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

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E-Campus Faculty and Staff

How-to: set up weighted grades in canvas gradebook.

By:   Gracia Ostendorf     

Setting up weighted grades in canvas.

Canvas uses what are called “Assignment Groups” to organize assessments,  and view grades, in different groups.  You can create groups for different types of activities (i.e. all Discussions, all Quizzes, etc.), different units or modules of your course (i.e. a Unit 1 group with a Unit 1 Discussion, Unit 1 Quiz, etc.), or any other way that may be appropriate for your course setup and grading scheme. Your groups can then be weighted with different percentages to determine students’ final grades.

To Create an Assignment Group in Canvas:

• Click the “+ Group” button to create a new Assignment Group
• Add existing Assignments to the Groups by dragging and dropping them on the Assignments page
• Clicking the “+” button in the group header
• Clicking the “+ Assignment” button and selecting the group in the ”Assignment Group” dropdown on that Assignment’s edit page
• Each Assignment Group will be represented with its own column in the Canvas Gradebook (found by clicking “Grades” in the left-hand menu of your Canvas course)

To Assign Weights to Assignment Groups in Canvas:

• On the “Assignments” page, click the 3 dots in the upper right-hand corner of the page, and click “Assignment Groups Weight”
• Check the box next to “Weight final grades based on assignment groups”
• Specify the percentage for each Assignment Group, then click “Save.” These percentages will be reflected in the group headers on the Assignments page, as well as the group columns in the Gradebook
• To edit these percentages, as well as other options like ignoring a certain number of high or low scores from an Assignment Group, click the 3 dots in the right-hand corner of an Assignment Group header, and click “Edit”

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Weighting Grades, Giving Extra Credit, and Other Tips on Managing Assignments and Grades in Canvas

by Cecilia Lo | Aug 20, 2018 | Canvas , Canvas Features/Functions , How-tos

Canvas provides a fully functional gradebook that can help both instructors and students to keep track of their progress in a course. Once you figure out its few quirks, you will be able to manage grades with ease.

I. Some Terminology: Assignment Groups vs. Assignments, & How They Relate to Gradebook Columns II. Weighting Grades III. Muting Grade Notifications IV. Grade History – Who Changed The Grade When? V. Using Grading Schemes VI. Curving Grades VII. Giving Extra Credit VIII. Tools and Course Setup for Multiple TAs IX. Excluding an Assignment from the Course’s Final Grades X. Filtering by Modules, Automatic Late Policies, & Other New, Helpful Functions in the New Gradebook XI. Resources

I. Some Terminology: Assignment Groups vs. Assignments, & How They Relate to Gradebook Columns

There are two common sources of confusion in understanding and using Canvas assignments and gradebooks. One is the distinction between Assignment Groups and Assignments. Assignment Groups are categories of assignments, such as problem sets, papers, quizzes, exams, presentations, and participation. They are important for organizational purposes and particularly important if you want to weight grades. Assignments are individual assessment items that receive grades, as, for example, first paper, second paper, or final paper. Assignment Groups and assignments are created separately. You can move assignments into different Assignment Groups by dragging them on the Assignment Index page or editing the Assignment.

Assignment groups vs Assignments

A second common source of confusion is how to create gradebook columns. In Canvas, assignments are tightly integrated with the Gradebook and the only way to create a gradebook column is to create and publish an assignment . This may seem unintuitive at first glance, as not all assignments require online submissions (e.g. attendance and participation or assignments done on paper). However, instructors can choose different submission types when they create an assignment— No Submission, Online, or On Paper . The one-to-one correspondence between the number of assignment items and the number of gradebook columns ensures that grading policy is transparent to the students and that both instructors and students always see the same number of assessment items.

II. Weighting Grades

You can have Canvas automatically calculate weighted grades in just a few clicks: on the Assignment Index page, click Options , select Assignment Group Weight , then enter the percentages for each Assignment Group. For example, in a course where the grades are determined as follows:

The process for weighting grades is:

To weight grades, go the the Assignments page, click on the Options button, select Assignment Groups Weight , select the Weight final grades based on assignment groups check box, enter the weights, and click Save .

How Canvas Calculates Weighted Grades for an Assignment Group

Canvas determines weighted grades by calculating:

• the grade (in percentage) of individual Assignment Groups (sum of points scored divided by total possible points);
• the total grade (sum of Assignment Group grades multiplied by their respective weights).

