Semester Grade Calculator
A semester grade calculator combines whole grading periods, such as two quarters, with a semester exam to produce one grade for the term. Each component carries a weight, and the semester grade is the total of each grade times its weight divided by the weight of the components that have been graded. Because that divisor counts only completed components, a semester exam that has not happened yet rescales the remaining periods rather than scoring as a zero. The weighting patterns offered are arithmetic presets rather than any school's official policy, and custom weights are supported because schools and instructors calculate semester grades differently.
Combine your grading periods and your semester exam into one semester grade. Choose a preset weighting pattern or enter custom weights, and leave the exam blank if you have not taken it yet — the calculator rescales the remaining weights instead of scoring the blank as a zero. Schools and instructors may calculate semester grades differently.
Quick Answer
Combine your grading periods and semester exam into one grade. Choose a weighting pattern such as 40/40/20 or 37.5/37.5/25, or enter custom weights, and leave the exam blank if you have not taken it — the remaining weights rescale instead of counting the blank as a zero.
First grading period 40%, second grading period 40%, semester exam 20%.
Weights come from the selected pattern. Leave a grade blank if that period has not been graded yet.
Letter grade · B−
81.50%
80% of the semester counted · renormalized
(85×40 + 78×40) ÷ 80 = 81.50%
About these presets. Each one is a weighting pattern, not a school's grading policy. Choose the pattern that matches your syllabus or enter custom weights. Schools and instructors may calculate semester grades differently, including by converting each grading period to grade points before weighting, which can change the letter near a cutoff.
Grading scale used here
| Percent | Letter | Grade points |
|---|---|---|
| 97-100% | A+ | 4.0 |
| 93-96% | A | 4.0 |
| 90-92% | A− | 3.7 |
| 87-89% | B+ | 3.3 |
| 83-86% | B | 3.0 |
| 80-82% | B−your score | 2.7 |
| 77-79% | C+ | 2.3 |
| 73-76% | C | 2.0 |
| 70-72% | C− | 1.7 |
| 67-69% | D+ | 1.3 |
| 63-66% | D | 1.0 |
| 60-62% | D− | 0.7 |
| Below 60% | F | 0.0 |
This is the default scale this calculator uses, not a national standard. Schools set their own cutoffs: some use a 10-point scale where 90 to 100 is an A and 80 to 89 is a B, some award no plus or minus grades at all, and some give more than 4.0 for an A+. Check your syllabus or your school's official chart for the cutoffs that count.
Examples
40/40/20 · periods 85 and 78, exam 82
= 81.60% (B−)
37.5/37.5/25 · periods 90 and 90, exam 60
= 82.50% (B−)
40/40/20 · periods 90 and 90, exam 60
= 84.00% (B)
40/40/20 · periods 90 and 80, exam blank
= 85.00% renormalized
How it works
Formula · Semester grade = Σ(grade × weight) ÷ Σ(completed weights)
A semester grade is a weighted average of whole grading periods. Each quarter or term carries a share of the semester, the exam carries the rest, and the result is the total of each grade times its share, divided by the shares that were actually used.
Semester grade = Σ(grade × weight) ÷ Σ(completed weights)
The divisor is the important part. It is the weight of the components that have grades, not a flat 100. That is what makes a missing semester exam behave correctly: under a 40/40/20 split, two graded periods divide by 80 rather than 100, which is the same as rescaling them to 50/50. Nothing is treated as a zero unless you actually type a zero.
The same grades, three weightings, three letters
A student finishes both grading periods at 90% and scores 60% on the semester exam. What that is worth depends entirely on how the course weights the exam.
| Weighting | Semester grade | Letter |
|---|---|---|
| Two periods, no exam (50/50) | 90.00% | A− |
| 40 / 40 / 20 | 84.00% | B |
| 37.5 / 37.5 / 25 | 82.50% | B− |
Identical work, three different letters. The heavier the exam weighs, the more one bad day costs. This is why the page lets you pick the weighting rather than hard-coding a single split. The patterns above are arithmetic only — they are not any school's official policy, so check your syllabus and use custom weights if your course splits the semester differently.
