Test Grade Calculator: Score, Letter Grade, and GPA in One Place
Some tests are not just right or wrong. They are scored in points. Your biology midterm might be out of 45. Your history essay could be graded on a rubric that tops out at 38. An AP Physics lab report might combine a written section worth 20 points with a data analysis section worth 15.
This calculator handles all of it. Enter your score however it comes, number of questions right, number wrong, or raw points out of a total, and it converts everything into a percentage, a letter grade, and a GPA value all at once.
There is also a target feature. If you need a specific percentage to hit a goal, such as staying above a 3.5 GPA, keeping a scholarship, or avoiding academic probation, enter your target and the calculator tells you exactly how far you are from it. Not just your grade. The gap.
How to Use It: Three Ways to Enter Your Score
The first thing you will notice is the Mode dropdown. This is what sets this calculator apart from simpler score lookups. You have three options depending on how your test was scored.
Mode 1: # Wrong. This is the fastest option for standard multiple-choice tests where you know how many you missed. Enter the total number of questions and how many you got wrong. The calculator figures out the rest.
Mode 2: # Correct. Same idea, opposite direction. If you counted the ones you got right instead of the ones you missed, use this mode. On a 40-question test, entering 33 correct gives you the same result as entering 7 wrong. Pick whichever number you already have.
Mode 3: Points. This is where it gets useful for anything beyond a simple multiple-choice quiz. Enter the points you earned and the total points possible, and they do not have to be whole numbers. Got 37.5 out of 45? That works. Got 82 out of 100? That works too. The points mode supports decimals, partial credit, and rubric-based scoring, which the other two modes do not.
Once you have entered your score, you will see your percentage, letter grade, and GPA all at once in the result card on the right. If you want to compare your score against a target, fill in the Target % field; more on that below.
Points Mode: The One Feature That Actually Changes Things
Here is the thing about how tests actually get graded at the college level: most of them are not purely right or wrong.
A multiple-choice quiz, sure, that is clean. 18 out of 25. Every question is worth the same, and there is no middle ground. But the moment a test includes an essay section, a lab report, a short-answer problem, or anything graded on a rubric, the scoring gets more complicated. A question might be worth 5 points, and you got 3.5 for a partially correct answer. The test might have a 20-point written section and a 30-point problem set, and you need to add them together before you can figure out your grade.
The points mode handles exactly this. Instead of counting questions, you enter the total points your score adds up to and the total points possible on the test. The calculator converts that ratio into a percentage, and everything else follows from there.
I started using a points-based calculator during my sophomore year after a chemistry midterm, on which half the test was problems that could earn partial credit. Counting “right or wrong” no longer applied; I needed to sum the partial scores from each problem before I could figure out where I stood. Once I had the total, the conversion to a percentage took about two seconds.
The points mode also applies when a test is split into weighted sections. Say your exam has a multiple-choice section worth 40 points and an essay worth 60 points. You add up your scores from both sections, let’s say 34 and 51, and enter 85 out of 100 total points. Done. The calculator does not need to know about the sections individually. It just needs the final numbers.
This is the mode that makes this calculator genuinely useful for college-level coursework, not just high school quizzes. Most competitors in this space only handle the simple right-or-wrong format and skip everything else.
The Target Feature: Tracking the Gap
The target field is optional, but if you use it, it changes what the calculator actually does for you.
Without a target, this is a score converter: you enter your test result, and you get a percentage and a letter grade. Useful, but pretty basic. With a target, it becomes a gap tracker. The result card shows not just your grade, but exactly how far you are from where you need to be, in percentage points, with a sign.
Here is a real scenario. You are a sophomore with a 3.6 GPA and a scholarship that requires you to maintain a GPA of 3.5 or higher. Your professor tells you that the midterm needs to be at least an 85% to keep your course grade in B+ territory, which is what you need for the semester to protect your GPA. You enter 85 in the target field. After the midterm, you put in your actual score. If you got 82%, the calculator shows “Needed difference to target: +3.00%.” Not a disaster, you know exactly how much ground you need to make up on the next test or assignment.
That number, the gap, is more useful than the letter grade alone in a lot of cases. An 82% is a B. But “+3.00% to target” tells you something specific about what needs to happen next. It turns a grade into an action item.
This is especially useful if you set your target based on your syllabus. Most professors publish exactly what percentage you need for each letter grade. Copy that number into the target field before you take the test, and after the test, you immediately know whether you hit it or missed it, and by how much.
The target also feeds into the GPA display. If your score puts you below the GPA you need for the semester, that shows up in the result card, too. No guessing, no separate calculation.
From a Single Test Score
The GPA field in the result card is something you will not find on most test score calculators. It converts your letter grade directly into a GPA value, and it does it on whatever scale your school uses.