In the example for “Paper Assignments” Group above, there are 4 assignments, each worth 20 points; together they add up to 80 points. The Assignment group counts 30% towards the total grade. If a student scores 18, 16, 10, and 15 respectively, then

The subtotal grade for “Paper Assignment” is: (18 + 16 + 10 + 15)/80*100% = 73.75% The contribution of “Paper Assignment” to the Total grade is: 73.75% * 0.3 = 22.13%

Weighted Grades within an Assignment Group

In the above example, because each assignment has the same maximum points (20 points), each assignment contributes equally within the Assignment Group. If you wish a particular assignment to weigh more, just make sure it has a higher number of total points, or assign it to a separate Assignment Group.

Tips : If you have many assignments (about 10 or more) in one Assignment Group, and the total points for each assignment vary by one or two points, then by arithmetic the assignments contribute essentially equally to the Assignment Group grades, as the difference between each assignment after multiplying by the weighted percentage would be relatively small. (e.g. 1 point in an Assignment Group with a total of 100 points and which counts as 30% of the total grade is 0.3 points of the total grade.)

How Weighted Grades Appear in the Gradebook

In the Canvas Gradebook, each gradebook column (with linked heading) shows the raw points for an assignment (unless you have applied grade curving to it); the Assignment Group column (with black heading) shows the percentage a student scored for that Assignment Group; and the Total column shows the final, weighted grade.

In the example above, the Assignment Group column for “Paper Assignment (30.00% of grade)” is 73.75%.

NB : If a student didn’t submit a particular assignment, be sure to give it zero points. If you leave the score blank ( – ), Canvas will treat it as excused and ignore it in its calculation of the Assignment Group subtotal and Total scores.

For more about weighting grades, see: https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10059-415267002

III. Muting Grade Notifications

When instructors enter grades into Canvas’ gradebook, a notification is sent to the student automatically . Some students are prone to panic if they find that their peers have received their grades but they have not. You can release grades to all students simultaneously if you select Mute Assignment and stop notifications from going out until you “unmute” the assignment. Muting assignments allows you time to review and make grade adjustments without sending students multiple notifications.

To mute an assignment, go to Grades, click on the options dropdown for the assignment, and select Mute Assignment:

Mute Assignment link in Canvas Gradebook

NB : Canvas does not include muted assignments in the Assignment Group and Total grade calculations—if it did, students would be able to calculate backwards and figure out what their grades are. Be sure to unmute assignments when you have finished grading them so that the gradebook calculations are correct.

For more about muting assignments, see: https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-12961-4152724339

IV. Grade History – Who Changed The Grade When?

From time to time you may wish to track how a student’s grade for a particular assignment changes over time, especially when there are multiple instructors or TAs giving grades in a course. Canvas’ Grade History tool can be helpful in such cases.

To access Grade History, click on the Options (gear) icon in Grades and select View Gradebook History . (In the New Gradebook, select the Gradebook dropdown, then “Gradebook History…”.)

To view grade history in the old Gradebook, select View Gradebook History from the gear icon on the Grades page, enter filter parameters and click the Filter button.

How to read Gradebook History

• The Before column shows the grade before the change at a particular date and time (row).
• The After column shows the grade after the change at a particular date and time (row).
• The Current column always shows the latest grade; it is the grade a student has now.

Example of Grade History

In the example above, on Jun 27, 2018 at 4:25pm, the Before column is empty because it is the first time a grade (0/20) is entered. On Aug 16, 2018, this grade is changed from 0/20 to 20/20. The Current grade for all rows is 16/20 because on Aug 17, 2018, the last time this grade was edited, the grade has been changed from 20/20 to 16/20.

NB : The dropdown selection can take a few seconds to display, especially if there are many students in a course. Be sure to click the maroon Filter button at the end to filter the results. You can filter for more than one category; for example, you can filter for student name and assignment name simultaneously.

V. Using Grading Schemes

You can apply a specific grading scheme to your assignment and/or overall course grade so that each letter or performance grade corresponds to a specific numeric grade range (e.g. A/Excellent = 91% to 100%; A-/Good = 88%-90%; etc). Once you have created a grading scheme, it can be reused in other courses you teach with just a few clicks.

Select Grading Scheme for an Assignment

To display letter grade for an assignment, edit the assignment, choose Letter Grade under the Display Grade as dropdown menu.

• Choose the appropriate grading scheme (see “Choose/Create New Grading Schemes” below).

Choose/Create New Grading Schemes

Click on the View Grading Scheme link under Display Grade as to choose the appropriate grading scheme.

