Based on how you set up your class, Engrade will calculate your students' grades in one of two ways: the first is an unweighted or total points system, the second is a weighted category system.

1. Unweighted / Total Points Grading

If you choose to NOT weight your assignment categories in your class settings, Engrade will calculate students' class percentage based on a total points system. This is calculated individually for each student as:

Student class percentage = total points earned / total points possible

To make an assignment be extra credit, simply enter EC for that assignments points possible. Any points a student is given in an EC assignment is added directly to his/her total points earned, while his/her total points possible will stay the same. 

If you assign a student a score of E (excused) for an assignment or leave his/her score blank, then that assignment will be ignored and not effect either the students total points earned or total points possible.

A score of M (missing) will be graded exactly as a zero.

2. Weighted Assignment Categories

If you choose to weight your assignment categories, Engrade will calculate each students' class percentage as follows:

Student class percentage = 
(category A weight * category A points earned / category A points possible ) +
(category B weight * category B points earned / category B points possible ) +
(category C weight * category C points earned / category C points possible ) +
... and so forth

Each category's grade is calculated exactly the same as the total points system listed above, the only difference is that Engrade then multiplies each category percent by the weight you assigned it and then adds together that result from each category to create a final percentage.

If you have categories that do not yet have assignments, Engrade will automatically compensate by ignoring unused categories and proportionately re-weighting existing categories to make a sum of 100%. For example, let's say you have 3 weighted categories:

Tests 50%
Homework 15%
Quizzes 35%

If a student has only one (non-excused) assignment score, then whichever category that assignment is in will count as 100% of that students class percentage. For example, if a students only score is 8 out of 10 for a Homework assignment, then Engrade will ignore the two empty categories, re-weight Homework to 100%, and give the student a class percentage of 80% (equal to 8/10).

If you then entered a Quiz score of 20 out of 20 for that student, Engrade would still ignore Tests but re-weight the other categories in proportion to your settings, which would be:

Homework: 30%
Quizzes 70%
(each doubles to compensate for the missing 50% of Tests)

That students grade would then be calculated as:

Homework 8/10 = 80% earned * 30% weight = 24% towards class percentage
Quizzes 20/20 = 100% earned * 70% weight = 70% towards class percentage
Student class percentage = 24% + 70% = 94%

And of course, if you then added a Test score for that student, his/her assignments would be weighted exactly as initially described.

3. Dropping Lowest Score

Engrade allows you to select the "Drop Lowest Score" box next to any category in your class whether the categories are weighted or not. If you choose this, Engrade will automatically calculate each student's percentage for each assignment in that category and excuse the assignment with the lowest percentage. Engrade will only dropped an assignment score once a student has two non-excused assignments in a category.

If you selected DLS for a category, you can see which assignments are being dropped for a student by clicking on his/her name in the gradebook. Dropped assignments will appear with an asterisk (*) next to them.

Note, than in order for you to maximize the benefit to your students, you should make the points possible for all assignments in a DLS category be identical or near identical.

If you are experiencing problems with your grade calculations, please take a look at our FAQ on common class configuration mistakes.