
Final Grade Goal 88
Weight of Remaining Tasks 30%

After hitting "Calculate," the Final Grade Planning Calculator will display the current weighted average and the score required on outstanding work to achieve the desired final grade.

  • Average grade: 85.0 (B).
  • A grade of 95.0 is needed for the remaining 30% of tasks to ensure a final grade of 88.
Assignment/Exam (optional) Grade Weight
Homework Average 76 20%
Quiz Average 90 15%
Test Average 88 35%
Average grade 85

When all grades other than the final exam are accounted for, enter the current weighted average grade, target grade, and final exam weight in the Final Grade Calculator. Click the Calculate button.

  • Your current grade: 79
  • The grade you want: 85
  • Your final is worth: 35%

The Final Grade Calculator will display the final exam grade necessary to attain the desired final grade.

Result You will need a grade of 96.1 or higher on the final.

Weighted averages include numbers with different abilities to skew the average—thus the term "weighted." Unfortunately, many students (and some teachers!) don't understand how to calculate grades using weighted averages because they require more calculations than simple ones.

Suppose you're attempting to figure out your grade in a class where different assignments are worth varying percentages of your final grade. In that case, you might need to determine a weighted average. Whether the sum of your weights equals 1 (or 100%) will affect the method you employ.

It's Pretty Simple When You Have All the Data

To calculate a weighted average where the total weights equal 1, multiply each grade by its corresponding weight and add them all up. Rendered mathematically: g1(w1) + g2(w2) + g3(w3), and so on, where g is each grade and w is the corresponding weight. Of course, most syllabi list weights as percentages, so you will need to convert them into decimals first. For example, 25% equals 0.25; therefore, 100% equals 1.

The math is slightly different when some grades are missing, and the total weights equal less than one. This happens when you use the Final Grade Planning Calculator to determine your current weighted average and the score needed on the outstanding work to get the final grade you want.

Mathematically, you would figure out the weighted average the same way. However, you need to take the sum of each grade (weight) and divide it by the total weight of the known grades (in decimal form).

The formula would be Σgw/Σw where Σgw is the sum of each grade (weight) and Σw is the sum of all weights in decimal form.

The complexity of these calculations makes a weighted grade calculator a lifesaver for students.

Grading is a comparatively recent invention. Since 1785, students at Yale have been receiving the Latin equivalents of the words best (optimi), worse (inferiores), and worst (peiores). So, Yale was the first university in the United States to assign grades.

Before that, American colleges followed the Oxford and Cambridge models, which required frequent attendance at lectures and a weekly dialogue between the student and their proctor, both in person and in writing.

When the proctor or panel of other professors thought the students had shown an appropriate grasp of the subject, the course was declared complete. The faculty gave no grade. A prospective employer could only compare a student's qualifications through reference letters.

Universities experimented with a wide variety of systems during the 19th century. For example, Yale used scales ranging from four to nine points. The professors at Harvard experimented with 20 and 100-point scales before deciding that grouping students into five classes, with the lowest class failing the course, was the best they could do.

To assist professors in evaluating students, William and Mary public research University in the U.S. used the categories: "orderly, accurate, and attentive" or "they have learned little or nothing."

Because of the significant increases in immigration and the emergence of regulations requiring compulsory attendance, schools were overcrowded at the beginning of the 20th century. As a result, teachers and administrators needed an effective, standardized method for testing and grading many pupils. These circumstances naturally led to the nationwide standardization of school grading.

Our calculators use the percentages and letter grades common in the U.S. However, there are many other ways to assess student progress. Here is a quick list of common grading alternatives:

  • A percentage ranging from 0% to 100%.
  • Letter Grades with Variations (A, C+, B-).
  • Standard-Based. Students receive marks relative to specific knowledge in the curriculum.
  • Mastery-Based Grading. Students have the time to master a skill before moving to another.
  • Narrative-Based Grading. Students receive lengthy written feedback about their performance in class.

It may seem that the student grading system has been around forever. However, before the 20th century, the grading systems we now know did not exist.

We still worry about how to determine our grades when each type of assignment has its own "weight." We wonder what we need to get on the final exam to pass.

Our grade calculator can't give you the knowledge to handle every assignment. But he can reassure you by telling you where you are and what results you need to achieve.

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The Case Against Zeros in Grading

Teachers can rethink their grading practices to make them more mathematically fair for students and allow for redemption for a missed assignment.