Click on the Select Another Scheme link at the top right to select another grading scheme.

• To create a new grading scheme, click manage grading schemes link at the bottom right, then click the Add grading scheme button on the right.

Use Grading Scheme for the Total Grade in Your Course

You can display the Total grade of your course as a letter/performance grade by going to Settings > Course Details > Select the check box for Enable course grading scheme > Choose the appropriate grading scheme > Click the Update Course Details button at the bottom of the page.

To enable grading scheme for the course total grade, go to course Settings , check the Enable course grading scheme box, click the Select grading scheme link, then select the appropriate grading scheme, click Done , then click the maroon Update Course Details button.

For more information, see:

• [Overview] How do I use grading schemes in a course? https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-13067-4152206341
• How do I add a grading scheme to an assignment? https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10216-415282270
• How do I enable a grading scheme for a course? https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-12906-415257089
• How do I add a grading scheme in a course? https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10313-415257090

VI. Curving Grades

You can use the Canvas Gradebook to curve grades for individual assignments. When you enter a desired average grade, Canvas will automatically adjust the scores as a bell curve 66% around the average curve.

Grade curving is available for assignments only ; if you wish to curve the total grade of a course, you will need to do so manually. Grade curving cannot be undone (although you can use Gradebook History to view pre-curved grades) and is advisable in courses where only a certain number of students can pass, or when you require a fixed distribution of grades distributed throughout the class.

Step-by-step instructions on curving grades are available at: https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-12832-415255003

VII. Giving Extra Credit

Do you want to give extra credit to students but are unsure how get Canvas Gradebook to recognize it? There are a few ways to do this:

Method 1: Add Extra Points to an Existing Assignment/Quiz

You can give extra credit to a particular assignment by adding the extra points to the total points a student scored, even if the student received a perfect score. Canvas allows you to give points greater than the highest possible points.

For example, If an assignment is worth a total of 100 points, a student earned a perfect score of 100, and you want to reward them with 5 extra credit points, you can enter 105 as the grade for the assignment.

If you use Canvas’ SpeedGrader for grading, you can enter the extra points in SpeedGrader. If you use rubrics in conjunction with SpeedGrader, you can add the extra points either to an existing rubric criterion or to an “Extra Credit” criterion. If you decide to add an “Extra Credit” criterion, make sure that the assignment point total excludes the total maximum extra credit points (i.e. the rubric is worth more points than the assignment) so that the actual assignment points are not affected by whether a student receives extra credit or not.

For example, if your rubric has four criteria with 4 maximum points each, and an “extra credit” criterion with 2 points each, then the maximum point total for your rubric is 4×4 + 2 = 18 points. But your assignment point total should be 16 points.

You can give extra credit in Quizzes as well. To adjust the point value for an entire quiz, use fudge points .

Method 2: Grant Extra Points in a Stand-alone “Extra Credit” Assignment and Gradebook Column

If you want to keep track of extra credit for the course as a whole, you can create a stand-alone extra credit assignment and gradebook column and adjust a student’s points as needed.

If you don’t weight your grades , you can create a separate assignment with 0 points. Any extra points given in this gradebook column will be added to the total points for the course.

If you weight your grades with assignment groups, you will need to create an extra credit assignment group with a weight greater than 0% and an assignment with greater than 0 points in order for Canvas Gradebook to calculate the total score correctly. All the assignment groups in your course plus the extra credit assignment group should weigh more than 100% in total.

One example of a correct setup for assignment groups with a maximum of 10% (or 10 points) extra credit for the course is:

Notice that the first 4 assignment groups, containing assignments that all students are assessed on, total to 100%. This ensures that any assignment placed within the Extra Credit assignment group will have either a positive or neutral effect on your students’ overall grade.

• If you are weighting your assignment groups, please pay attention to how weighted groups can affect the Gradebook if assignments are worth zero points.
• If you have drop rules set in an assignment group, adding extra points may affect your students’ scores.

For a detailed, step-by-step guide on how to give extra credit within Canvas, see: https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-9940-415278195

VIII. Tools and Course Setup for Multiple TAs

If you have multiple TAs working from the same Canvas course site and they are each assigned to a specific group of students, Academic Technology Solutions can help you set up your course site so that they only see the grades of the students they are responsible for. To get started, email the URL of your course site and a brief description of your needs to [email protected] .

