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What Is a Weighted Score?

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After you've finished taking a test, and your teacher hands back your test with a grade you're certain is going to take you from a C to a B on your final score, you probably feel elated. When you get your report card back, however, and discover that your grade is in fact still a C, you may have a weighted score or weighted grade in play.

So, what is a weighted score? A weighted score or weighted grade is merely the average of a set of grades, where each set carries a different amount of importance.

How Weighted Grades Work

Suppose at the beginning of the year, the teacher hands you the syllabus . On it, he or she explains that your final grade will be determined in this manner:

Percentage of your grade by category

• Homework: 10%
• Quizzes: 20%
• Essays: 20%
• Midterm: 25%

Your essays and quizzes are weighted more heavily than your homework , and both your midterm and final exam count for the same percentage of your grade as all of your homework, quizzes and essays combined, so each one of those tests carries more weight than the other items. Your teacher believes that those tests are the most important part of your grade! Hence, if you ace your homework, essays and quizzes, but bomb the big tests, your final score will still end up in the gutter.

Let's do the math to figure out how the grading works with a weighted score system.

Student Example: Ava

Throughout the year, Ava has been acing her homework and getting A's and B's on most of her quizzes and essays. Her midterm grade was a D because she didn't prepare very much and those multiple-choice tests freak her out. Now, Ava wants to know what score she needs to get on her final exam in order to get at least a B- (80%) for her final weighted score.

Here's what Ava's grades look like in numbers:

Category averages

• Homework average: 98%
• Quiz average: 84%
• Essay average: 91%
• Midterm: 64%

To figure out the math and determine what kind of studying efforts Ava needs to put into that final exam , we need to follow a 3-part process.

Set up an equation with Ava's goal percentage (80%) in mind:

H%*(H average) + Q%*(Q average) + E%*(E average) + M%*(M average) + F%*(F average) = 80%

Next, we multiply the percentage of Ava's grade by the average in each category:

• Homework: 10% of grade * 98% in category = (.10)(.98) = 0.098
• Quiz average: 20% of grade * 84% in category = (.20)(.84) = 0.168
• Essay average: 20% of grade * 91% in category = (.20)(.91) = 0.182
• Midterm: 25% of grade * 64% in category = (.25)(.64) = 0.16
• Final: 25% of grade * X in category = (.25)(x) = ?

Finally we, add them up and solve for x:

• 0.098 + 0.168 + 0.182 + 0.16 + .25x = .80
• 0.608 + .25x = .80
• .25x = .80 – 0.608
• .25x = .192
• x = .192/.25
• x = .768
• x = 77%

Because Ava's teacher uses weighted scores, in order for her to get an 80% or a B- for her final grade, she'll need to score a 77% or a C on her final exam.

Weighted Score Summary

Many teachers use weighted scores and keep track of them with grading programs online. If you're unsure about anything related to your grade, please go talk with your teacher. Many educators grade differently, even within the same school! Set up an appointment to go through your grades one by one if your final score doesn't seem right for some reason. Your teacher will be glad to help you out! A student who is interested in getting the highest possible score he or she can is always welcome.

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• Grade Calculators

Weighted Grade Calculator

Assignments

Assignment 1

Assignment 2

Assignment 3

Assignment 4

Assignment 5

Assignment 6

Assignment 7

Assignment 8

Assignment 9

Assignment 10

Your Grade Average:

To determine what grade you need to get on your remaining assignments (or on your final exam), enter the total weight of all of your class assignments (often the total weight is 100). Then enter the desired grade you would like to get in the class.

Enter Desired Grade

Enter Class Total Weight

Instructions

You can use the calculator above to calculate your weighted grade average. For each assignment, enter the grade you received and the weight of the assignment. If you have more than 10 assignments, use the "Add Row" button to add additional input fields. Once you have entered your data, press the "calculate" button and you will see the calculated average grade in the results area.

If you want to calculate the average grade you need on your remaining assignments (or on your final exam) in order to get a certain grade in the class, enter the desired grade you would like to get in the class. Then enter the total weight of all your class assignments. Often the total weight of all class assignments is equal to 100, but this is not always the case. Press either the “Calculate” button or the “Update” button and you will see your average grade for the class and the results will be displayed in the results area.

Video Instructions

How to calculate weighted grade average?

• First multiple the grade received by the weight of the assignment. Repeat this for each completed assignment.
• Then add each of the calculated values from step 1 together.
• Next add the weight of all the completed assignments together.
• Finally, divide the calculated value from step 2 above by the value calculated from step 3. This gives you the weighted grade average.

Weighted Grade Formula

Weighted Grade = (w 1 x g 1 + w 2 x g 2 + w 3 x g 3 + …) / (w 1 + w 2 + w 3 + …)

Example Calculation

Here is an example. Let's say you received a 90% on your first assignment and it was worth 10% of the class grade. Then let's assume you took a test and received an 80% on it. The test was worth 20% of your grade.

To calculate your average grade, follow these steps:

• Multiple each grade by its weight. In this example, you received a 90% on the first assignment and it was worth 10%. So multiply 90 x 10 = 900. You also received an 80% on the test and it was worth 20% of the class grade. So multiply 80 x 20 = 1600.
• Add the calculated values from step 1 together. We now have 900 + 1600 = 2500.
• Add the weight of all the completed assignments together. To do this, add 10% for the first assignment and 20% for the second assignment. That gives us 10 + 20 = 30.
• Finally, divide the value from step 2 by the value from step 3. That gives us 2500 / 30 = 83.33. Therefore our weighted grade average is 83.33%.

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E-Campus Faculty and Staff

Canvas gradebook: total points & weighted grades.

By:   Robyn Brown     

Canvas gradebook: grading systems.

Regardless of whether it is for a face-to-face, online, or hybrid course, or whether you are using Canvas, spreadsheet or pencil and paper, selecting the grading system you will use is the first step in building your course grade book. Grading systems dictate how the graded items in your course will calculate students’ final grades.