Illustration concept for deemphasizing F grades

Let’s say a student fails to turn something in. What grade should they receive? I have asked this question of a lot of teachers lately, and here are the most common answers I’ve gotten: “Zero.” “Nothing.” “-5.” “An F.” “A K.” What?

I’m currently in my 19th year of teaching, and my answer to this question has evolved significantly over time. I was a staunch “Give them a zero. I don’t give points for doing nothing. You earn them.” However, in the past two years, my answer has evolved to include some nuance that I believe is more mathematically fair to students and allows for redemption.

Understand the Grade Band Reality

I’m a math teacher and I love number lines. So what does this have to do with grades? Let’s envision a number line with the traditional 0–100 grade scale on it. Way over on the right would be the A grade band (90–100). The B band would be from 80 to 90, a C from 70 to 80, and a D from 60 to 70.

When a student receives an F, that grade band doesn’t continue with that nice equal 10-point interval from 50 to 60. When we give students a zero, that zero is in grade purgatory! If we continued the equal-interval spacing of 10 points per letter, a zero would actually be a K. I think K stands for “Kill Grade.” Let me explain.

Think about a student who does consistent B (85) work. Their first two assignments are solid 85s, so the average is an 85. If this student doesn’t turn in the third assignment and receives a zero, their grade drops to an F (57). Because of that one zero, it will take that student 14 more 85s just to get their grade back to an 80.

To be clear, a student could have 15 total 85s in the grade book and one missing assignment (traditional zero), and their grade would still be C because of the way that zero mathematically affects the grading system .

Our students know this. They get in a hole because of some missing work or some zeros and they inherently know that they may never be able to get out of it no matter what they do. They can consistently turn in good work, but their grade hardly improves because of the math behind the K (the zero).

Think Philosophically to Redefine ‘0’

When I realized this, I had to philosophically understand what I wanted my grade book to be: an accurate reflection of student knowledge. I also don’t want my grading practices to be demotivating. I needed to make a change and wrap my head around “giving them something for nothing.” It seemed as wrong as the K grade. So here’s what I did: I had to reframe the concept of a zero.

If we think about grades on an equal-interval basis, each grade band is worth an equal value of 1. An F is 0, a D is 1, C is 2, B is 3, and A is 4. If we make each grade band equal, then failure isn’t disproportionately weighted. If we still have to use the 0–100 scale (which is mathematically skewed to failure), then we have to hack the traditional grade book and convert that 0–4 equal-interval scale into a 50–100 scale. Essentially, this makes 50 the new zero. We redefine the floor of our grading system to make it more mathematically accurate and less punitive. I’m not giving them something for nothing. I changed the narrative to redefine the floor at 50, so that failure isn’t worth more than success.

Let’s revisit our student who does consistent B work. The student does B-level work on two assignments and then misses one. Instead of giving that missing assignment a K (0), we give it an F (50). We use our new floor of 50 for a missing assignment. The student’s overall grade significantly drops to a 73, but it takes only four more Bs to get back into the B band. The F allows for redemption. The K doesn’t.

I spent this past summer involved in a study on Joe Feldman’s book Grading for Equity with 55 secondary teachers and administrators in my district in Sonoma, California. One of the practices discussed in the book that is an easy one to defend and implement is this idea of redefining the zero.

Many of my experienced colleagues are rethinking their use of the zero because they’ve seen the stark reality of what it takes to overcome a K. I encourage you to think philosophically about what you want your grading practices to encourage and convey to students. Are your grades an accurate reflection of what a student knows? Do your grading practices align with your teaching philosophies? Discussing my grading practices with colleagues was one of the best professional development exercises I have undertaken in 19 years.

Pushback Is Common but Manageable

The biggest pushback I have gotten from my colleagues has been related to the reporting of the redefined floor of 50 in the online grade book to parents and guardians. I agree that it’s confusing for a parent to see that an assignment is missing but at the same time the student received a “7/14.” The online grade book exacerbates the issue of “I don’t want to give them something for nothing.”

At my school site, there is no way around this, so we have to clearly communicate the rationale to parents with conversations or grade book comments, which is a good thing. However, this also unveils a bigger issue that can be raised with school administrators: reevaluation of our institutional systems to allow for a reimagined grading scale that is more mathematically sound and accurate.

