How to Calculate Final Grade in High School? (Guide)
Have you ever experienced excitement and anxiety at the same time before the end of the semester because your curious mind is thinking about what your overall grade will be? Whether you’re planning to top the class, get a good GPA, earn a scholarship, or get admitted to honors, knowing how to calculate final grade can help you see what your report card will look like. In this guide, you will find how to do it manually in different grading systems or using a grade calculator to take the stress out of this calculation.
What is the final grade?
You may think last exams are something that will cover the last portion of your final grade, but remember, they’re also the most important ones that can turn positions drastically. It’s also not a single last portion, but it will represent your overall performance in one turn. Fairfax County Public Schools explains the final grading calculation, as final exams can count for up to 20% of the overall course grade. It indicates how vital your end exams will be in assessing your academic progress.
Why Knowing Your Final Grade Matters
In your academic journey, knowing your scores in advance gives you control over your outcomes and helps you achieve what you want. Knowing your final grade will enable you to improve areas that need improvement. Also, in the calculation, you will not let any assignment score be missed because you already calculated everything on your side, and if your teacher misses adding any of the tasks’ scores, you can get your total correctly calculated. So calculating course marks is a wise move in your educational career.
How to Calculate Final Grade
Before we go into details of how high schools calculate it, we want you to have a look at the math that works behind the scenes. Consider the formula for final grade calculation used in most cases.
Now let’s see how this math comes in practice in different grading polices. To calculate the overall grade, you first need to confirm which grading system your high school uses: weighted or unweighted. Because the calculations for both will be slightly different, we need to get them done accurately. After confirming the grading system, you just need to apply all the steps carefully.
Calculate Final Grade in Unweighted System
In an unweighted system, it is simple to calculate final grade because all your assignments and tests have equal importance. So to estimate the total grade, follow the steps below:
- Plus all the marks that you already got.
- Add all possible marks.
- Now, in this last step, divide the total marks you already got by all possible ones and then multiply them by 100.
Calculate Final Grade in Weighted System
This structure is mostly followed by U.S. high schools. So the chances are greater that your school will be following this grading system. Calculation can be a little tricky or complex in this system because every category will have a different importance or weight. To do estimation in this system, follow the steps below
- Write down all categories and weights that they hold.
- Now find your average score in each of them.
- Multiply each category’s average score by its weight.
- Now add all of them and make a total, and that’s your Cumulative grade.
Calculate Final Grade Easily with Grade Calculator
Juggling with decimals, percentages, averages, and weights could be stressful. But don’t worry. Our grade calculator is here to take all this stress and provide you with an accurate final grade calculation in a few seconds. By just putting in your scores and weights and then clicking on calculate, you will see results in no time. You can find it on our homepage.
Teacher’s Perspective
Making an effort is one thing, but making it in the right direction is another. As high school teachers, my colleagues and I used to discuss in the staff room that many students try their best but still fail to achieve what they want. Most of the time, there are many reasons behind it, but one of them is not knowing where to put more effort. That’s why I started helping my students by suggesting they calculate their total score so their overall academic performance would be clear to them and they would still get a chance to improve it before it’s too late.
Common Mistakes You Should Never Make
Planning to calculate the cumulative grade is a smart move, but doing it carefully with a few more important things is necessary. Because many times students lose scores not just because of poor preparation, but also due to misjudging it. Those few important things to be considered are mentioned below:
- While calculating, always remember to convert the categories’ weights to decimals; otherwise, you will not get the correct result.
- Categories will have different weights, but that doesn’t mean you can ignore any of them or consider them less important. Remember, even a little check margin can affect your overall marks
- It’s always recommended to double-check details while estimating your totals because miscalculation can lead to misjudgment, which can destroy your study planning in your academic journey.
- Participate in all activities and tasks, but put more effort into categories that have more importance.
Conclusion
Your total marks are not any kind of mystery that will need to be solved only on result day; you can solve this puzzle by calculating your final grade before getting your report card in your hands. It doesn’t matter if you estimate it manually or using a grade calculator; both can give you more power to plan your educational journey more smartly.