Graded items may include (but are not limited to):

• Participation scores
• Assignments (e.g. homework, readings, papers, labs, projects, presentations, etc)
• Discussions
• Quizzes/Exams

The two most frequently used systems are:

• Total Points: graded items are each worth a specific number of points that are combined to calculate the final grade
• Weighted Grades: graded items are assigned to categories; each category is assigned a percentage of the overall final grade totaling 100%

Total Points

In a Total Points system, each graded item is assigned a point value, any value. It is not necessary to use round or even numbers. Any figure will work.

To calculate individual student final grades, add up the total points earned on each graded item and divide that sum by the sum of the total maximum points assigned to each graded item. Multiply by 100 to get the percentage.

Student total points earned on graded items: 879 Maximum total points assigned to all graded items: 1019

879 points ÷ 1019 points = 0.8626 0.8626 x 100 = 86.26% Final Grade

There are several benefits to using a Total Points system for both student and instructor, including:

• Easy for students when they are looking at their overall course grade
• Easy for instructors to build their Gradebook

The most noteworthy drawback of a Total Points system is that it may impede flexibility if you are an instructor who likes to add graded items as you progress through a course. For example, let’s say that your class this term needs additional homework exercises in order to get more practice with the content. So, you add 5 more homework assignments. Depending on the value of points assigned, adding the extra homework assignments may significantly increase the influence of homework scores, and decrease the influence of exam scores, on the final grade. In other words, the proportions of graded assignments in calculating the final grade may no longer reflect the most important aspects of the course. You may also direct them to the What If? grade function in Canvas, which allows students to calculate their overall grade by entering hypothetical (aka What if...?) grades for assignments.

Additional Notes

• The sum of the maximum point values for all assignments combined does not need to equal 100 (in fact, it probably shouldn't to make it easier on you!), nor does it even have to be a nice, round number. Any maximum total point value for your class will work.
• Although it is not necessary to assign your graded items to 'categories' in a Total Points system, you may find it helpful to have the assignments categorized. Canvas shows grades based on individual assignments as well as categories. Looking at graded items and grades categorically may make it easier to identify areas of concern more quickly, as well as a quick way to examine distribution of points.
• One thing you need to ensure is that the maximum points assigned to each graded item reflects how much you want each item to be ‘worth’ in the big picture (aka. Final Grade). For example, if you were to assign a maximum points value of 50 points to each of your 20 homework assignments (for a total of 1000 points for homework), and a maximum points value of 100 points each to your mid-term and final exams (for a total of 200 points for exam grades), final grade scores in your course would be heavily skewed toward performances on homework as opposed to exams. In other words, the weight of a graded item in the calculation of the final grade is directly tied to the number of points assigned to that item in comparison to values assigned to the other items. It is important to be aware of how you’ve balanced the assignments across the gradebook.

Weighted Grades

In a weighted grading system, individual assignments are grouped into Assignment Categories. Each Category is worth a percentage of the Final Grade, combining to equal 100% of the final grade. e.g. Discussions 25%, Labs 15%, Papers 35%, and Exams 25% = 100% Final Grade Individual graded assignments in any category may be assigned any value of points, but their contribution towards the category they belong to, and the final grade, is the percentage value (weight) assigned to them.

You can weight final grades based on assignment groups. Selecting this option assigns a weight to each assignment group, not the assignments themselves. Within each assignment group, a percentage is calculated by dividing the total points a student has earned by the total points possible for all assignments in that group.

For example, if an assignment group included three assignments totaling 25 points, and a student's scores totaled 15 points, the student would earn 60% for the assignment group (15/25). This percentage is then multiplied by the selected group weight. Each assignment group calculation is added together to create the final grade.

There are several benefits to using a Weighted Grades system for both student and instructor, including:

• Helpful to students as they monitor performance through scores calculated within each assignment category.
• Greater flexibility to add or remove graded items as needed without affecting the overall point structure for the course.

Some may argue that one of the disadvantages of using Weighted Grades is that students may have trouble identifying which graded items are more ‘important’ if they are accustomed to a Total Points system in which more points equals more important. With a little bit of coaching, students may begin to understand how the system works. You may also direct them to the What If? grade function in Canvas , which allows students to calculate their overall grade by entering hypothetical (aka ‘What if...?) grades for assignments. Weighted Grades is also perceived as ‘complicated’ for the instructor. With some planning and thoughtful construction, grading in a Weighted Grading system is no different than in a Total Points system.

• Instructors may predetermine how much of the student’s final grade will come from each category - although this may also be structured using a Total Points system, Weighted Grades affords greater flexibility to add or remove graded items as needed without affecting the overall point structure for the course.
• Since it’s the category’s weight (combined %) and not that of an individual graded item’s value that informs the final grade, it is important to note that final grades are inaccurate until all the items in the category are graded. Therefore, it is difficult to share final grades with students before the end of a course.
• It is also possible to have a category weighted at 0% of the overall grade, which maybe useful for “no-stakes” engagements such as Module 0 or practice assignments.
• Extra Credit in a weighted system (managed in Canvas) is a bit persnickity. It is not as easy as simply adding an extra credit assignment worth 0 points as you can in a Total Points system. Rather, extra credit assignments may be housed within an existing assignment group that has at least one assignment worth more than zero points. Then, when the student completes the extra credit assignment, you may manually enter the points to the Gradebook.

List of all Canvas Guides related to the ‘Grades’ in Canvas

Video: Canvas Assignments Overview

Video: Canvas Gradebook Overview

Canvas Guide: What are Grades and the Gradebook?

Canvas Guide: How do I use the Gradebook?

Canvas Guide: How do I weight the final course grade based on assignment groups?

Canvas Guide: How do I add an Assignment group in a course?

Canvas Guide: How do I curve grades in the Gradebook?

Canvas Guide: How do I give extra credit in a course?