The default is a 4.0 scale, which is standard at most US colleges. An A is 4.0, a B+ is 3.3, a B is 3.0, and so on down the line. But not every school uses 4.0. Some high schools use a 5.0 scale where honors and AP classes can earn above 4.0. A few international programs use a 10.0 scale. You change the GPA scale input, and the calculator adjusts the GPA value in the result card proportionally.
Why does this matter for a single test? Because tests do not exist in isolation. Every test you take contributes to a course grade, and every course grade contributes to your GPA. Seeing the GPA equivalent of your test score gives you a faster gut check on whether this result is going to help or hurt your semester average.
For example, if you’re sitting at a 3.5 GPA and this test comes back as a C+, which maps to 2.3 on a 4.0 scale, you already know that’s a problem, even before you check your course grade. The number tells you immediately.
The cutoff table at the bottom of the page includes the GPA column too, so you can see exactly which scores map to which GPA values for your specific test. That makes it easy to answer the question that matters most: “How many questions do I actually need to get right to stay where I want to be?”
Understanding Curved Grades: And How to Calculate Them
Curve grading comes up constantly in college, especially in large lecture courses, where the professor decides after the fact that the test was too hard. But most students don’t actually understand how curving works, and most calculators don’t help explain it.
There are a few ways professors curve tests, and they’re not all the same.
The most common method: adding a flat percentage. If the class average was 72% and the professor wants it closer to 80%, they add 8 percentage points to every score. Your 74% becomes 82%. This is the simplest curve and the easiest to calculate. If your professor announces a curve like this, enter your curved percentage directly into the calculator, points mode, or question mode, whichever matches your test.
The highest-score curve. Some professors look at the highest score in the class and curve everyone up to make that score a 100%. If the top score was 88%, everyone gets (100 – 88) = 12 percentage points added. Again, once you know the curve amount, add it to your raw score and enter the result.
The standard deviation curve. This one is more sophisticated. The professor adjusts scores so that the class average corresponds to a specific letter grade, usually B or C, and the score distribution is approximately normal. This is harder to calculate manually. You would need the class mean and standard deviation. If your professor uses this method, they’ll usually post the curved grades directly.
Here is where this calculator helps with curves: the cutoff table. Before a curve is announced, you can look at the table and see exactly what letter grade and GPA your raw score earns. After the curve is announced, re-enter your curved score and compare. The difference between those two rows tells you exactly how much the curve moved you, and whether it was enough to bump you up a letter grade.
I remember sitting in an intro chemistry lecture after a brutal midterm, watching the professor explain the curve on the projector. Half the class audibly relaxed when they realized a flat 7-point curve would move them from a C to a B-. That kind of moment is a lot less stressful when you can see the math in real time.
The Cutoff Table: Every Score, Every Grade, Every GPA
The cutoff table works the same way as the quick table on the easy grade calculator, but with one important addition: the GPA column.
Every row shows the number wrong, number correct, the percentage, the letter grade, and the GPA value, all calculated based on your current grading scheme and GPA scale settings. It is generated automatically when you enter your test details and updates whenever you make changes.
The table is capped at 200 rows, which covers the vast majority of tests. If your test has more than 200 total questions or points, the table shows the first 200 possible scores, starting from 0 wrong.
The most useful way to read this table depends on what you are trying to figure out. If you want to know what grade you need, find the row where the letter grade matches your target and read across to see how many questions you need to get right. If you already have your score and want to see the full picture of what is around it, what one more right answer would have done, or what one more wrong answer costs, scroll to your row and look up and down.
That second use case is where it gets psychologically interesting. Seeing that one wrong answer costs you 2.5 percentage points, and that dropping from 87% to 84.5% meant the difference between a B+ and a B, makes every question feel like it matters. Which, on most tests, it does.
International Grading Schemes
Like the other calculators on this site, this one supports four grading systems beyond the standard US letter scale.
US Letters (A+ through F) is the default. The thresholds are editable; click “Edit thresholds” to adjust any boundary to match your professor’s specific scale.
UK Classes use First, 2:1, 2:2, Third, and Fail. If you are at a British university or taking a course that reports grades this way, switch to this scheme. The boundaries are set at the standard UK cutoffs (70 for First, 60 for 2:1, and so on).
ECTS is the European Credit Transfer System. Grades run A through F, with FX as a near-fail category. Common at universities across continental Europe.
Australian grading uses HD High Distinction, D Distinction, CR Credit, P Pass, and NN Not Negotiable. The boundaries vary between Australian universities, so if yours differ from the defaults, note that threshold editing is only available for the US scheme for other systems; the raw percentage in the result card is your most reliable reference point.
One thing worth noting: no matter which grading scheme you select, the GPA value in the result card always maps through the US letter scale first. So even if you’re using UK Classes, you’ll see a GPA equivalent that corresponds to the US letter grade that maps to your UK classification.
