There are many different ways to calculate grades. The easiest to understand is a running total of points. However, frequently your instructor will calculate grades by percentages or weighted grades. Understanding how these grades are determined is a little different and at times difficult. This article should help you determine how your grade is calculated on Blackboard and will provide tips on understanding weighted grades.
To see if your instructor uses weighted grades:
- Log into Blackboard at learn.uark.edu with your UARK email and password.
- Click on Courses in the left menu, then click the Course Name.
- In the left menu, click My Grades
- Under the area where your overall grade is displayed, click Grading Criteria.
Note: What this column is called may vary by instructor. It may be called Grade, Overall Grade, Total Grade, or it may be just called Total.
- A popup window will appear that displays the assignments and categories that are included in your grade.
Note: If this information starts with “Running Total of” then your instructor is not using weighted grades and is instead just adding up the total points of the assignments to determine your grade.
Note: If this information starts with “Running Weighted Average of” then your instructor is using Weighted Grades.
Interpreting your Weighted Grade:
Keep in mind that weighted grades are based on percentages and not points. For instance, an exam may be worth 100 points but be 15% of your grade, while homework may be worth 1,400 points but only be 10% of your overall grade. The points do not get added together. This is the main difference between weighted grades and a running total of points.
Your overall grade will change very much depending on what assignments you have completed.
For instance, assume your grade is determined in the following way:
Homework: 15%
Exam 1: 15%
Exam 2: 15%
Exam 3: 15%
Paper 1: 15%
Final: 25%
Suppose you have only taken one exam and have completed several homework assignments. This means that at the moment your entire grade is based on homework and one exam, so 50% of your grade at this time comes from homework and 50% comes from the exam. By the end of the semester they will only be worth 15%, but at this time they are your entire grade. Your grade can change drastically from week to week with weighted grades.
There are many websites that you can use that allow you to type in your grades on assignments and it will give you the calculated weighted grade.
Understanding the Difference Between Equally and Proportionally Weighted Categories
Note: It’s important to know if grades within each category are weighted equally or proportionately. If it’s not directly stated in your syllabus then it is best to ask your instructor how your grades are calculated.
For example, all of Jane’s homework assignments are worth 15 percent or 15 points out of 100 of her grade.
Jane receives the following grades:
Homework 1: 4/5
Homework 2: 10/10
Homework 3: 1/1
Homework 4: 4/5
Homework 5: 0/10
Homework 6: 8/8
If the grades are weighted proportionately then you would add up all of the points that she received and all of the points that were possible and divide to get her total percentage of her 15 points for homework.
In the case above 69.23% of 15 points is 10.38 points. This is Jane’s final points for Homework.
If grades within a category are weighted equally then each assignment within that category will be worth the same as every other homework assignment regardless of actual point value. You divide each days points earned by each days points possible to get the percentage. You then take an average of those percentages. That average is the percentage of the final 15 points for homework.
In the case above 76.67% of 15 points is 11.5. This is Jane’s final points for Homework.