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Weighted Grades

Weighted grades are number or letter grades that are assigned a numerical advantage when calculating a grade point average , or GPA. In some schools, primarily public high schools, weighted-grade systems give students a numerical advantage for grades earned in higher-level courses or more challenging learning experiences, such as honors courses , Advanced Placement courses, or International Baccalaureate courses. In many cases, the terms quality points or honor points may be used in reference to the additional weight given to weighted grades. In the case of students who have completed courses considered to be more challenging than regular courses, the general purpose of a weighted grade is to give these students a numerical advantage when determining relative academic performance and related honors such as honor roll or class rank .

In some weighted-grade systems, for example, a grade in a higher-level course may have a “weight” of 1.05, while the same grade in a lower-level course has a weight of 1.0. In this system, a grade of 90 in an honors course would be recorded as a 94.5 or 95, while a 90 in a similar “college-prep” course would be recorded as a 90. An alternate system might add five “quality points” to grades earned in honors courses (90 + 5 = 95) and eight quality points to all grades earned in Advanced Placement courses (90 + 8 = 98). In another variation, an A in a higher-level course may be awarded a 5.0, for example, while an A in a lower-level course is awarded a 4.0. Lower grades in weighted courses would also receive the same one-point advantage—a grade of C, for example, would be assigned a 3.0, while a C in a regular course would be assigned a 2.0. In yet another variation, .33 may be added to all grades earned in Advance Placement courses, so that an A (4.0) would be recorded as a 4.33. While the examples above represent a few common formulations, grading systems and GPA scales may vary significantly from one school or school district to the next.

Given that weighted-grade systems may be calculated in dramatically different ways from school to school, reporters should investigate how weighted grades are calculated, what rationale is being used to support them, and what advantages or disadvantages may result for students.

While the term weighted grades typically refers to the practices described above, it is important to note that weighting may also refer to different levels of “weight” given to particular assignments within a course. For example, a final test may be given more “weight” in determining a course grade—say, 20 percent of the final grade—than an individual homework assignment, which may reflect only a small percentage of the final grade

In addition, some colleges and universities may ask high schools to provide both weighted and unweighted GPAs on student transcripts so that admissions offices can evaluate the differential effect of weighted grades—i.e., how certain course selections and weighted grades affected the GPA calculation.

The fundamental rationale for weighting grades is that the practice provides an incentive for students to challenge themselves academically. By assigning greater value to grades earned in more challenging courses, weighted grades remove a potential disincentive posed by tougher courses—i.e., students worrying that a lower grade in a tougher course might adversely affect their GPA or class rank. In addition to providing incentives to students, advocates may argue that weighted grades deservedly reward students who take tougher courses, recognize higher levels of academic accomplishment, and provide a more fair or balanced system of grading in schools with multiple academic tracks.

Critics of the practice tend to make the following arguments:

• Weighted grades discourage students from taking certain classes that may be educationally valuable but that may present a numerical disadvantage when calculating GPA and class rank. Art and music classes are rarely weighted, for example, so students may not consider art and music courses out of fear that such courses will adversely affect their GPA and class standing.
• Weighted grades are not academically meaningful unless the grades are based on a single set of learning standards that are evaluated consistently from course to course. In other words, unless schools can verify that a grade of A in one course actually represents greater academic accomplishment than an A earned in another course, the use of weighted grades can be misleading. For example, it’s possible that a course labeled “college prep” may actually be more challenging than a course labeled “honors.”
• Weighted grades may actually act as disincentives, rather than incentives, for students. While weighted grades may make challenging courses seem less “risky” to students, it’s also possible that students, once enrolled in the course, may not work as hard because they know that a lower grade is worth as much as a higher grade in another course. In addition, students enrolled in lower-level courses know that their efforts are being assigned less value by the grading system, so even if a student works hard and earns a good grade in a college-prep course, that effort will still be assigned a lower value than grades earned by students in higher-level courses.
• Weighted grades can devalue certain courses and reinforce cultural divisions within a school. Because both teachers and students know that lower-level courses are assigned a lower value, the practice of weighting grades reinforces the prestige associated with higher-level courses and the stigma associated with lower-level courses—for both teachers and students. Consequently, teachers may not want to teach lower-level courses, and students may feel embarrassed or ashamed to take them.
• Weighted grades create opportunities for students to manipulate the grading process. In this view, weighted grades focus students on superficial outcomes—peer completion and higher numerical scores—rather than on more substantive outcomes, such as mastering new skills, exploring new ideas, learning from failure, or enjoying and appreciating the learning process, for example.

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A Step-by-Step Guide to Calculating Weighted Grades: Understanding the Importance of Accurate Calculation

Introduction

As a student, understanding your grades is crucial to your academic success. It’s not enough just to know that you received an A in a class, as it’s important to know how you achieved that grade. One way that grades can be calculated is through weight, which gives certain assignments more “value” than others. Understanding how this system works, and accurately calculating your weighted grades is important as it can have a significant impact on your overall GPA.

Step-by-Step Guide to Calculating Weighted Grades

Weighted grading is a system where each assignment is given a certain percentage “weight,” which is used to calculate the final grade. For example, if you have an English class, your teacher might give your papers a higher weight than homework assignments.

The steps to calculating weighted grades are similar regardless of the assignment type. First, determine the weight of each assignment. This percentage value is then multiplied by the grade achieved in that assignment. Once the grades for each assignment are calculated, you add all of them together and divide the total by the sum of the percentages to get the final weighted grade.

Here’s an example to make it clearer. Suppose a student has a math class that is made up of quizzes (20%), tests (40%), and a final exam(40%). The student gets an 85% on quizzes, an 80% on tests, and an 89% on the final exam. To calculate the student’s final weighted grade, we multiply the percentage weight of each assignment with the grade received:

Quizzes: 20% × 85 = 17

Tests: 40% × 80 = 32

Final Exam: 40% × 89 = 35.5

Total: 84.5

The final grade, therefore, is 84.5%.

Different Methods of Assigning Weights to Different Types of Assignments

While the percentage weighting system is the most common method, there are different ways of assigning weights to assignments. One approach is by category, such as homework, exams, or projects. Another way is by type, such as essays, multiple-choice questions or presentations.

