What grade do I need on my final?
Enter three numbers and get the score you need — plus whether it is realistic.
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Your result
You need
94.67%
on your final exam to finish the course at 90%.
Your coursework already contributes 61.6 of the 90% you want, so the final needs to supply the remaining 28.4 percentage points.
- Your coursework contributes
- 61.6 pts
- Your final must contribute
- 28.4 pts
- Grade with a zero on the final
- 61.6%
- Grade with 100% on the final
- 91.6%
Show the maths
Formula
Required final score = (target course grade − current grade × (1 − final weight)) ÷ final weight, with the weight written as a decimal.
With your numbers
(90 − 88 × 0.7) ÷ 0.3 = (90 − 61.6) ÷ 0.3 = 28.4 ÷ 0.3 = 94.6667
Calculated at full precision and rounded only for display, so the figure above may differ in the last decimal place from a calculator that rounds at each step.
How the status labels are decided
- Already secured: You reach the target even with a zero on the final.
- Comfortable: Needs 70% or less of the maximum score.
- Achievable: Needs more than 70% and up to 85% of the maximum score.
- Stretch: Needs more than 85% and up to 95% of the maximum score.
- Very difficult: Needs more than 95%, up to and including a perfect score.
- Impossible without extra credit: Needs more than the maximum score obtainable on the final.
These labels describe how demanding a score is, not any school’s grading policy.
You need 94.67% on your final. Status: Stretch. Your coursework already contributes 61.6 of the 90% you want, so the final needs to supply the remaining 28.4 percentage points.
Try different final exam scores
Move the slider to see where any exam score leaves your course grade. The markers show the score at which you cross each grade boundary on the US letter with +/− scale.
Projected course grade
87.1%B+
with 85% on the final
0%100%
You cross 90% at 94.67% on the final.
| Exam score | Course grade | Letter | Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0% | 61.6% | D- | Short |
| 50% | 76.6% | C | Short |
| 60% | 79.6% | C+ | Short |
| 70% | 82.6% | B- | Short |
| 80% | 85.6% | B | Short |
| 90% | 88.6% | B+ | Short |
| 100% (the maximum score) | 91.6% | A- | Met |
Reading the answer honestly
The number is only half the answer. The other half is whether you can actually score it, and that depends on how the number compares with what you have been scoring all term. A required 94% is a different proposition for someone averaging 91% than for someone averaging 74%, even though the arithmetic is identical.
This is why the result carries a status band as well as a figure. The bands describe how demanding a score is as a share of the maximum — not how likely you are to get it, which no calculator can know. Use them as a prompt to plan, not as a prediction.
Two results deserve particular attention. If you see already secured, your target is banked even with a zero on the exam, and your real question is now how much higher you could push. If you see impossible without extra credit, the target cannot be reached by exam performance alone — the useful next step is to find the highest grade that is reachable and aim at that instead, which the scenario table above shows directly.
Getting the three numbers right
Current grade
The percentage across everything already marked, with the final excluded. If your gradebook already shows the exam as a zero, that figure is not the one you want.
Target grade
The course grade you are aiming at, as a percentage. If you think in letters, use the quick target buttons — they read the cut-off from whichever grading scale you have selected, so “Get an A” means 93% on a US plus/minus scale and 85% on the common Canadian pattern. Change the scale in the advanced options if neither matches your institution.
Final exam weight
The share of the course grade the exam carries, straight from the syllabus. If your syllabus gives points rather than percentages — say the final is 200 points out of a 1,000-point course — that is 20%, and the grade percentage calculator will convert it for you.
Related calculators
- Final Grade CalculatorBoth directions: the score you need, and the grade you would end up with.
- 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.
- Grade Percentage CalculatorPoints to percentage to letter, and back again.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I find my current grade if my syllabus uses categories?
- Work out each category's percentage, multiply it by that category's weight, and add the results. A course with homework at 92% (20%), quizzes at 85% (15%) and a midterm at 78% (25%) sits at 84.25% across the 60% graded so far. The weighted grade calculator does this for you and gives you the number to paste in here.
- Should I use my current grade or my grade in the gradebook?
- Use whatever figure represents the work already marked, excluding the final itself. If your gradebook is already counting the final as a zero, that number is too low — find the grade across graded work only, or the required score will come out higher than it really is.
- What if my final replaces my lowest test score instead of standing alone?
- Then this calculation is the wrong shape for your course, because the exam changes two things at once. Work out your grade twice with the weighted grade calculator — once with the low test in place, once with the exam's score substituted for it — and compare. There is no single weight that captures a replacement rule.
- Does the calculator round the way my instructor will?
- It rounds only for display and keeps full precision underneath. Whether 89.5% becomes an A- depends entirely on your instructor's policy, and policies differ: some round to the nearest whole percent, some round up at .5, and some do not round at all. If you land within half a point of a boundary, ask rather than assume.
- Is it worth calculating this if the final is worth only 10%?
- Yes, and often it is the most useful case. A small weight means the exam has very little leverage, so a target that looks close can be arithmetically out of reach. Seeing that early is more useful than finding out afterwards — and it tells you where your effort is genuinely worth spending.
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.