How to use it
- Pick the weighting pattern that matches your syllabus, or choose Custom weights and type the numbers yourself.
- Enter the percentage grade for each grading period you have received.
- Enter your semester exam score if you have taken it. If not, leave it blank.
- Read the semester percentage, the letter, and the grade points, along with how much of the semester was counted.
How this differs from the other grade calculators
Four pages on this site combine grades, and they answer four different questions. Picking the wrong one is the most common way to get a number that does not match your report card.
- This page combines whole grading periods — quarters or terms — plus a semester exam, using the weighting split you choose.
- Grade calculator — your current grade in one class from a list of individual assignments, not from finished grading periods.
- Final grade calculator — the only page that solves backwards for the score you still need on the final. This page deliberately does not.
- Weighted grade calculator — averages syllabus categories such as homework, quizzes, and exams by weight, rather than grading periods.
- Grade average calculator — a plain mean of a list of grades, with optional weights.
- Test grade calculator — one test score into a percentage and a letter.
Assumptions and limits
- Percentages in, percentage out. This page weights the percentage grades you type. Some schools instead convert each grading period to a grade point on a 4.0 scale and weight those, then read the letter off their own cutoffs. The two approaches agree most of the time and can differ by a letter close to a cutoff.
- The presets are arithmetic, not policy. Each one is a weighting pattern only. None of them reproduces a particular school's or district's official semester-grade calculation, and picking one does not mean your school uses it. Your syllabus is the authority.
- Passing rules are separate from averages. Some schools also require passing a minimum number of the individual components regardless of the weighted average, and courses with a state end-of-course exam are often calculated a different way again. Check the rules that apply to your course.
- A blank period is not a zero. Blank means not yet graded, and its weight is removed from the calculation. If you genuinely scored zero, type 0.
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Frequently asked questions
Each grading period and the semester exam carry a weight set by your school. Multiply each grade by its weight, add those products together, and divide by the total weight. Under a 40/40/20 split, grading periods of 85 and 78 with an exam of 82 give (85 × 40 + 78 × 40 + 82 × 20) ÷ 100 = 81.6%.
Leave the exam blank. The calculator divides by the weight of the periods that actually have grades, which rescales them — under a 40/40/20 split, two graded periods renormalize to 50/50. It flags that it has done this. What you get is your grade on the part of the semester that has been marked, not a prediction of the final result. A blank exam is never counted as a zero.
Because the weights differ. Grading periods of 90 and 90 with a 60 on the exam come to 84.00% under a 40/40/20 split but 82.50% under 37.5/37.5/25 — a B against a B minus, from identical work. That is why this page asks you to pick the weighting rather than assuming one.
Not necessarily. The presets are weighting patterns, not any school's official policy, and choosing one does not mean your school uses it. Schools and instructors calculate semester grades differently: some use a split that is not listed here, and some convert each grading period to a grade point on a 4.0 scale before weighting rather than weighting percentages as this page does, which can change the letter near a cutoff. Use the custom option to enter the weights from your syllabus.
The calculator still works. It normalizes over the weights you entered and warns you that the total is not 100, because that usually means a category is missing from your syllabus rather than that the math is wrong.
The default scale on this page is 97-100% = A+, 93-96% = A, 90-92% = A-, 87-89% = B+, 83-86% = B, 80-82% = B-, 77-79% = C+, 73-76% = C, 70-72% = C-, 67-69% = D+, 63-66% = D, 60-62% = D-, below 60% = F. Schools set their own cutoffs and some award no plus or minus grades at all, so check your own chart. The full scale is printed below the calculator.
No, and that is deliberate. This page combines grades you already have. Solving backwards for a score you still need is a different calculation, and the final grade calculator does it properly.
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