Grade percentage calculator
Points into a percentage and a letter — and back to the points you need.
What you scored on the assignment or test.
The total the assignment was marked out of.
Common at US colleges that award plus and minus grades. Check your syllabus — cut-offs vary.
That is 84%, a B on the US letter with +/− scale.
Your percentage
Your score
84%
B on the US letter with +/− scale. You dropped 8 points.
42 ÷ 50 × 100 = 84
Work backwards: points needed
If you know what the assignment is out of and the percentage you want, this is the mark you have to hit.
The percentage you are aiming for on this assignment.
To score 90% out of 50 points you need 45 points.
Points, percentages and letters
A percentage is a score expressed out of a hundred, which is what makes marks from differently sized assignments comparable. 18 out of 20 and 45 out of 50 are both 90%, even though one is worth more than twice the other.
That comparability is the whole reason percentages exist in grading — and also the reason they can mislead. Two assignments with the same percentage do not carry the same influence on your course grade unless they carry the same weight. Converting to a percentage tells you how well you did; the weighted grade calculator tells you how much it mattered.
The letter is the least portable part of the chain. Percentages are arithmetic; letters are policy. The same 85% is a different letter at different institutions, and sometimes in different departments of the same one, which is why the scale here is something you choose rather than something we assume.
| Percentage | US with +/− | US whole grades | Canadian pattern | UK classification |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 92% | A- | A | A+ | First |
| 85% | B | B | A | First |
| 74% | C | C | B | First |
| 63% | D | D | C | 2:1 |
| 52% | F | F | D- | 2:2 |
The 52% row is the clearest warning. The same mark is a fail on both US scales, a passing D− on the Canadian pattern, and a lower second-class result in the UK. Always check the scale before reading anything into a letter.
Working backwards to a mark
Going the other way is just as useful and half as well known: points needed = points possible × target ÷ 100. To score 85% on a 60-point exam you need 51 points, so you can afford to lose 9.
Round up, always. If the arithmetic says 51.3 points, then 51 leaves you fractionally short — and since most assessments award whole points, 52 is the real answer. The calculator above shows both figures so the rounding is never a surprise.
Related calculators
- Final Grade CalculatorBoth directions: the score you need, and the grade you would end up with.
- What Grade Do I Need?Target-first flow for the single question: what score gets me there?
- Final Exam CalculatorWork forwards: pick an exam score and watch the course grade follow.
- Weighted Grade CalculatorTurn a syllabus of categories or a list of assignments into one grade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is 42 out of 50 as a percentage?
- 84%. Divide 42 by 50 to get 0.84, then multiply by 100. The same two steps work for any marks: earned divided by possible, times one hundred.
- Why can't I get a percentage when points possible is zero?
- Because there is nothing to be a percentage of. A score out of zero has no defined value — the division is undefined, not zero. Assignments genuinely worth zero points are almost always extra credit, which is added to your total rather than averaged into it.
- Can a percentage be above 100%?
- Yes, whenever you earn more points than the assignment was marked out of. Scoring 55 on a 50-point test with a 5-point bonus is 110%. That is real information, so the calculator reports it rather than capping it at 100.
- Does the same percentage always mean the same letter grade?
- No, and this is worth checking. 85% is a B on a US ten-point scale, a B+ on many US plus/minus scales, and an A on the percentage bands common at Canadian universities. Choose the scale that matches your institution — the letter shown here changes with it.
- How do I turn an assignment's points into its weight?
- Divide the assignment's points possible by the course's total points. A 200-point final in a 1,000-point course is worth 200 ÷ 1000 = 20% of your grade. That percentage is exactly what the final grade calculator asks for as the exam weight.
Privacy and accuracy
Every calculation runs in your browser. Your grades are never sent to a server, there is no account, and there is nothing to sign up for. Read the privacy policy for exactly what is stored on your device.
The arithmetic is exact, but the answer is only as good as the numbers you enter. Weights, rounding rules and drop policies vary between courses, so check your syllabus — and remember that your learning platform may round differently from the figure shown here.