In either case, it’s important to understand how the weights assigned to each assignment type impact the final grade. For example, if you have an English class and your teacher assigns weights of 60% to papers and 40% to quizzes, your papers will have a more significant impact on the final grade than your quizzes. As such, doing well on your papers is crucial if you want to achieve a high final grade.

Common Mistakes Made When Calculating Weighted Grades

Unfortunately, students often make mistakes when calculating their weighted grades. One common mistake is forgetting to calculate the total percentage weight of all assignments, resulting in an inaccurate calculation of the final weighted grade. Another common mistake is incorrect multiplication or addition of grades.

To avoid these mistakes, it’s important to double-check your calculations and be aware of the weight of each assignment as well as keeping an updated grade book.

Staying Organized and Tracking Progress

To ensure accurate calculation of weighted grades students need to track their grades throughout the semester. It’s important to keep track of the weights assigned to each assignment and to record grades accurately. Students can use grade trackers like Google Sheets or Excel to help navigate and track their grades throughout the year.

Tracking grades can help students notice which assignments are the most heavily weighted, allowing them to prioritize their study habits accordingly. By staying organized and on top of their grades, students can also feel more confident in their ability to calculate weighted grades accurately.

Using Weighted Grades to Your Advantage

Understanding weighted grades can benefit students as it can help them prioritize their assignments. Students can focus on the most heavily weighted assignments and then spend more time on the assignments that would significantly impact their overall grade.

Moreover, if a student receives a low grade on an important assignment, this means there is still room for improvement in the grade by prioritizing upcoming important assignment and seeking extra credit options to help boost their grade.

Accurately calculating weighted grades is essential to a student’s academic success. By understanding the weight of each assignment and calculating their grades accurately, students can prioritize and improve their study habits, leading to improved grades and a better understanding of their abilities. It’s essential for students to keep track of their grades and ask for help from teachers or tutors if needed.

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Grading: Weighting Grade Proportionately Versus Equally

Understanding the difference between equally and proportionally weighted categories.

It’s important to know if grades within each category are weighted equally or proportionately.

Weighted Proportionally: 

For example, all of mary’s homework assignments are worth 15 percent or 15 points out of 100 of her grade..

Mary receives the following grades:

Homework 1 : 4/5

Homework 2 : 10/10

Homework 3 : 1/1

Homework 4 : 4/5

Homework 5 : 0/10

Homework 6 : 8/8

If the grades are weighted proportionately, add up all of the points that she received and all of the points that were possible and divide to get her total percentage of her 15 points for homework.

In the case below, 69.23% of 15 points is  10.38  points.  This is Mary’s final points for Homework.

Weighted Equally:

If grades within a category are weighted equally then each assignment within that category will be worth the same as every other homework assignment regardless of actual point value.  

Divide each assignment points earned by each assignment points possible to get the percentage.  

Next, take an average of those percentages.  That average is the percentage of the final 15 points for homework.

In the case below, 76.67% of 15 points is  11.5 . This is Mary’s final points for Homework.

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Weighted grades

Weighted grades are used in college, university and even high school courses by educators in order to determine how tests, assignments, projects and other factors should count towards the final grade. For example, a teacher may choose to make the results of an exam worth 50 percent of a student’s total class grade, while assignments account for 25 percent and participation marks are worth another 25 percent.

Weighted grades refer to the different levels of importance a professor may assign to certain classwork. Weighted grades are seen to be a fair and equitable method for determining a student’s final mark, especially when the student is aware of how a particular class or course is being weighted. However, critics of weighted grades argue that knowledge of the course mark breakdowns may disincentivize students from trying to excel at aspects of coursework that count less towards their final mark.

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Introduction to GPA weighting

You’re probably familiar with the system of grade weighting, in which more academically advanced classes, such as honors and AP (Advanced Placement) courses, are worth more than regular-level courses in calculating your grade point average (GPA). Individual high schools sometimes have different systems and measures for GPAs, but a typical standard is a 4.0 scale, with a 4.0 equal to an A average. However, in order to account for the increased rigor of more difficult classes, some high schools assign an extra point (or partial point) for advanced classes, so if you earn an A in, say, AP Calculus, it will go into your average as a 5.0 rather than a 4.0. Therefore, your weighted GPA could be higher than 4.0, even with 4.0 as the supposed maximum on the scale.

Weighting may seem a little complicated, so be sure to check out our posts, Is Weighted or Unweighted GPA More Important? and Should I Take AP/Honors Classes? for more information.

Weighted GPA and choosing your classes in high school

If you’re trying to optimize your GPA and class rank , you may be tempted to load up on rigorous classes so you rack up points, since you will be able to earn more with more difficult courses. However, it’s important to keep in mind that every high school makes decisions about weighting courses—and how much to weight them—differently. Some may not even assign more weight to honors or AP classes at all. Much like class rank, weighted GPAs can be fairly subjective from school to school.

Additionally, you may be faced with some difficult decisions if the subjects you want to study aren’t available at a higher-weighted level. For example, say you’re interested in taking psychology, but the only available course at your school on the topic is a regular-level class. Meanwhile, you could take an AP European History course instead, and that would be a weighted course; however, you would really prefer to take psychology. You may be tempted to take AP European History, but that is not always the best idea for your profile as a whole.

Colleges want to see you challenge yourself by taking a demanding and rigorous course load, but they also want to see you specialize—that is, pursue your talents and interests. ( To learn more about specializing, read Well-Rounded or Specialized? .) So instead of taking demanding classes just for the sake of adding points to your GPA, think about what you actually want to take as well—what subjects and material interest you.

But isn’t a high GPA important for my college applications?

Of course GPA and class rank are important, but they are by no means the only important factor in your college applications, especially at competitive colleges where most of the applicant pool has excellent grades.

In addition to having strong grades, you should strive to stand out by showing your passion in particular areas. Doing so will positively affect your application much more than the minor change in your GPA taking that one extra AP class will bring, especially if the course in question doesn’t complement the rest of your profile.

As we discussed previously, specialization is especially important to top college admissions—you’ll need to show depth as well as breadth. It is also important to remember that colleges also have access to your transcript and school report, so they will have plenty of information on how you chose your courses. If your school doesn’t have an AP option in your area of interest, they’ll be able to tell, and you won’t be penalized for it.