IX. Excluding an Assignment from the Course’s Final Grades

If you wish to provide feedback for assignments without the assignment counting toward Gradebook calculations, you can exclude the assignment in the final grade calculation. (Note: this excludes the grade for all students. If you want to assign an assignment to a specific group of students, you should specifically assign course sections , assign individual students , or assign course groups to the assignment.)

For step-by-step instructions, see: https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10120-4152618765

Alternatively, you can have Canvas automatically drop the lowest (or highest) grade in an assignment group. See https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-9880-4152232976 for step-by-step instructions.

X. Filtering by Modules, Automatic Late Policies, & Other New, Helpful Functions in the New Gradebook

In January 2018, Canvas released the New Gradebook, which offers a number of enhanced features, such as filtering by modules, automatic late policies, and customizable coloring. The current gradebook is expected to be deprecated and replaced by the New Gradebook sometime in the second half of 2018. For more information on how to opt-in and use the new features, see ATS’ “ Introducing the New Gradebook ” blog post.

XI. Resources

You can see the complete Instructor Guides for the topics discussed above at:

• Assignments
• Discussion Forums
• Online Quizzes
• Speedgrader

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• Assignment Groups

How Do I Use Assignment Groups in Canvas?

In Canvas, assignment groups allow you to organize your assignments into discrete groups. For example, you may want to group all the essay assignments in your course within one assignment group titled ‘Essays’.

Assignment groups allow you to leverage a weighted grade scheme in your Canvas course. A weighted grade scheme allows you to distribute percentages of a student’s final grade across these assignment groups. Following our previous example, you may want the Essays group to account for 30% of the final grade. 

By default, Grade weighting is turned off for all Canvas courses. To turn on Grade weighting, please follow Canvas’ tutorial for weighting final grades based on Assignment Groups.

How do grade weights get distributed across an Assignment Group?

In Canvas, the weight of an assignment group is distributed proportionally across the assignments inside it. Because of this, assignments worth different points will be weighted differently if they are in the same assignment group.

Here’s an example of an assignment group in Canvas. This group is worth 30% of the total grade and contains three assignments with different point values. The table further below outlines how the assignment group weight of 30% is distributed across the three Assignments.

Here, since Essay Two is out of 200 points, it will count two times more than Essays One and Three.

***assignment group weight distribution for assignments with differing point totals.

If you want all assignments within a given assignment group to be worth the same weight, you have two options:

1. Make all assignments inside an assignment group worth the same number of points, as shown below.

***In this scenario, we have changed Essay Two’s point value from 200 to 100 points. Since all point values in this assignment Group are the same, each Assignment will be worth the same, 10% in this case.

2. Create new assignment groups for any outlier assignments if you cannot or do not want to change their point value.

***In this scenario, we have not changed Essay Two’s point values, so we will need to put it in its own assignment group worth 10% and change the first assignment group to be worth 20% so that all Essays are now worth 10% of the total grade.

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Canvas uses “Assignment Groups” to organize assessments and view grades in different groupings. For example, you can create groups for activity types (i.e. all Discussions, all Quizzes, etc.), units or modules in your course (i.e. a Module 1 group consisting of a Module1 Discussion, Module 1 Quiz, etc.), or any other way that may be appropriate for your course setup and grading scheme. Your groups can then be weighted with different percentages in the calculation of students’ final grades.

Add Assignment Groups

Click on Assignments from the course navigation menu. 

Click +Group at the top-right corner. 

In the pop-up window, provide a Group Name .

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 .

Turn on Assignment Group Weighting 

From the Assignments page, click on the ellipsis (three dot icon) in the top-right corner. 

Select Assignment Groups Weight . 

In the pop-up window, 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 Save . The percentage weights will now appear next to each assignment group name. 

Knowledge Base

• Teaching Resources
• Instructional Best Practices

What are the benefits of weighting Assignment groups in Canvas?

Benefits to students.

• Assists students with planning where to spend time and effort. Example: student effort should be reflected accordingly if If projects are 50% of grades and discussions are 10%.
• Simplifies and shortens the Syllabus for ideal readability to 1-2 pages in length by describing  Assignment categories by percentage % of the total grade at an overview level. 
• Full assignment details, individual point values, and just-in-time instructions are best provided within actual Canvas assignments instead. 
• Example: The Syllabus can declare in an overview that grades are based on Quizzes 20%, Projects 40%, Final Exam 20%, Homework 10%, attendance 10%.
• Weighted groups display individual trends to students in their grade summary by % when they are excelling in one group category and falling behind in another.
• Example 1: A student can quickly see that they pass all Quizzes, yet fall behind because of non-attendance or not turning in homework.
• Example 2: A student may turn in homework and excel in group work, but see that they fail quizzes--possibly signaling test anxiety or poor study skills.

