MYGRADEPLAN GUIDE
Grade calculator glossary
Plain definitions of the terms a grade calculator uses: weighted grade, category, drop lowest, excused, missing, ungraded, cap, extra credit, target, projection and more.
Short definitions forevery term you’ll meet in a syllabus or in the calculator,in plain language.
- Weighted grade
- A course grade where each category (exams, homework…) counts for a fixed percentage regardless of how many points it contains.
- Points grade
- A course grade equal to all points earned divided by all points possible. Every point counts the same.
- Category
- A group of assignments that share a weight, such as “Quizzes 20%”.
- Weight
- The share of the course grade a category is worth. Weights normally total 100%.
- Grade so far
- Your grade using only work that has a recorded score. Future and ungraded work is left out.
- Projection
- A course result that includes assumed scores for work that is not yet graded. Only meaningful when every remaining assignment is entered.
- Not graded yet (ungraded)
- Work with no recorded score. Excluded from the grade so far; can carry an assumed score in a scenario.
- Missing (counts as 0)
- Work the instructor has recorded as a zero. Its possible points count; nothing is earned.
- Excused
- Work removed from the calculation entirely: neither earned nor possible points count.
- Drop lowest
- A rule that removes the lowest-percentage score (and its points) from a category before the category grade is calculated.
- Protected assignment
- An assignment that a drop rule may never remove, such as a midterm.
- Cap
- A maximum percentage for a category, applied before weighting. Stops extra credit from pushing a category above the cap.
- Extra credit / bonus
- Points that add to earned points without adding to possible points.
- Target
- The course percentage you want. The calculator works backward from it.
- Required final score
- The minimum score on the final exam that reaches the target, assuming the final is the only remaining grade.
- Secured
- A target that is already reached even with a zero on the remaining work.
- Unreachable
- A target that would require more than 100% on the remaining work.
- Scenario
- A set of assumed scores for upcoming work, kept separate from your recorded grades. The calculator compares lower, likely and higher scenarios.
- Grading scale
- The table that maps percentages to letters, such as 90–100 = A.
- GPA
- Grade point average across courses, weighted by credit hours, using your school’s letter-to-points table.