Discover your chances at hundreds of schools

Our free chancing engine takes into account your history, background, test scores, and extracurricular activities to show you your real chances of admission—and how to improve them.

Tips for building your best academic resume

• Always keep in mind the importance of balance. Taking advanced courses and receiving top grades is important, but pursuing your passions is also important.
• Be aware of your high school’s graduation requirements, as well as the prerequisites for the colleges to which you plan on applying.
• If your academic choices are particularly unusual, you might consider discussing them in your application essay or elsewhere on your applications, or asking your recommenders to address them.
• If higher-level courses in your area of interest are not available at your high school, look into options outside of school, such as self-studying APs (check out our Ultimate Guide to Self-Studying AP Exams for tips), taking classes at your local community college, or doing an independent study.
• Seek out enrichment opportunities that allow you to demonstrate your high level of knowledge and skills, such as competitive extracurriculars, summer programs, independent projects, and so on.
• Think about the narrative of your academic record—what does it say about your development and who you are as a student?

For more information

To learn more about GPAs, class rank, and specialization, check out these posts:

Should I Take AP/IB/Honors Classes?

Is Weighted or Unweighted GPA More Important?

Is GPA or Class Rank More Important?

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Use Weighted Assignment Groups in Your Canvas Course

by Thomas Keith | Aug 26, 2022 | Canvas , Canvas Features/Functions , How-tos , Pedagogy

Introduction

• Create an Assignment Group

Weight Assignment Groups

Use weighted assignment groups to calculate the total grade, drop a low score from an assignment group, further resources and getting help.

It is good pedagogical practice to maintain a Canvas Gradebook that gives an accurate reflection of your students’ performance. Students frequently consult their grades in Canvas to get a sense of how they are doing in your course and of areas in which they need to improve. You can use weighted Assignment Groups in your Canvas course to help ensure that the grade calculated by Canvas is indicative of students’ actual performance.

Create An Assignment Group

An Assignment Group in Canvas is a means of sorting assignments according to the categories to which they belong in your syllabus. By default, new assignments created in your Canvas course will be added to a catch-all group called Assignments . (Note that “assignments” in this context refers to anything that is graded; this can be an Assignment proper, a Quiz, or a graded Discussion.)

You can create a new Assignment Group by going to the Assignments tab in your course and clicking the gray +Group button at the upper right.

It is a good idea to give your group a name that reflects the assessment categories on your syllabus. For example, if the group contains quizzes that are given each week of the quarter, you might call it Weekly Quizzes .

Once a group has been created, there are two ways to add assignments to it:

Assignment Groups are most useful when used to weight grades. With weighted Assignment Groups, you can make the organization of your assignments in Canvas match the organization used on your syllabus. You also have greater flexibility than is offered by weighting each individual assignment: if an assignment needs to be dropped or added, you can simply remove it from/add it to the appropriate assignment group, and Canvas will automatically recalculate the final grade accordingly.

For the remainder of this post, we will use as an example a course in which the grading is as follows:

• Five short quizzes: 20% of the final grade
• One midterm exam: 30% of the final grade
• One final exam: 40% of the final grade
• Attendance and participation: 10% of the final grade

To begin, the instructor creates four assignment groups, named Short Quizzes , Midterm , Final Exam , and Attendance and Participation .

She then clicks the column of three dots at the upper right and chooses Assignment Groups Weight .

She then checks the box next to Weight final grade based on assignment groups . This allows her to set the percentage weight for each assignment group.

Note that Canvas shows the instructor that the assignment groups add up to 100%. It is important to check this, as Canvas will not stop you if your groups add up to less than or greater than 100%.

Once the instructor has weighted her groups to her satisfaction, she clicks the maroon Save button. Canvas then indicates across from each assignment group’s name the percentage value of the total grade that it carries.

The instructor can now create her assignments and add them to the appropriate assignment groups by one of the two methods enumerated above.

An important caveat: If an assignment group contains more than one assignment, it is important that all assignments have the same point value for Canvas’ math to work out correctly. This avoids the risk of “double weighting,” which will occur if assignments within a group have different point values. For example: if a quiz worth 5 points and a quiz worth 50 points are placed in the same assignment group, the latter quiz will be worth ten times as much in Canvas’ calculations, which will greatly skew the result. In our example course, the instructor has avoided this risk by creating five quizzes within the Short Quizzes group, each of which is worth three points.

The Midterm and Final Exam groups each contain only one assignment. This can be an assignment of type Online Assignment if the instructor wishes her students to submit it through Canvas, or it can be an assignment of type On Paper if students will hand in a physical exam paper.

For the Attendance and Participation group, the instructor creates an assignment of type No Submission .

Remember that in Canvas, there is a one-to-one correspondence between assignments and columns in the Gradebook. Thus, if you wish to create a column for (e.g.) students’ attendance/participation grade, it is necessary to create a corresponding assignment. By making it of type No Submission , the instructor has ensured that students do not need to hand in any work, while still creating a Gradebook column where the grade is recorded.

Note also that if students need to submit work that will not be graded, such as an outline for an upcoming paper, you can create an assignment of submission type Online Assignment and check the box Do not count this assignment toward the final grade in the assignment options area.

Using weighted assignment groups allows Canvas to do your math for you. A column will appear in the Gradebook for each assignment group. The Total column will be calculated by multiplying the value of each column by its percentage weight and adding the results. In the case of the student below, the grade is calculated as follows:

Short Quizzes: 12 out of 15 possible points = 80 * 0.2 = 16

Midterm Exam: 90 out of 100 possible points = 90*0.3 = 27

Final Exam: 80 out of 100 possible points = 80*0.4 = 32

Attendance and Participation: 100 out of 100 possible points = 100*0.1 = 10

Total: 16+27+32+10 = 85

If you wish, you can set an assignment group to drop one or more low scores (or high scores) automatically. To do this, go to the group within the Assignments tab and click on the column of three dots across from its name to open a dialog box. Then enter the number of low or high scores you wish to drop and click Save .