Benefits to Instructors

• Weighting assists the Instructor in communicating expectations and values while helping students to know where to prioritize time and energy for success.
• Examples: In required Math, the Final Exam is the sole focus for passing the course and the entire coursework is aimed toward helping students pass one Exam, so the Final Exam is weighted at 80% of the value of the course. In other topics, there may be a mixture of Quizzes, homework, exams, and projects. If a course labels Chapter Quizzes as 10% of a grade and a Research Project as 50%, students then know not to devote all of their attention to Chapter Quizzes at the expense of the other assignments.
• Weighting allows instructors the flexibility to add or delete assignments within categories, as needed.
• Example: If the instructor exercises judgment that more time is needed elsewhere and an extra assignment should be deleted, Canvas instantly recalculates subtotals and total columns.
• Weighting helps instructors to see patterns within the Gradebook subcategories.
• Example: If a student does well on homework and projects, but typically fails Quizzes, they may have test anxiety.

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Canvas assignment groups.

The Assignments page is arguably the most central to successful Canvas course utilization.

• It controls the columns in the gradebook and gradebook calculations.
• It displays all things gradable, including assignments, gradable discussions, and quizzes. Each can be created in Assignments.
• Dates used in the syllabus and calendar are rapidly edited in Assignments.

Use assignment groups to achieve:

• Assignment categorization
• Drop lowest  n  scores
• Drop highest  n  scores
• Never drop  x  assignment
• Weighting of grades

Canvas creates a group called "Assignments" by default, but you can change the group title or create additional groups. Because the default group is Assignments, Canvas places all assignment types into that group. When you are creating a new assignment, graded discussion, or quiz you will have the option to designate it as belonging to a previously created assignment group.

On This Page

Create an Assignment Group

Move an assignment between groups, weighting assignment groups, video tutorial, assignment page icons, filter the gradebook by assignment group.

On the Assignment page, click + Group

In the Add Assignment Group box, type the name of the group and click Save

Click on the double column of dots next to an assignment and drag to a new group.

Or, click on the three dots to the right of the assignment and click on Move To... then choose the desired assignment group and location.

Click on the assignment settings, then choose Assignment Groups Weight from the menu

Check the box to "Weight final grade based on assignment groups" and then enter the percentage assigned for each group

(weights should typically equal 100, but can exceed 100 for extra credit)

This short video will walk you through the process of creating weighted assignment groups in your Canvas course.

On the Grades page, click on the View dropdown menu and choose the Filters option

Then, select Assignment Groups from the menu

A new dropdown menu will appear at the top of the page

Click on All Assignment Groups to select a certain group of assignments you would like to see

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Canvas Gradebook Tips: Grade Breakdown, Assignment Weighting, and Dropping Lowest Grade

Since we’re still close to the start of the semester, now is the perfect time to make sure your gradebook is set up properly. It may feel like you have lots of time left before this is absolutely necessary, but that’s not the case. If you take the time now, both you and your students will see accurate grades across the semester. So let’s talk about three things to check to make sure your gradebook is set up how you want. 

1. Setting up the grade breakdown

Canvas makes it easy to take your syllabus’ grading system in percentages and apply it to your course. You’ll set this up from the “Assignments” page in your course. 

• Make sure you have an assignment group set up for each category in your grading system. If you need to add assignment groups, check out Canvas’ “How do I add an assignment group in a course?” document.
• Click the three dots menu at the top of the assignments page and select “assignment groups weight.” 
• Enter the values for each group and click “save.” 

Canvas will even keep a running total of the values you enter so you can double-check that to ensure it all adds up to 100%. For more information about setting this up, check out Canvas’ “How do I weight the final course grade based on assignment groups?” document.

2. Weighting assignments inside an assignment group

Sometimes, you may have a place where you need to weight items inside one of your assignment groups. 

For example, you may have multiple exams in your course. You could make each one a separate assignment group, but you also want to easily see an overall average for the exams. 

Let’s say this is your grade breakdown: 

• Exam 1: 10%
• Exam 2: 10%
• Final Exam: 20%

You can easily use weighting inside an assignment group to accomplish all your goals. 

• Create a main assignment group worth the total percentage for the items (here this would be an “Exams” group worth 40%)
• Place all of the items (exams) in that group
• Adjust the total points for each item to match the percentages (Exam 1 = 10 points, Exam 2 = 10 points, Final Exam = 20 points). 

