In Oncourse CL Gradebook, how did categories and weighting affect grade calculation?

For fall semester 2008 and earlier, Gradebook calculated course grades differently in percentage gradebooks. The following examples illustrate how the different choices in Gradebook Setup affected how students' course grades were calculated. For information about how Gradebook currently calculates grades, see How categories and weighting affect grade calculation in points gradebooks and How categories and weighting affect grade calculation in percentage gradebooks.

On this page:

• Displaying grades as percentages with no categories and no weighting
• Displaying grades as percentages with weighted categories
• Displaying grades as points with weighted categories
• Displaying grades as points with simple categories and no weighting

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Displaying grades as percentages with no categories and no weighting

In this example, the instructor set up the gradebook with no categories and no weighting and chose to enter the grades as percentages.

The course grade would have been calculated as follows:

Title	Grade (%)	Item value	Grade in points
Essay	90	45	40.5 (90% of 45)
Lab	80	45	36 (80% of 45)

Total: 90 points

Course grade: 85% [(40.5+36)/90 * 100)]

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Displaying grades as percentages with weighted categories

In this example, the instructor set up the gradebook with weighted categories and chose to enter the grades as percentages.

The course grade would have been calculated as follows:

Category Essays (70% weight)

Title	Grade (%)	Item value	Weight in category	Weighted grade (%)
Essay 1	50	50	0.50 [50/(50+30+20)]	25 (50*.50)
Essay 2	50	30	0.30 [30/(50+30+20)]	15 (50*.30)
Essay 3	50	20	0.20 [20/(50+30+20)]	10 (50*.20)

Total (Essays): 50% (25+15+10)

Category labs (30% weight)

Title	Grade (%)	Item value	Weight in category	Weighted grade (%)
Lab 1	100	50	0.50 [50/(50+50)]	50 (100*.50)
Lab 2	100	50	0.50 [50/(50+50)]	50 (100*.50)

Total (Labs): 100% (50+50)

Overall course grade (Essays and Labs): 65%

Essays	35% (70%*50%)
Labs	30% (30%*100%)
Total	65% (35%+30%)

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Displaying grades as points with weighted categories

In this example, the instructor set up the gradebook with weighted categories and chose to enter the grades as points.

The course grade would have been calculated as follows:

Category essays (70% weight)

Note that in the Essays category, the items had different point values (proportional weighting). Items with a higher point value had a greater influence on the grade (e.g., the 50-point essay had a much greater weight than the 20-point essay).

Title	Grade (Points)	Item value
Essay 1	45	50
Essay 2	18	30
Essay 3	15	20
Total	78	100

Total (Essays): 78% (78/100)*100

Category labs (30% weight)

Items in the Labs category all had the same point value (equal weighting) and influenced the grade equally.

Title	Grade (Points)	Item value
Lab 1	24	30
Lab 2	21	30
Lab 3	19	30
Total	64	90

Total (Labs): 71.11% (64/90)*100

Overall course grade (Essays and Labs): 75.93%

Essays	54.6% (70%*78%)
Labs	21.33% (30%*71.11%)
Total	75.93% (54.6%+21.33%)

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Displaying grades as points with simple categories and no weighting

In this example, the instructor set up the gradebook with simple (unweighted) categories and chose to enter the grades as points.

The course grade would have been calculated as follows:

Category	Total earned (points)	Total value	Average (%)
Essays	80 (41+27+12)	90 (45+30+15)	88.88% (80/90)
Labs	100 (36+55+9)	120 (45+60+15)	83.33% (100/120)
Total	180	210	85.71%

Total: 180 points

Course grade: 85.71% (180/210)

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Also see:

• In Oncourse CL, how do changes in the Gradebook tool affect data for previous semesters?
• In Oncourse CL, how do changes in the Gradebook tool affect grade entry for current and future semesters?