You can also specify that an assignment should never be dropped by clicking the blue +Add an assignment link next to Never drop: and choosing its name from the drop-down that appears.

For more information, please see:

• How do I weight the final course grade based on assignment groups?
• How do I create rules for an assignment group?

If you have additional questions, Academic Technology Solutions is here to help. You can attend our workshops to learn more about Canvas and other tools for teaching with technology. You can also drop into our Office Hours (virtual and in-person) to ask any questions you may have; no appointment is required.

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What is the difference between a weighted and a points grading system?

Brightspace , Instructor Help

The  weighted  system calculates grade items as a percentage of a final grade worth 100%. The maximum points you assign to individual grade items can be any value, but their contribution towards the category they belong to and the final grade is the percentage value (weight) assigned to them.

Grade items in a category count as a percentage of that category, not of the final grade. Therefore, grade items in a category should combine to a weight of 100%.

For example, if you have a category worth 10% of the final grade with two equally  weighted  grade items, the weight of each grade item is 50%, (its contribution to the category), not 5% (its contribution to the final grade).

Since it’s a category’s weight and not an individual grade item’s weight that counts toward the final grade, the final grade is inaccurate until all the items in the category are graded. If you want to release final grades to users before all the items are graded, you can drop ungraded items from the calculation until the end of the course when you want all grade items to be considered. Otherwise, the final grades might be misleading.

If your grade items do not add up to 100% you will see a warning message on the top of your gradebook. You can ignore this message if you choose; a balanced grade book is not required. If the weights assigned to grade items do not sum to 100%, the tool adjusts the weight of each item. For example, if you have three grade items with a weight of 25% each, each item is calculated as 33%. This is true for categories and the final grade.

Use the points system when you want the maximum points assigned to a grade item to be equal to its contribution to the final grade. Final grades are calculated by adding a user’s score on all grade items together and dividing by the sum of the maximum points values. The sum of the maximum points values for all grade items does not need to equal 100.

With the points system, you do not specify a category’s weight or total points. It is the maximum points assigned to an individual grade item that counts toward the final grade.

Make sure the maximum points assigned to grade items reflect how much you want them to be worth. For example, don’t grade each of your 20 homework assignments out of 50 points, and then your final exam out of 80 points.

Click here for a guide on how to set up a weighted gradebook.

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What's the Difference? Weighted vs Unweighted GPA

Coursework/GPA

Most students think a lot about their GPA in high school. There's no doubt that GPA is one of the most important pieces of information colleges will consider in your application. However, GPA can vary drastically in the way it's calculated at different schools. Some high schools use unweighted GPAs and some use weighted GPAs. I'll give you an overview of the differences between the two and what each type of GPA might mean in the context of your personal experiences.

Basic Differences Between Weighted and Unweighted GPAs

So what are weighted and unweighted GPAs? In short, unweighted GPAs do not take course difficulty level into account and weighted GPAs do. Let’s unpack these differences below. 

Unweighted GPA

Traditionally, GPA is calculated on an unweighted scale. Unweighted GPA is measured on a scale of 0 to 4.0. It doesn't take the difficulty of a student's coursework into account. An unweighted GPA represents an A as a 4.0 whether it was earned in an honors class, AP class, or lower-level class.

Weighted GPA

Weighted GPA is often used by high schools to better represent students' academic accomplishments. Weighted GPA takes into account course difficulty rather than providing the same letter grade to GPA conversion for every student. Usually, weighted GPA is measured on a scale of 0 to 5.0 , although some scales go higher. An A in an AP class may translate into a 5.0 weighted GPA, while an A in a regular-level class would give you a 4.0 weighted GPA. Many schools also have mid-level classes (such as honors classes) where the highest weighted GPA you can earn is a 4.5.

Weighted vs Unweighted GPAs: Differences in Calculation

As you might expect, unweighted and weighted GPAs are calculated differently. In this section we give an in-depth explanation of how to calculate both GPA types.

Unweighted GPA is much simpler to calculate than weighted GPA. This is because you don't have to consider the levels of your classes in the calculations. Let's say you're taking five classes, and you have As in two of them and Bs in three of them. The two As will each translate to 4.0s, and the three Bs will each translate to 3.0s. If you add 4.0 + 4.0 + 3.0 + 3.0 + 3.0 and then divide by five, you'll get an unweighted GPA of 3.4.

If your grades aren't quite as simple as that, here's a quick letter grade and percentage to GPA conversion chart to make things easier.

Most schools more or less follow this scale for unweighted GPAs. Yours may be slightly different, but it shouldn't vary too much.

The calculations for weighted GPA can get a little more tricky because you may be taking a variety of courses at different academic levels. Going with the example that we used for unweighted GPA, let's say once again that you're taking five classes and getting As in two of them and Bs in three of them. But this time let's also say that one A is in a regular-level class, one A is in an honors class, two Bs are in AP classes, and one B is in an honors class.

How is your weighted GPA calculated? Well, each grade has to be considered in conjunction with class level. This means using the unweighted GPA conversion scale for grades in regular-level classes, adding 0.5 to the scale for mid-level/honors classes, and adding 1.0 for high level/AP classes. This means:

• The A in a regular-level class would still be a 4.0
• The A in an honors class would be a 4.5
• The two Bs in AP classes would each be 4.0s
• The B in the honors class would be a 3.5

If you add 4.0 + 4.5 + 4.0 + 4.0 + 3.5 and divide by 5, you get a 4.0 weighted GPA. Remember, not all schools will use this exact weighted GPA scale, but as you can see, there can be a big difference between the numbers you get for unweighted GPA and weighted GPA based on the types of classes you're taking.

Even if two students have identical grades, one might have a weighted GPA that's a full point higher than the other. Let's say you have a 3.2 unweighted GPA and are taking five classes. If even two out of the five classes are honors or AP and the rest are regular-level, your GPA would get bumped up to a 3.6 on a weighted scale. A slight difference in the levels of your classes can make a big difference in your weighted GPA.