I encourage you to find some like-minded and also some not-like-minded teachers and/or administrators and try this grading method. It makes you really have to defend your practices or develop new ones that might be contrary to what you experienced as a student.

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Gradebook Missing and Late Policies

What are missing submission policies.

The  Missing Submission policy   lets you automatically apply a grade for all missing submissions in the New Gradebook.

A submission is labeled missing when the due date has passed and it has not been submitted. Only submissions with a status of Missing will be affected by the Missing Submission policy. The Missing Submission policy is set per course.

The Missing Submission policy allows you to define a grade that will be granted for missing submissions as a percentage of the total points possible. The percent entered is multiplied by the total points possible on the assignment and the resulting value will be awarded to missing submissions.

For example, to assign all missing submissions with a grade of 0, the Missing submission grade should be set to 0%.

Keep in Mind:

If a submission is received after the due date, the Missing label will be automatically replaced by the Late label. However, any label can be manually removed in the  Grade Detail Tray .

Setting a Missing Submission policy affects all assignments in a course , including assignments with due dates in the past. To exclude a specific assignment, mark the submission as something other than Missing in the Grade Detail Tray.

Applying a missing submission policy will not affect previously graded missing submissions. Therefore, the  Missing Submission policy should be set up when a course is created prior to creating assignments .

The Missing Submission policy will not be automatically applied to No Submission or On Paper assignments. However, a Missing label can be added in the Grade Detail Tray.

See the Canvas Guide for more detailed instructions on  utilizing Missing Submission policies .

What are Late Submission policies?

The  Late Submission policy   allows you to automatically deduct points on all late submissions.

A submission is labeled late when it has been submitted past the due date. Only assignments with a status of Late will be affected by the Late Submission policy. The late policy will be applied to a submission when it is graded.

The Late Submission policy allows you to define a percentage of the total points possible on an assignment that will be deducted for late submissions. Points can be deducted per day or hour the submission is late up until it reaches the lowest possible grade (determined by you within the settings).

For example, if the Deduct field is set to 10%, the interval is selected for Day, and the assignment is worth 10 points, 1 point will be deducted per day. If a submission is 2 days late, and the student is awarded full points, their final grade on the assignment would be 8 points (2 days late x 1 point deduction per day = 2 point Late Penalty).

Setting a Late Submission policy affects all assignments in a course , including assignments with due dates in the past. To exclude a specific assignment, mark the submission as something other than Late in the  Grade Detail Tray .

For the calculation of the Late Penalty, days late will be rounded up to the next whole number. For example, if a student submits 1.3 days late, the Late Penalty will treat the student as 2 days late. This behavior also applies for hour durations.

Applying a deduction to late submissions will automatically affect any previously graded submissions. Therefore, the  Late Submission policy should be set up when a course is created prior to creating assignments .

The Late Submission policy will not be automatically applied to No Submission or On Paper assignments. However, a Late label can be added in the Grade Detail tray.

See the Canvas Guide for more detailed instructions on  utilizing Late Submission policies .

You might also be interested in  Canvas' Late Policies: Instructor FAQs article .

Enable Missing and Late Policy Settings

Clicking the gear icon in the Gradebook opens up Missing & Late Policy settings.

Gradebook gear icon to access Late and Missing Policies

  •  Missing submission policy settings

Enable Missing and late policy settings

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  • Grade Calculators

Final Grade Calculator

Final Grade Calculator

Enter Final Info

My final exam is worth:

I want (at least) this in the class:

Enter Class Grades

Calculator Instructions

  • In the top part of the form, enter how much your final exam is worth and the grade that you would like to get in the class. For example, your final test might be worth 20% of your overall grade and you want to get at least a 93% in the class. You would enter these numbers into the form.
  • In the bottom half of the form, enter a description (optional) of the classwork, the grade received for that classwork, and the weight of the classwork. Most class grades are made up of several components such as homework assignments, tests, exams, quizzes, class participation, attendance, etc. For example, a class exam might be worth 10% of your grade and you received a 95% on the test. You would enter those values into the form.
  • If you need more than four rows, press the "Add Row" button to add an additional line. You can add as many rows as you need.
  • Once you have finished entering your grades, press the "Calculate" button and the grade you need on the final exam will be displayed.

