Orpheus

What Do I Need on the Final?

The mark required, and whether it is reachable.

Inputs
72%
80%
30%
You need
98.67%
ComfortableAchievableDemandingNear perfect
Best possible final grade
80.4%
Worst possible final grade
50.4%
Current grade counts for
70% of the course
If you score 100 on the final
80.4%
If you score 50 on the final
65.4%
needed = (target − current × (1 − w)) ÷ w

A final worth 30% can move your grade by at most 30 points in either direction.

Every tool runs entirely in your browser. Your files are never uploaded to a server.

Subtract your current grade times the coursework weight from the target, then divide by the exam weight. On 72% with a final worth 30%, reaching 80% needs 98.7%.

How to use Final Grade Calculator

  1. Enter your current grade. The average across everything already marked.
  2. Enter the grade you want. For the course overall.
  3. Enter what the final is worth. From the syllabus — this is the number that decides everything.

About calculating the grade needed on a final exam

The calculation behind "what do I need on the final" is a weighted average solved for one unknown, and the step people miss is that a current grade covers only the portion of the course already assessed. If the final is worth thirty percent, everything marked so far accounts for the other seventy, so the current grade has to be scaled to that share before the exam mark can be added. Treating the current grade as though it represented the whole course is what makes the result look wrong. The most useful thing the arithmetic reveals is often that a target is unreachable. An exam worth twenty percent can move an overall grade by at most twenty points, and only in the direction the performance justifies, so a student sitting on sixty with a target of ninety is not looking at a demanding exam but at an impossible one. Knowing that early is more valuable than a percentage, because it redirects effort toward whatever is still open — a resubmission, an extra credit option, or simply a revised target. The reverse case is worth checking too. A high current grade with a low-weighted final can mean the target is already secured regardless of what happens in the exam, which is a genuinely useful thing to know when deciding how to allocate revision time across several subjects. Two details commonly change the answer: whether the syllabus weights coursework unevenly, and whether a strong final can replace a weaker earlier assessment.

Frequently asked questions

Why does the answer come out above 100%?
Because the target is out of reach. If the final is worth 30% and you are on 72%, the most you can finish with is 79% even with a perfect exam. The tool shows the highest grade still achievable so the target can be adjusted to something real.
Why does a small weight make such a difference?
Because a final worth 20% can move your overall grade by at most 20 points, and only from a position where the other 80% has already been fixed. The lower the weight, the less any exam performance can change — which cuts both ways.
Is my current grade the average of my marks?
Only if every piece of work carries equal weight, which is often not the case. A syllabus that weights assignments at 40% and a midterm at 30% needs those combined by weight first, not averaged flat.
What if the final replaces a lower grade?
Some courses let a strong final replace a weaker midterm. That changes the arithmetic entirely and this calculation does not model it — check the syllabus, because it usually makes the required mark considerably lower than the plain version suggests.
Does rounding help me?
Often, and it is worth knowing the policy. A course that rounds to the nearest whole number effectively lowers every threshold by half a point, which can be the difference between grades when the result lands close to a boundary.

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