Do Colleges Look at Weighted or Unweighted GPAs?

So, do colleges care more about your weighted or unweighted GPA? The short answer is that most colleges care somewhat more about weighted GPAs because they do a better job showing the difficulty of the classes you took.

However, colleges care more about your entire record of coursework than just your GPA out of context. They'll look to see which classes you took, how difficult those classes typically are, and what your class rank is. All of these factors are going to give them a better understanding of your GPA. So, when you're wondering which GPA is more important, the real answer is that colleges will look at all the information they're given to get the best idea of your academic skills. They won't just glance at your GPA and decide whether it's a good number or not without looking at other factors.

If your transcript shows increasing difficulty in your coursework, this will look impressive to colleges, even if your GPA isn't perfect. If you have a 4.0 GPA but took all the least challenging classes in high school, colleges will be less impressed since you didn't push yourself academically. This means you should continue working on taking difficult classes and getting high grades in them in order to be as impressive as possible.

The good news? We can help you ace your AP exams and improve your GPA! Through our AP Test Tutoring program , you can get one-on-one help from experts who aced the tests themselves. Whether you’re looking to get a great score in math, science, social science, or language, our experienced tutors can help you get there.

What Does All of This Mean for You?

Whether your school uses weighted or unweighted GPA can impact your class rank and experiences in the college admissions process . It’s important to know the differences and where your weighted and unweighted GPAs stand so you know how your application will stack up against other applicants’.

If Your School Uses Unweighted GPAs…

Admissions committees look at your coursework in conjunction with your GPA to reach conclusions about your academic potential. They understand that some schools do not take the difficulty of students' classes into consideration when calculating GPA. If you take challenging classes but don't have a perfect GPA, you will look better in the college admissions process than someone in regular-level classes who has a 4.0.

It may be harder for your GPA to stand out from your classmates’ when class difficulty is not a factor in the calculation, because more students will have GPAs that are at the same level.  If class rank is based purely on unweighted GPA, your class rank may not reflect the effort you expended. Students with a lot of AP classes can have lower unweighted GPAs than students who took less difficult classes despite being more academically driven.

Don't worry too much, though. College admissions officers are aware of the limits of the unweighted system, and they will look closely at your course record to determine whether your GPA is an accurate reflection of your academic potential.

If Your School Uses Weighted GPAs…

First off, you should know that having a 4.0 weighted GPA doesn't mean you can get into any college. A 4.0 may be the commonly accepted gold standard, but with weighted GPAs everything shifts upward. A truly elite GPA under the weighted system will actually be close to a 5.0 , so you will need to make sure you adapt your concept of what constitutes a high GPA to fit this model.

With a weighted GPA, your class rank is more likely to reflect your academic drive and ability because your GPA is a reflection of both your grades and the levels of the classes in which you earned them. You'll have a higher rank than someone who earns the same grades as you in lower level classes.

Weighted GPAs mean that you need to be careful because they can be deceptive. A lot of the advice that's out there is targeted towards unweighted GPAs, so you'll need to adjust your thinking to account for the size of the GPA scale at your school.

The bottom line is that colleges will look deeper than the raw numbers when evaluating your high school academic record regardless of whether your GPA is weighted or unweighted. Admissions officers will be able to tell which classes you took and how much you pushed yourself, so your GPA by itself becomes only one part of a much larger picture.

You will also be required to lift the weight of your GPA times 40 in order to walk at graduation, so start training. Why do you think valedictorians are always so ripped?

Your high school GPA may be measured on either an unweighted or weighted scale. The main difference between the two is that weighted GPAs take into account the difficulty of your coursework and unweighted GPAs don't. Most unweighted GPAs are recorded on a scale of 0 to 4.0, and most weighted GPAs are recorded on a scale of 0 to 5.0.

For the most part, whether your high school uses unweighted or weighted GPA shouldn't affect you in the college application process. Colleges will look at your GPA, but they will also consider the bigger picture. Their greatest concern is that you've managed to challenge yourself intellectually with your coursework. GPA is important, but proof of your determination and perseverance in the face of academic struggles is often more impressive than a 4.0.

It doesn’t have to be a struggle, though— our AP Test Tutoring program can help you get the AP scores you want so you can build up that GPA and stand out on your college applications. Get started with our expert tutors today!

What's Next?

Want more information about how to interpret your GPA in the college search process? Find out what it means to have a good or bad GPA for college.

Is your GPA above average? Do you need to work on bringing it up? Learn more about the average high school GPA.

Your college GPA may end up being very different from your high school GPA. Read this article about average GPAs in college to see what might be in store.

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How to Do a Weighted Score

How to Calculate My Class Grade

If you want to calculate your percentage score on a test, you divide the number of points you scored by the number of points possible. Sometimes, the same process works to calculate your overall score in a class. But if your teacher assigns greater value to some scoring categories than others – also known as a weighted score – you'll have to add a few extra steps to your calculation process.

Before you start calculating weighted scores, let's review the basic skills you'll need to calculate weighted averages. The first is calculating percentages.

To calculate a percentage score, you divide the number of points earned by the number of points possible. Here are a couple of examples:

Example 1: If you earned 75 out of 100 possible points, your score is

Example 2: If you earned 16 out of 20 points on a pop quiz, your score is

Usually, leaving your score in decimal form makes it easier to handle mathematically. That'll become important when you calculate your way through a weighted scoring method. But when it comes time to express your final answer, it's easier to read as a percentage.

To convert from decimal form to a percentage, multiply your result by 100. In the case of our two examples, you have:

To convert from percentage back to decimal form, you'd divide the percentage by 100. Give it a try with both examples – if you get it right, you'll end up with the same decimal value you started with.

There's one more skill you'll need to calculate weighted scores: A simple average, which in "math speak" is more properly called the mean. Let's say you want to know your average score after taking three tests, on which you received grades of 75%, 85% and 92% respectively.

