Test Score Calculator: Points, Percentage and Letter Grade

A test score is the share of the available points you earned, written as a percentage:

Percentage = (points earned ÷ max points) × 100

With more than one test, the calculator adds first and divides once: overall percentage = (total points earned ÷ total points possible) × 100. The letter grade then comes from the scale you selected — 84.33% is a B on the standard scale, a B on the plus/minus scale, and a pass on the pass/fail scale.

Enter the points you earned and the max points for each test, quiz or assignment. The calculator totals everything and returns one percentage, one letter grade, and a per-test breakdown so you can see exactly where the points came from.

Step by step

1. Enter your scores. Each row takes points earned and max points. You start with three rows — use "Add another test" for more, or Remove to drop a row.
2. Pick a grading scale: Standard, Plus/Minus or Pass/Fail.
3. Click Calculate. Your totals, percentage, letter grade and a per-test table appear below the form.

What you get

• Total points earned and total points possible
• Overall percentage, to two decimals
• Letter grade from your chosen scale
• Per-test breakdown: each test's own percentage and grade

Completely empty rows are skipped, so spare rows never break the math. Extra credit works too — if you earned more than the max points, the percentage can rise above 100%.

The standard 10-point scale is the most common in US schools: 90 and up is an A, the 80s a B, the 70s a C, the 60s a D, and anything below 60 an F. The plus/minus scale splits each band into three finer grades. Pass/fail skips letters entirely and only checks whether you cleared the bar.

On the pass/fail scale the cut is simple: Pass at 60% or above, Fail below 60%.

These bands follow the widely used US convention, but schools set their own cutoffs — some drop the pluses and minuses, some move the pass line. The College Board publishes one commonly used conversion (A at 90–100, B at 80–89) and notes that grading scales differ between schools, so check your syllabus for the exact bands your teacher uses.

The most common test-score mistake is averaging each test's percentage. It looks right, but it gives every test the same weight even when the point totals differ. Take a 45/50 quiz (90%) and a 78/100 exam (78%):

• Wrong: (90 + 78) ÷ 2 = 84%
• Right: (45 + 78) ÷ (50 + 100) × 100 = 123 ÷ 150 × 100 = 82%

The naive average says 84%, but you only earned 123 of 150 points — 82%. The quiz counted for 50 points and the exam for 100, so the exam should pull twice as hard. Adding the raw points first gets the weighting right automatically, because every point counts equally.

Averaging percentages only works when every test is out of the same total. The test score calculator always uses the totals method, so mixed-point quizzes and exams come out correct.

If the test you are scoring has not happened yet and you want to plan backwards from a target instead, our final grade calculator tells you the score you need on the final to reach the grade you want.

A test score is raw scoring: points earned out of points possible on the tests you take. A course grade is what happens after the syllabus weighs those pieces — homework might count 20%, quizzes 30% and the final 50%. This calculator handles the raw part; it treats every point equally and does not apply category weights.

When your course weighs categories differently, use our grade calculator instead — it takes each category's weight and returns the weighted course grade. The two tools answer different questions: "how did I score on these tests?" versus "what is my grade in the course?"

Rule of thumb: same point totals across tests, or a single test → test score calculator. Categories with different weights → grade calculator. Grades across whole courses → GPA calculator.