Semester grade calculator

How to use the semester grade calculator

1. Quarter grades. Type your percentage for Quarter 1 and Quarter 2. Your report card or school portal shows them.
2. Weights. The calculator starts with 40% for each quarter and 20% for the final exam. Change them if your school counts things differently.
3. Final exam grade. Type your exam score to see your semester grade and letter.
4. No exam score yet? Leave it empty and set a target. The calculator shows the exam score you need to reach it.

Semester grade formula

A semester grade is a weighted average of three parts: two quarter grades and the final exam.

Semester grade = (Q1 × Q1 weight + Q2 × Q2 weight + Exam × Exam weight) ÷ Total weight

Worked example

You have 86% in Quarter 1 and 91% in Quarter 2. You score 84% on the final exam. The weights are 40%, 40% and 20%.

• Quarter 1: 86 × 0.40 = 34.4.
• Quarter 2: 91 × 0.40 = 36.4.
• Final exam: 84 × 0.20 = 16.8.
• Semester grade: 34.4 + 36.4 + 16.8 = 87.6%, a B.

Exam score needed for a target grade

Needed exam score = (Target × Total weight − Q1 × Q1 weight − Q2 × Q2 weight) ÷ Exam weight

With the same quarter grades, an A for the semester takes (90 × 100 − 86 × 40 − 91 × 40) ÷ 20 = 1,920 ÷ 20 = 96% on the exam.

How the final exam weight changes your grade

This table keeps the same grades, 86% and 91% in the quarters and 70% on the exam, and changes only the weights.

Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Final exam	Semester grade
50%	50%	0%	88.5%
45%	45%	10%	86.65%
40%	40%	20%	84.8%
37.5%	37.5%	25%	83.88%
35%	35%	30%	82.95%

The heavier the exam, the more one bad day costs you. The letter grade uses the common scale: A is 90% and up, B is 80% to 89%, C is 70% to 79%, D is 60% to 69% and F is anything below 60%.

Things that change your semester average

• No final exam. Set the exam weight to 0 and each quarter to 50. Your semester average is then the plain average of your quarter grades.
• Weights that do not add up to 100%. The calculator still works and scales the result. You will see a note so you can check for a typo.
• Letter grades instead of percentages. Some schools average the letters on the report card, not the percentages. Ask which one your school uses.
• Rounding. Many schools round 89.5% up to 90%. The calculator shows the exact number, so check your handbook.

If you only know your current grade and the exam weight, the final grade calculator is quicker. If your class has more than three parts, such as trimesters or a project, use the weighted grade calculator. To turn points into a quarter grade first, use the grade calculator.

How this calculator was checked

Built by Rasel Hakkani, WordPress developer at Swift Web Dev. The results were checked against hand-worked answers for several weightings, including an empty exam grade, weights that do not add up to 100% and targets above a perfect score.

Last checked: October 2026. Found a wrong answer? Tell us and we will fix it.