Letter-grade conversion
Letter grades here use a common US-style 10-point scale with plus/minus subdivisions (90–92 is A-, 87–89 is B+, and so on down to F below 60). In Percentage and Points mode, your grade is converted straight from that percentage. In Letter mode, each assignment's letter converts to its GPA points first (an A- is worth 3.7, a B+ is worth 3.3), your current GPA is the weighted average of those points, and the letter grade shown is converted back from that GPA. Grading scales vary by school and even by individual instructor, so treat the letter and GPA shown as a common reference point, not a guarantee — check your syllabus for the scale that actually applies to your course.
| Letter Grade | Percentage | GPA |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
How weighted grades are calculated
For percentage-weight grading, every graded assignment contributes its grade multiplied by its weight. A 90% on an assignment worth 5% of the course contributes 4.5 percentage points toward your final grade — not 90%. Add up the contributions from graded assignments and divide by the weight you've actually completed to get your current grade: a true reflection of how you're doing on the work you've done, regardless of how much of the course is left.
Current grade vs. final course grade
This is the distinction that trips students up most: your current grade is the average of what you've completed so far — it doesn't know or care that the rest of the course exists yet. Your assignments' raw contributions, on the other hand, only add up to a fraction of 100% until the course is finished. A student with a 90% average after finishing 20% of the course has earned 18 percentage points toward their final grade, not 90 — the current grade and the "toward final" figure are both correct, they're just answering different questions. The Grade Breakdown table below the summary shows both, side by side, for exactly this reason.
How to calculate the grade needed
"What grade do I need?" answers a different question: given your current grade, how much of the course is left, and what final grade you're aiming for, what average do you need on everything remaining? The calculator solves it directly: it takes your target, subtracts what you've already banked from your completed work, and divides what's left by the weight you have left to earn it in.
Needed grade = (Target × 100 − Current grade × Completed weight) ÷ Remaining weight 6 assignments, 60% of the course complete, current grade 87.92% Target: 90% → You need 93.13% on the remaining 40% In Letter mode, the same weighted-average method is used with GPA points instead of percentages. “Target Grade” becomes “Target GPA,” and the calculator tells you the GPA you need to average on the remaining work.
Percentage vs. points grading
Percentage grading assigns each assignment an explicit weight (5%, 20%, and so on). Points grading skips the separate weight entirely — an assignment worth 200 points naturally counts for more than one worth 50, in exact proportion to how many points it's worth. Both approaches land on the same current-grade math underneath; points grading is just a more literal way of expressing the same weighting when a course is graded on a running point total instead of percentages.
Percentage weights vs. relative weights
With percentage weights, every assignment's weight should be its true share of the course, and the weights should total no more than 100%. A complete course setup will total 100%. Relative weights don't need to add up to anything in particular — enter 1, 2, and 3 for three assignments and the calculator works out that they're worth 16.7%, 33.3%, and 50% of the course automatically, based on their share of the total.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my current grade different from the sum of my assignment percentages?
Because those are two different numbers answering two different questions. Adding up grade × weight for everything you've completed tells you how much you've earned toward the full 100% of the course — naturally less than 100% until the course ends. Your current grade divides that same sum by only the weight you've completed, telling you your average on the work that's actually been graded so far. Both are shown separately in the Grade Breakdown table.
What happens if switching grade format loses my data?
Percentage, Letter, and Points modes use fundamentally different inputs — a 90% doesn't have one obvious points or letter equivalent without knowing more about the course — so switching between them loads that mode's own example data rather than trying to guess a conversion. Switching between the two weight systems (Percentage weights and Relative weights), on the other hand, keeps everything you've entered exactly as it is, since that only changes how weights are interpreted, not what they mean.
The grade I need is over 100% — what does that mean?
It means your target isn't reachable with the remaining weight you've entered under normal grading, even with a perfect score on everything left. The calculator flags this rather than showing a number that looks achievable but isn't. Check your target grade and make sure the remaining course weight is correct.