# Understand weighted grades before your final exam

Source: https://student-tool.app/guides/understand-weighted-grades/

Student Tools · English

This editorial guide is currently available in English. Calculator and tool interfaces support the site’s available languages.

Two grade percentages can describe different things. Your average on completed work tells you how that work went. Its contribution to the course grade tells you how many of the course’s possible points you have earned so far. Keeping these separate prevents a strong partial average from being mistaken for a finished course result.

## Calculate the work you have completed

Multiply each score by its percentage weight. Add those products and divide by the total weight entered:

Completed-work average = Σ(score × weight) ÷ Σ(weight).

Suppose a quiz score of 70% carries 20% of the course and an assignment score of 80% carries 30%. The calculation is (70 × 20 + 80 × 30) ÷ 50 = 76%. You have completed half the course weight. The same work contributes 38 percentage points to the eventual course grade: (70 × 20 + 80 × 30) ÷ 100.

The [Weighted Grade Calculator](https://student-tool.app/grade-calculator/) displays both numbers and the unassigned weight. Enter an assessment’s course weight, rather than its points out of a possible total. A 20-point test is not automatically worth 20% of the course.

## Work backward from a target

When only one final exam remains, use its weight as a decimal, w. If your current coursework average is C and your target is T:

Required exam score = [T − C × (1 − w)] ÷ w.

With C = 80, T = 85 and w = 0.25, the required exam score is 100%. A result above 100% means the target is beyond a normal 0–100% exam under these assumptions. A result below zero means the target is already secured without additional exam points, assuming the coursework and weights stay unchanged.

## Check the assumptions first

The [Final Grade Calculator](https://student-tool.app/final-grade-calculator/) assumes the current grade covers all work outside that exam. It does not apply dropped assessments, category rules, bonus points, minimum exam requirements, institutional rounding or letter-grade boundaries. Read your course outline and confirm missing work with your instructor. For a credit-weighted result across courses, use the [GPA Calculator](https://student-tool.app/gpa-calculator/) with your institution’s own grade points and credits.