Final Grade Formula

final grade = ((g wanted x w total ) - gw) / w final

w total = w 1 + w 2 + w 3 + ... + w final

w 1 = weight of assignment #1

w final = weight of final exam

gw = g 1 x w 1 + g 2 x w 2 + g 3 x w 3 + ...

g 1 = grade for assignment #1

g wanted = grade wanted in the class

Example Calculation

Let's say your class has the following grading plan.

Assignments Weight
Project #1 10%
Project #2 10%
Quiz #1 20%
Quiz #2 20%
Mid-Term Test 20%
Final Exam 20%

Now let's assume you received the following grades on your classwork.

Assignments Grade Received
Project #1 91%
Project #2 85%
Quiz #1 75%
Quiz #2 95%
Mid-Term Test 97%
Final Exam Not Yet Taken

Finally, let's assume that you want to get a 90% in the class. To determine what you need to get on your final exam in order to get a 90% in the class, let's do some math using the formula above.

First add the weight of all the class assignments together including your final:

w total = 10% + 10% + 20% + 20% + 20% = 100%

Next, multiple the grade you received on each assignment by the weight of the assignment.

gw = (91% x 10%) + (85% x 10%) + (75% x 20%) + (95% x 20%) + (97% x 20%) = 7100%

Now, calculate what you need on the final exam:

final exam grade = ((90% x 100%) - 7100%) / 20% = 95%

This is how you manually calculate your final grade. Of course, you can make your life a little easier using the calculator above!

What if my class grade is based on points rather than percentages?

Let's assume you have the following class syllabus that is based on points.

Assignments Possible Points
Project 100
Homework #1 100
Homework #2 150
Quiz 200
Mid-Term Test 200
Final Exam 250

Let's assume you received the following grades.

Assignments Points Earned
Project 91 out 100
Homework #1 85 out of 100
Homework #2 120 out of 150
Quiz 180 out of 200
Mid-Term Test 190 out of 200
Final Exam Not Yet Taken

To enter these grades in the calculator above, you first need to calculate your grade percentage for each assignment using the following formula:

grade percentage = points earned / possible points x 100

So taking your mid-term test grade as an example, we get the following:

mid-term test = 190 points earned / 200 possible points x 100 = 95%

In the weight column of the calculator, you would enter the possible points for each assignment.

Assuming you wanted to get at least a 90% in the class and your final exam is worth 250 points (i.e.the weight), you would enter the following information into the calculator.

Classwork Grade Weight
Project 91% 100
Homework #1 85% 100
Homework #2 80% 150
Quiz 90% 200
Mid-Term Test 95% 200

In this example, you would need to get a 93.6% on your final in order to get a 90% in the class.

You Might Like These Too

Weighted Grade Calculator

Weighted Grade Calculator

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High School GPA Calculator

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Test Average Calculator

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Class Average Calculator

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Grade Calculator

Our Grade Calculator can help you determine what you need to get on your final exam to achieve the final grade you would like for a given course.

Please make sure all text fields are filled out.

 No.Score / Out OfGrade (%)Weight (%)
1

Important Notes

You can use our grade calculator to calculate the final exam grade you will need to achieve the overall course grade you desire. Our calculator requires you to enter the current percentage grade you have currently obtained for that course together with the weight of the final exam as a percentage value. However, if you do not know what your current grade is, for the question "Do you know your Current Grade?" select the answer "no." Enter the grades you have received for all of your assignments, homework, test, labs, and anything else that contributes to your final grade, as well as the weight of each grade. Our grade calculator will automatically calculate not only your current grade but the grade you need to achieve on your final exam to achieve the overall course grade you desire. In addition, both the minimum and maximum course overall grades will be provided.

Inputting Data in our Grade Calculator

When entering your current grade and the weight of your final exam, our calculator will assume that your current grade has been based on the weight of the course prior to your final exam and calculates it as the input weight subtracted from 100%. If your current grade hasn't taken your coursework into account, the generated results will not be accurate.

Grade Calculator

Want to know your class grade? Use our simple grade calculator to add up all your assignments and figure out your total score.

How to Use the Grade Calculator

Keeping track of your class grade is essential for academic success. Use our calculator to keep tabs on your progress; enter your assignments, their grades and weights and voilà! Curious what grade you'll need on the final? Check out our final grade calculator .

Step-by-Step Tutorial

For those who prefer text instead of videos, follow the steps below to calculate your class grade. It's easy!