To calculate the average, you'll first convert your percentages into decimal form, then add all your data points together and divide them by the number of data points you had. So, you have:

Which in this case, is:

Once you do the math, you arrive at:

If you convert that decimal back to percentage form, you'll see that your average score is 84 percent. In this particular example you didn't actually have to convert back and forth to percentage form, but it's a good habit to have.

Now, it's time to become your own weighted score calculator. Imagine that you're taking a class where the instructor thinks homework and tests are the most important part of the class. At the beginning of the class, he might warn you that homework will make up 40 percent of the score, tests will make up 50 percent of your score and pop quizzes will be the remaining 10 percent. The higher the percent or weight of a scoring element, the more it affects your overall score.

In order to calculate the weighted average under those terms, you'll first use the skills we just practiced to calculate your average in each category (homework, tests and pop quizzes). Let's say you end up with an average of 91% in homework, 89% in tests and 84% in pop quizzes.

First, convert divide each percentage by 100 to convert it into decimal form. In this example, that gives you:

• Homework: 0.91
• Tests: 0.89
• Pop quizzes: 0.84

Next, multiply each category by its appropriate weighting factor, expressed as a decimal. Since homework is 40% of your score, you'd multiply the homework category by 0.4; you'd multiply the test category by 0.5, and the pop quiz category by 0.1. This gives you:

• Homework: 0.91 × 0.4 = 0.364
• Tests: 0.89 × 0.5 = 0.445
• Pop quizzes: 0.84 × 0.1 = 0.084

After you've scaled each category according to its weight in the overall score, add the results together:

This is your weighted score, but it's still expressed in that easy-to-handle decimal form. To truly finish your work, multiply by 100 to convert it to the easy-to-read percentage form:

So your weighted score is 89.3%.

For most people, school or university grades are where they're most likely to encounter the weighted score or weighted average. But you'll also see a weighted scoring model at work in statistics (especially for handling large data sets), in survey analysis, in investing and even in reviews of electronics or other items, when certain review criteria are assigned more importance than others.

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How to calculate the average after midterms, how do i calculate a test as 20% of a grade, how to calculate an average grade, how to calculate the percentage of a grade, how to calculate your grades, how to get your gpa score, how to calculate weighted totals, what are the different gpa scales, how to calculate school grades by percentage, how to calculate z-scores in statistics, how to calculate grade scores, how to calculate a test average, how to calculate your semester average, what does weighted & unweighted gpa mean, how to calculate grade scales, how to calculate trimester gpa, how to figure survey percentages, how to determine your practice clep score, how to configure a grade point average.

• Purplemath: How Do I Compute My (Weighted) Grade?
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• Math Is Fun: Weighted Mean
• In percentage weighted scores, the sum of all the percentages must equal 100 to get your final score. However, this method allows you to know your minimum score before including the final grade. In the example, your score would be at least 42.5, even if you skipped the final and added zero to the total. If you got a 100 on the final, which adds 50, then the best you could hope for would be a 92.5.

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Lisa studied mathematics at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, and spent several years tutoring high school and university students through scary -- but fun! -- math subjects like algebra and calculus.

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Assessment weighting

My assessment is weighted. What does this mean?

Answer ID 83 | Last updated on 10/10/2023 11.31 AM

Weighting means some of your assessments are worth more than others. This means assessments that were awarded the same raw mark will contribute differently to your overall mark for the unit.

For example: Imagine you have a mid-semester test that is marked out of 30 and you have a major assignment that is also marked out of 30. You see in your Unit Outline that the assignment is weighted at 50% of the final mark and the mid-semester test is weighted at 10% of the final mark. Ultimately, this means that if you score 20 out of 30 for both pieces of assessment, the mid-semester test contributes 6.6 marks (20/30 of 10 marks) and the major assignment contributes 33.3 marks (20/30 of 50 marks) to your final result.

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• Last updated: Jul 3, 2023 by Claire Streckenbach

When you have different assignment types (e.g., assignments, discussions, quizzes, etc.), and a weighted grading system, you may use Canvas’ Assignment Groups to calculate weighted grades and organize the assignments. Based on the information you’ve articulated in your syllabus, you can quickly set up Assignment Groups. 

Create Assignment Groups

• Log in to Canvas at canvas.brown.edu and select your course from the Global Navigation menu on the left.

Create an Assignment Group

• Enter the name of the assignment group in the Group Name  box.
• Enter the percentage of the total grade in the % of total grade  box. You can leave the box empty and/or change the number later.
• Click Save .

Create Weighted Assignment Groups for Grading

• Enter the percentage of the total grade for each assignment group in their respective % boxes.
• Make sure the Total is 100%.
• Click Save.

Manage Assignment Groups

• Edit the Group Name  and % of total grade  in their respective boxes.
• Enter the number of scores to drop from each student's final grade in the Lowest Scores  and Highest Scores  boxes.

• To reorder an assignment group in the Assignments  page,  click and drag the assignment group.
• To delete a group,  click the Edit  (gear) icon to the right of the group name, then click Delete . You can delete the assignments within the assignment group or move them to another assignment group.

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Canvas @ Yale

• Creating Weighted Assignments Groups

Updated on Dec 03, 2021

Assignment groups allow you to categorize assignments in a way that makes sense for your course. The benefit to this could be for organizing assignments, weighting final grades, and much more. Using weighted groups allows you to weigh an assignment group for a specified percent of the final grade.

Table of Contents

This article will address the following information:

Add Assignment Groups

Turn on assignment group weighting.

• Click on " Assignments " from the course navigation .
• Click " +Group " at the top-right corner.

• In the box that pops up, provide a " Group Name " and click the " Save " button.

• From the " Assignments " page, click on the three dotted icon in the top-right corner.
• Select " Assignment Groups Weight ."

• In the pop-up box that appears, check off the " Weight final grade based on assignment groups " box.
• Underneath the check box, a line for each assignment group will appear. Enter the percentage weight in the text entry box for each assignment group.
• Click the "Save" button.

• The percentage weights will now appear next to each assignment group name.

For more help, please contact  [email protected] .

Assessments, Feedback and Grades

• Building Assessments in Canvas
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