And you’re all set! You can use this same method for other scenarios – simply set the points to be equal to the desired weights.

3. Dropping the lowest grade in an assignment group

If you say in your syllabus that you’re going to drop the lowest grade in an assignment group, Canvas can easily do that for you. 

• Click the three dots menu for the assignment group where you need to drop a grade. 
• Click “edit.”
• Change the value for “Lowest Scores” to however many you need to drop.
• Click “save.” 

You’ll see some other options on the “edit” screen for assignments. To learn more about those, check out Canvas’ “How do I create rules for an assignment group?” document.

If you implement these things in your course, you’ll be in good shape. You and your students will see accurate grades across the semester, and you’ll have a simpler time submitting final grades. 

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Canvas - Grade Calculation Fluctuates when using Weighted Assignment Groups [UW-Madison]

When Instructors use a weighted grading scheme in Canvas, assignments are collected into assignment groups, and percent weights are assigned to those assignment groups. See the Canvas guide, How do I weight the final course grade based on assignment groups? for more information.

During the semester, Canvas projects a final grade calculation depending on the weighted grading scheme used. Some grading schemes may count ungraded assignments against the students final grade calculations. Other grading schemes might not count ungraded assignments. 

Because of this, students may have an inaccurate perception of their current grade when viewing their results. 

  Expand All Collapse All  

What Do Students See?

Students are shown a current grade, which calculates their standing based on assignments completed so far. The current grade, as displayed in image below, will differ depending on which of the (above) two weighted grading schemes is employed.

Because of the points available and the weights of the various assignment groups, the difference in their current grade could be significant, and students may see an inaccurate representation of their current standing in the course.

Best Practices for Explaining Grade Calculation

Inform both students and instructors as to how final grade calculations occur. 

Instructors, let your students know that the grade they see in Canvas may not be accurate. They should talk to you to get a better understanding of how they are doing in your course.

Similarly, instructors need to understand that different weighted grading schemes will produce different current grades for students. This is true even when these weighted grading schemes will produce identical final grades.

If a student receives a zero (0), add it to the gradebook as soon as possible.

A blank cell in the gradebook is not the calculated the same as a zero. This can give students the impression that their grade is higher than it will be at the end of the semester.

For more information about applying a missing submission policy, see the Canvas guide How do I apply a Missing Submission policy in the Gradebook? Or, if you have questions about applying a late submission policy, see How do I apply a Late Submission policy in the Gradebook? 

What Causes the Grade to Fluctuate?

Consider the following weighted grading schemes. At the end of the semester, (after all grades have been entered) these two weighted grading schemes will produce identical results. 

( Note: This is only true if all assignments included in the grading scheme are worth the same number of points. In this example, Quiz 1, Quiz 2, and Quiz 3 are each worth 10 points.)

Grading Scheme Setup

Grading scheme 1.

Four assignments are organized into two assignment groups.

• Assignment Group 1, worth 25% of the overall grade
• Essay, 10 points
• Assignment Group 2, worth 75% of the overall grade
• Test 1, 10 points
• Test 2, 10 points
• Test 3, 10 points

Grading Scheme 2

The same four assignments are distributed across four assignment groups.

• Assignment Group 2, worth 25% of the overall grade
• Assignment Group 3, worth 25% of the overall grade
• Assignment Group 4, worth 25% of the overall grade

Grading Scheme in Effect

To illustrate the grading schemes with grades entered, here are the gradebooks of the two sample courses mentioned previously in this document.

Because of the differences in weighted grading schemes, the Total grades can differ by over four percent between courses. (In some of our testing, we achieved a 10-percentage point differential.) 

In this first gradebook, Test 1, Test 2 and Test 3 are all in the same assignment group). Notice the Total column displays a grade of 52.5%

Test 3 is ungraded, but is included in the calculation of the current grade and counts against the student.

The grade for this course is achieved by the following equation: (9/10)*.25 + (8/20)*.75 = .525 = 52.5%

In this second gradebook, the three Tests are housed in their own separate assignment groups). Notice the Total column displays a grade of 56.67%.

In Course 2 , Test 3 and the associated 25% weight, is completely removed from consideration in the calculation of the current grade.

The grade for Course #2 is achieved by the following equation:

(9/10)*.25 + (8/10)*.25 + (0/10)*.25 = .425

.425/.75 = .56666 = 56.67%