Do you want to learn how to calculate your grade yourself? Well, you are going to learn all the different methods on how to calculate your grade in this article. Firstly, grading is a process of using standard measures to quantify students’ achievements or intellectual progress in a course. It usually determines your total academic accomplishments for the entire school term. Calculating it varies on the type of grading systems or grading scales in the country.
Types Of Grading Scale
Several types of grading scales are used to weigh the achievements of students in a particular school or a particular country. Some countries adopt a combination of grading scales when examining the level of students in schools. These are some of the types of grading scales:
4.0 Grading scale:
The 4.0 grading scale is one of the most commonly used scales of grading in the educational systems of most high schools and colleges. This grading scale is easy to use but does not consider the difference in difficulty of subjects or courses. Thus, the scale takes 4.0 to be the highest grade being A or A+, the grading normally looks like this:
- A is 4.0.
- B is 3.0.
- C is 2.0.
- D is 1.0.
- F is 0.0.
Essentially some schools would add more letters to their grading while still allowing the highest grade to represent 4.0. For example, A+ =4, A-=3.7, B+=3.3, B-=2.7, C+=2.2 and so on.
5.0 Grading Scale:
This grading scale is a widely used scale for Honours, Advanced Placement {AP} students or International Baccalaureate {IB} courses. Also, it replaces the A of a 4.0 grading scale with a 5.0, making 5.0 the highest grading which is A. The 5.0 grading scale takes on this format:
- A is 5.0.
- B is 4.0.
- C is 3.0.
- D is 2.0.
- F is 0.0.
Schools are free to add more letter grades to it like A+ A-, B+ B-, and so on, taking that the highest grade would be 5.0.
Percentage Grading Scale:
Grades here are usually represented in a specific range of percentages. This grade is also used in some high schools and colleges. Though the percentages for each grade to represent A, B, C, D and F varies from school to school, the highest percentage is 100%. Where range of percentage a student’s score falls between will determine his or her grade. A percentage grading scale looks like this:
- A=90% to 100%.
- B=80% to 89%.
- C=70% to 79%,
- D=60% to 69%.
- F=50% to 59%.
Students’ final scores in that session would determine their grades, and where ever range it falls will determine their grades. Moreover, most schools use this grading scale combined with a 4.0 grading scale.
Letter Grading scale:
Letter grading scales use letters to rate the academic achievements of students for that session. Each letter has a specific range of percentages it represents. However, the students will be able to see it in the form of letter grades. Therefore, it should normally look like this.
- A
- B
- C
- D
- F
Then it could be further spread like A+, A, A- would represent an excellent performance, B+, B, B- would represent a good performance, C+, C, C- would represent a satisfactory performance and so on. This grading system is very common in high school.
Grade Point Average (GPA) on Different Scales:
This is a calculated number that indicates how well you did in your courses on average. This could be calculated using any of the scales 4.0, 5.0, 7.0 and 10.0. It can be simply calculated by adding all your course grades and then dividing it by the total credits. You can as well use a GPA calculator to do the work for you, without having to calculate it yourself.
Other Grading System
Other grading scales are still used in the grading system of students. Though not as common, they are still practised in some institutions. They are:
- Common grading scale in which students receive a pass or fail grade depending on performance.
- Narrative Grading scale which focuses on qualitative feedback from learners.
- Grading scales are based on standards which set a standard-defined level at which students are graded.
- 7.0 grading scale which takes 7.0 as the highest value of grade, usually following this trend 6-7 is excellent, 5-6 is very good,4-5 is good…., 1-2 is fail.
- 10.0 grading scale takes 10.0 as the highest grading point, similar to except 8-9 is excellent, &-8 is good…., 5 fails.
These are the other grading scales practised by some institutions.
How to Calculate your Grade
Grades can be calculated in a points-based system and a weighted system. Essentially the methods are identical but the points-based uses a total number of points earned in a class while the weighted system uses a total percentage.
How to Calculate Your Grade in a Points-Based System
As said previously, a points-based system deals with the total number of points gained in a single course. To calculate it:
- Check your course syllabus for the point value for each course and then multiply it by the number of times it appears.
- Write down in a tabular form your points received and the total possible points that can be achieved in each class.
- Find the sum of your points achieved and the total of the possible points.
- Divide your total points achieved by the total possible points.
The answer would correspond to a percentage grade and now you have calculated your final grade for the semester.
How to Calculate Your Grade in a Weighted System
Weighted grading system mostly deals with percentages when calculating the final grade. To calculate it:
- Check your course syllabus to find the weight or percentage value of each course.
- In each of the courses, add together all the individual grades earned per task before you divide it by the number of tasks.
- Multiply the decimal expression of the weight given to a course by all the average grades.
- Then lastly, add all the calculated grades from all the courses.
The final weight or percentage would also have a corresponding letter grade.
Mistakes in Calculating Grade
Although calculating your final grade appears straightforward, some mistakes can affect the final value, making it wrong. Common mistakes are:
- Omission error. When collecting your values and writing them down, be careful not to forget a number or course.
- Calculation error. At times we make mistakes when calculating the grades, so it is best to use a calculator.
- Mathematical error. At times we could mix up division, multiplication and addition which will have a great effect on the final value.
- Mixed values error. AT times we mix the values of the courses with each other which could affect the overall result. Be careful when transferring data.
These are pretty much the mistakes that could be made when calculating your final grade. Be careful and precise.