This Calculator vs. the Easy Grade Calculator
Both calculators convert test scores into grades. But they are designed for different use cases, and using the right one saves you time.
Use the easy grade calculator when you just finished a multiple-choice test and want your grade as fast as possible. Two inputs, total questions and number right or wrong. No GPA, no target tracking, no points mode. It is the fastest possible lookup, and that is exactly what it is designed for.
Use this test grade calculator when you need more than just a letter grade. Specifically, use it when any of these apply: your test was scored in points rather than questions right or wrong, you want to see the GPA impact of your score, you are tracking against a target percentage for a scholarship or course requirement, or you want to understand what a curved grade means for your actual standing.
The easy grade calculator is speedy. This one is depth. They are not redundant; they are complementary. A typical workflow might look like this: you walk out of an exam, pull up the easy grade calculator to get a quick number, and then later, when you are thinking about how this test fits into your semester, you come back here to see the GPA impact and check against your target.
If you only need a single number quickly, the easy calculator is the right choice. If you need to understand what that number actually means for your academic standing, this is the one.
FAQ: Test Grade Calculator
What is the difference between this calculator and the easy grade calculator?
The easy grade calculator is built for speed: two inputs, instant letter grade, done. This calculator adds a points mode for tests scored in points rather than questions, GPA output, target tracking with gap display, and curve grading context. Use the easy calculator for a quick score lookup. Use this one when you need the full picture.
How do I calculate a test score that includes partial credit?
Switch to Points mode. Add up all your partial credit scores across every question to get your total points earned, then enter that number along with the total points possible on the test. The calculator converts the ratio to a percentage, and everything else follows. For example, if you earned 3.5 out of 5 on one question and 4 out of 5 on another, your total is 7.5 out of 10.
Can this calculator handle curved grades?
The calculator itself does not apply a curve automatically; it does not know what curve your professor used. But once you know the curve amount, whether it is a flat percentage added to everyone’s score or a highest-score adjustment, enter your post-curve score, and the calculator shows you the updated grade. The cutoff table lets you compare your raw and curved scores side by side.
How does the GPA scale work?
The calculator maps your letter grade to a GPA value based on the scale you set. The default is the 4.0 standard US college scale. If your school uses a 5.0 scale, common in honors programs and some high schools, change the GPA scale input to 5.0, and the GPA value adjusts proportionally. An A that is worth 4.0 on a 4.0 scale becomes 5.0 on a 5.0 scale.
What does the target percentage feature do?
It shows you the gap between your actual score and a target you set. If you need 85% to maintain your course grade and you scored 82%, the calculator displays “Needed difference to target: +3.00%.” This turns a grade into a specific, actionable number about what needs to happen next.
Why does the cutoff table only show 200 rows?
For performance reasons, generating thousands of rows would slow down the page on mobile devices. 200 rows cover the vast majority of tests (anything up to 200 questions or 200 total points). If your test is larger than that, you can still use the main calculator for your specific score.
Can I edit the letter grade thresholds?
Yes, but only when the US Letters scheme is selected. Click “Edit thresholds” to adjust any boundary. For the UK, ECTS, and Australian schemes, the thresholds are set to standard values for those systems.
Does this calculator work for standardized tests like the SAT or AP exams?
Not directly; standardized tests use proprietary scoring systems. SAT scores range from 400-1600; AP exams use a 1-5 scale. This calculator converts raw scores to percentages and letter grades, which is how most college coursework is graded. For standardized test score interpretation, you will want the official score reports from the testing organization.
How is rounding handled?
All percentages are rounded to two decimal places using standard rounding (round half up). So 74.995% becomes 75.00%, and 74.994% stays at 74.99%.
Is my information private?
Yes. Nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere. The calculator runs entirely in your browser. Share buttons only activate when you click them.
Related Tools
- Easy Grade Calculator: Need your grade in seconds with no extra steps? The easy grade calculator takes two inputs and gives you an instant answer. Use it for quick lookups right after a test, then come back here when you need the deeper picture.
- Grade Calculator: Once you have your individual test score, use the full grade calculator to see how it affects your overall course grade across the semester. That is where the big-picture tracking happens.
- GPA Calculator: Want to see how this test score and the course grade it is part of will affect your cumulative GPA across all your classes? The GPA calculator handles multi-course GPA projections.
A test score is just a number until you understand what it means. This calculator turns that number into something you can actually work with: a percentage, a letter grade, a GPA value, and a gap between where you are and where you need to be.
Whether your test was 25 multiple-choice questions or a 100-point exam with essays, lab reports, and partial credit, this calculator handles it. Enter your score the way it comes. Get the full picture out.
No guessing. No mental math. Just the information you need to figure out what happens next.