College · College Success · One course at a time

Know what the final
has to be.

Copy the weights from the syllabus and the scores so far. The page works out the grade already locked in, the highest one still possible and exactly what the rest has to be for an A, a B or a pass.

Open the grade calculatorWhat you get
2ways to grade: weighted categories or total points
9letter cutoffs, all editable
6courses saved side by side

The grade calculator

One row for each grading category on the syllabus. Leave On the rest empty for the part you want solved, such as the final exam.

Loading the grade calculator. If nothing appears, turn on JavaScript.

What the percent on the gradebook is not telling you

Three numbers from the worked example. The calculator finds the same three for any course.

57.1%

A current grade covers only what is graded

In the example, 57.1% of the course has been graded and the average on it is 81.5%. The other 42.9% has not happened yet, and the final alone is 25 points of it.

0.25

A point is worth what its category weighs

One percent higher on a final worth 25% lifts the course grade a quarter of a point. One percent higher on a single homework, one of twelve in a 15% category, lifts it about 0.01.

89.4%

The ceiling drops without a notice

With perfect scores from here on, the example finishes at 89.4%, a B+. The A− is already gone, weeks before the final, and nothing on a gradebook screen says so.

What you get

College · College SuccessAlso for College · Family ResourcesFreeStudent and Family modes

What you finish with
For each course: the grade on graded work, the points locked in, the highest grade still possible, the score needed on what is left for a chosen letter grade, a table for every letter grade and where one more percent counts most. In Family mode, what a C, C− or D would take and questions for the conversation. A printout and a spreadsheet.
Who it is for
College and dual-enrollment students deciding where to put the last weeks of a term; parents and families who have been shown a grade and want to know what recovery would take; college academic advisors and tutors working through a syllabus with a student.
Format
Browser calculator with Student and Family modes, weighted or total-points grading and up to six courses. Works on a phone, tablet or computer, by touch or keyboard. Prints a one-course summary; saves a .csv.
Access
Free. No account and no sign-in. Course names and scores are saved only in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The College Success space in Caveat College; also listed for Family Resources (Family mode, the College Grade Recovery Calculator).
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.
Locked in, still possible and the target on one line. The page draws this for every course you enter.

How to use it

  1. Pick Weighted categories or Total points, whichever the syllabus uses, and add one row per category.
  2. For each row type the weight, how many items are graded out of how many, and the average so far.
  3. Press Keep my averages to assume the rest of each started category goes the same way, and leave the final exam blank.
  4. Choose the grade you want. Read the needed score, the table for every letter and where one more percent counts most.

Open the grade calculator

How the grade calculator stays right

Plain weighted-average arithmetic, checked against an exact reference.

How the projection is worked out

  • Everything becomes course points. A category’s share is its weight divided by all the weights (or its points divided by all the points). The graded part of each share, times the average on it, is locked in.
  • What is left is either planned or blank. A percent typed under On the rest is taken as given. Whatever is left blank is what the page solves for: (target − locked in − planned) ÷ the blank share.
  • Needed scores are rounded up to the next tenth, so the number shown is always enough.
  • Highest still possible is the locked-in points plus a perfect score on everything left. Locked in is the same course with zeros from here on.
  • Inside a category every item counts the same, so 9 of 12 homeworks graded means three quarters of that category is graded. If items differ in size, use Total points.

Why a gradebook may show something else

Some gradebooks count a category at full weight as soon as one item in it is graded; this page counts only the graded share. Dropped lowest scores, curves, extra credit and attendance rules are not built in: type the average as the syllabus would count it.

Letter cutoffs differ between instructors, and some round. The cutoffs here start at a common pattern and can be changed to match the syllabus.

For families. Family mode uses the same arithmetic and asks the recovery question: what would a C, a C− or a D take from here, and is that above or below what the student has averaged so far. It works only with numbers the student chooses to share.

Sources

  1. The weighted average a syllabus defines: final percent = the sum, over the grading categories, of weight × percent earned. The page’s arithmetic is checked against an exact reference written for it (guide/suite/gpc_ref.py, in fractions) on the worked example and on forty generated courses.
  2. Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1232g, and its regulations at 34 CFR Part 99: rights over education records pass to the student at age 18 or on attending a postsecondary institution (34 CFR 99.5), and a college generally needs the student’s written consent to share grades (34 CFR 99.30), with limited exceptions (34 CFR 99.31).
  3. Federal student aid regulations on satisfactory academic progress, 34 CFR 668.34: a college measures pace as credits completed divided by credits attempted, which is why the page says to ask the financial aid office before a withdrawal.

An estimate from the numbers typed in. The syllabus and the instructor decide the grade, and policies on dropped scores, curves, rounding, incompletes and withdrawals differ by college and by course. The example course is made up. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.