Enter your assessment name

To start, enter the name of the assessment. This could be a homework assignment, essay or exam.

Enter your assessment grade

Next, enter the grade you received for that particular assessment. You can select a letter or percent.

Enter your assessment weight

In the last field, enter the assessment's percentage weight in the class (i.e. how many points it is worth). These are often found on the class syllabus.

Add another assessment (optional)

Select "add assessment" to add another assessment row to your class, and then repeat steps 1–3 for the new item.

Add another class (optional)

Click on the "add class" button to start calculating your grade for another class, and then follow the same process as before.

How are Grades Calculated?

Most classes use whats known as a 'weighted' system, where each group of assessments (homework assignments, essays, exams, etc.) are each worth a different proportion of your total grade.

However, it isn't as simple as adding all your points up at the end of the semester. You may get 10/10 points on your homework, and 10/10 points on a quiz, but the quiz might be worth more relative to your overall class grade.

If that sounds complicated but you're interested in learning more have a look at our guide on How to Calculate Grades , it's chock full of everything you need to know, and then some.

Study, Track, Repeat

Use pencil and paper for your assignments, not keeping track of your grades. Our calculator will save your progress and you can revisit it at any time to continue adding more assessments, scores or classes. Bookmark us for easy access!

  • Letter A+ A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D+ D D- F Percent 100 99 98 97 96 95 94 93 92 91 90 89 88 87 86 85 84 83 82 81 80 79 78 77 76 75 74 73 72 71 70 69 68 67 66 65 64 63 62 61 60
  • Grade A+ A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D+ D D- F Weight Regular Honors AP / IB College

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How does using the missing assignment tag affect the grade average?

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Grade Calculator

Use this weighted grade calculator to easily calculate the weighted average grade for a class or course. Enter letter grades (A, B-, C+, etc.) or percentage scores (75, 88, 92, etc.) achieved on all relevant exams, homework assignments, projects, verbal exams, etc. as well as their weights as percentages. Optionally, enter a final grade goal to estimate how much you need to score on your final exam in order to meet your goal.

Related calculators

  • How to calculate your grade
  • What grade do I need on my final?
  • How to convert a grade to percentage?

    How to calculate your grade

With the help of this grade calculator you can calculate your current weighted grade or unweighted grade in terms of percentage, letter grade, or GPA. The tool will also output the weight of all remaining exams, and assignments and has the option of calculating the minimum score you need to obtain on a final exam in order to achieve a target overall grade for a class or course.

To use the calculator, enter the number of grades you currently have, then each grade as a percent or letter grade , and finally the weight each grade adds towards the overall. If no weights are entered, the weights are assumed equal and the calculator will output the unweighted average grade. Otherwise a weighted average grade will be produced in terms of percentage, GPA, and a letter grade.

    What grade do I need on my final?

If you haven't yet got a score on the final exam for a given class, you can use this tool as a final grade calculator. In order to achieve a given grade goal for the entire class, course, or semester, a given minimum grade is required on the final exam, depending on both the weighted average grade to that date, and the weight of the final on the overall grade. This minimum required score can be calculated using the following formula:

Required final score = (Grade Goal - Current Grade x (100% - Weight of Final(%))) / Weight of Final(%)

The current grade is calculated based on the weighted average of all marks to date. The weight of the final test is calculated as 100% minus the combined weight of all grades to date. Therefore, if the combined weight of the scores you enter is 65% then the final exam will have a weight of 100% - 65% = 35%.

    How to convert a grade to percentage?

Our grade calculator uses the following table to convert letter grades to percentages. Note that since this is not a universally applicable table, ideally one would want to know the exact percentage scores and use these as input for the calculator, otherwise the results may be slightly off.

Letter grades to percentages and GPA
Letter GradePercentageGPA
A+ 97-100% 4.3
A 93-96% 4.0
A- 90-92% 3.7
B+ 87-89% 3.3
B 83-86% 3.0
B- 80-82% 2.7
C+ 77-79% 2.3
C 73-76% 2.0
C- 70-72% 1.7
D+ 67-69% 1.3
D 63-66% 1.0
D- 60-62% 0.7
F 0-59% 0.0

Again, it is our recommendation that you check with your local school or college and enter percentage grades instead of letter grades for the most accurate calculation. Note that while U.S. colleges and schools are likely to use the above grading, educational institutions in other countries may use a vastly different GPA scale.

Cite this calculator & page

If you'd like to cite this online calculator resource and information as provided on the page, you can use the following citation: Georgiev G.Z., "Grade Calculator" , [online] Available at: https://www.gigacalculator.com/calculators/grade-calculator.php URL [Accessed Date: 15 Sep, 2024].

     Other calculators

IMAGES

  1. Missing Assignment Notice by Harwood Happenings

    how much does a missing assignment affect your grade

  2. Missing Assignment chart by Mrs Shea

    how much does a missing assignment affect your grade

  3. Missing Assignment Sheet Download Printable PDF

    how much does a missing assignment affect your grade

  4. Missing Assignment & Your Grades poster by Restoration Lake

    how much does a missing assignment affect your grade

  5. Missing Assignment by Stacy Floyd

    how much does a missing assignment affect your grade

  6. Missing Assignment Sheet Download Printable PDF

    how much does a missing assignment affect your grade

VIDEO

  1. COMM assignment does inflation affect housing prices in both developed and emerging economies

  2. Teachers, what has been the worst way a student has misinterpreted an assignment?

  3. How Missing Assignments Affects Your Grade (Visualization)

  4. Dangerous Assignment (TV-1951) THE MISSING DIPLOMAT STORY (Ep 17)

  5. When it comes to skipping school, time out adds up

  6. Disabling Automatic Zeroes for Missing Assignments in Google Classroom

COMMENTS

  1. Is missing an assignment going to make me fail the whole class?

    Depends on the assignment. If it's a project that weighs 15% of your grade, then missing it's going to make it harder (but not impossible) to pass your class. If it's homework that weighs 10% of your total grade, and you get like 100 assignments per semester, then you'll be fine. Reply reply. Kkdvaka2702.

  2. Am I missing something: dropping X lowest assignment grades ...

    If you aren't in my class then it will affect the grade. If I had 5 students in my classes in total it is possible to accommodate make ups coordinating my schedule with their schedules. However I usually have 150+ per semester and many professors have 300+. It isn't feasible to do makeup assignments at all on certain circumstances.

  3. Why it's hard for students to "just turn in" missing assignments, and

    Overall grade with 3 missing assignments: 78.3% Overall grade when assignments are turned in: 90.1% It's hard for students to calculate these averages in their head, so it can be really powerful for them to run the numbers and see firsthand exactly how much they have to gain from making up their missing assignments.

  4. What's the big deal if I don't do an assignment or lab?

    Three students with a high "A" average then had low "C" averages with the missing assignment. For example: before the missing assignment a student's grade average was 95 for the assignment category, but with a zero for the missing assignment, the grade average dropped to 77. That is a two letter grade drop just from missing one ...

  5. Grade Calculator

    Grade Calculator. Use this calculator to find out the grade of a course based on weighted averages. This calculator accepts both numerical as well as letter grades. It also can calculate the grade needed for the remaining assignments in order to get a desired grade for an ongoing course. Assignment/Exam.

  6. Grade Calculator

    Here's a step-by-step guide on how to use a Grade Calculator: Step 1: Input the Assignments. Users manually enter the name of each assignment, for example: Assignment 1, 2, 3, Homework, Final Exam, etc. Step 2: Input the grade. Enter their scores for each assignment, test, project, or other exam throughout the course.

  7. Dealing With Students Missing Exams and In-Class Graded Assignments

    Before finalizing your syllabus, ask a few students to read your make-up policy to determine if it can be easily understood. If your explanation of what students are to do in the case of missing an exam, and how their grade is affected, is not easily understood, revise it. In developing your policy, do you want students to:

  8. Canvas

    Open SpeedGrader. Scroll to the bottom of the submission. Click Update Scores. Move to the next student, and repeat the steps for the entire class. If you have additional questions, please contact Canvas 24/7/365 Support. Keywords. total grade, final grade, grade calculation, entering zero, missing assignments, excused. Doc ID.

  9. How to deal with missing & late-work: one teacher's approach

    As such, I've broken the thread into segments so that I can provide additional details about how to address the late work issue in meaningful ways without using grade penalties and without losing your sanity. Part 1: Organizing Assignments into Essential vs. Non-essential. Tweets: This Tweet probably needs the most explanation.

  10. 4 strategies to get those missing assignments turned in

    Here are 3 simple and repeatable tips to help classroom teachers encourage students to—finally—submit those late, missing, or forgotten assignments. 1. Help students manage their own assignment completion. There's no better way to promote accountability than to help students to keep track of and manage their own assignments list.

  11. Missing Assignment Grade Calculator Chart

    The Missing Assignment Grade Calculator is a simple chart that I use as a motivational exercise for students at the beginning of any class, to show them how much a missing assignment will affect their grade. When I created this table of calculations towards the end of one year, students said, "Why didn't you show us this earlier?!" Page 1 is a ...

  12. Give Fs for Missing Grades Instead of Zeros

    Because grades typically run from A to F (100 to 50), giving students a zero for a missed assignment significantly affects their grade. Assigning a 50 instead of a zero penalizes missed ...

  13. Is missing a 10 point assignment enough to fail a class?

    The HW/Weekly Assignments portion is worth 160 since 16 weeks of the semester times 10 points is 160. The final exam and the attendance/participatuon grade are both worth 20, so if I manage to do well on the exam and submit all assignments with the exception of the one that missed, I imagine that I could probably make it out with a decent grade.

  14. Missing assignments' affect on scores

    I figured it out on my own. In order to make the missing assignment (quiz) affect the grade, you have to plug in a zero. The student is still allowed to take the quiz, unless you block it, and the new score overrides the zero. If you have a due date set, then it marks the quiz as late, View solution in original post.

  15. Grade Calculator

    After hitting "Calculate," the Final Grade Planning Calculator will display the current weighted average and the score required on outstanding work to achieve the desired final grade. Average grade: 85.0 (B). A grade of 95.0 is needed for the remaining 30% of tasks to ensure a final grade of 88.

  16. The Case Against Zeros in Grading

    The student does B-level work on two assignments and then misses one. Instead of giving that missing assignment a K (0), we give it an F (50). We use our new floor of 50 for a missing assignment. The student's overall grade significantly drops to a 73, but it takes only four more Bs to get back into the B band. The F allows for redemption.

  17. Gradebook Missing and Late Policies

    The Missing Submission policy lets you automatically apply a grade for all missing submissions in the New Gradebook. A submission is labeled missing when the due date has passed and it has not been submitted. Only submissions with a status of Missing will be affected by the Missing Submission policy. The Missing Submission policy is set per course.

  18. Final Grade Calculator

    To enter these grades in the calculator above, you first need to calculate your grade percentage for each assignment using the following formula: grade percentage = points earned / possible points x 100. So taking your mid-term test grade as an example, we get the following: mid-term test = 190 points earned / 200 possible points x 100 = 95%

  19. Grade Calculator

    Our grade calculator will automatically calculate not only your current grade but the grade you need to achieve on your final exam to achieve the overall course grade you desire. In addition, both the minimum and maximum course overall grades will be provided. Once you have entered the information required, the system will generate both a table ...

  20. Grade Calculator

    Our calculator will save your progress and you can revisit it at any time to continue adding more assessments, scores or classes. Bookmark us for easy access! Grade Calculator. Calculate your class grade (percentage) with our easy-to-use grade calculator. Track assignments, quizzes and tests for all your classes to stay informed.

  21. PDF How Does ONE Missing Assignment Affect Your Grade

    Assignment 6 95 = A _____ TOTAL 552 = A average Assignment 7 0 = MISSING _____ TOTAL 552 = C average Assignment 8 90 = A Assignment 9 95 = A Assignment 10 90 = A _____ TOTAL 827 = B Low B average This student had 10 assignments. 8 were "A" 1 was "B" One missing assignment was a ZERO. THE FINAL GRADE WILL BE A LOW "B". And all ...

  22. How does using the missing assignment tag affect the grade average

    10-18-2022 12:28 PM. It depends on your grade setup. You can set Missing to automatically have a point value or leave it unscored. I would set mine to 50% because we were 50 based and I wanted my students/parents to be aware of what the grade would be if it were left missing. Jason Bengs, M. Ed. SIS/Database Administrator.

  23. Grade Calculator with Weighted Grade Calculation

    Use this weighted grade calculator to easily calculate the weighted average grade for a class or course. Enter letter grades (A, B-, C+, etc.) or percentage scores (75, 88, 92, etc.) achieved on all relevant exams, homework assignments, projects, verbal exams, etc. as well as their weights as percentages. Optionally, enter a final grade goal to ...