What do Q1, S1, Y1 and T1 mean in PowerSchool?
They are names for grading terms. PowerSchool calls them store codes or final grade names, and each school sets its own on the Final Grade/Reporting Term Setup page. PowerSchool’s help uses Q1, Q3, S1, T1 and Y1 as examples, and ties Y1 to the “full year term.”
| Code | Typical meaning (your school decides) | Where the grade comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 | Quarter 1 to 4 | Assignment scores in that quarter |
| S1, S2 | Semester 1 and 2 | Often weighted from the quarters inside it, plus any exam term |
| T1, T2, T3 | Trimester terms | Assignment scores in that term |
| Y1 | The full year | The terms inside the year, as your school weights them |
The format is fixed even though the names aren’t. PowerSchool’s rule for a store code: “The first character must be a letter, and the second and third characters must be a number.” So Q1, S2, Y1, T3 and E1 are all valid, and so is a three-character code like Q10.
Once a term ends, the school stores those grades permanently. PowerSchool says historical grades are “grades that are permanently stored in the students’ records” and that they “appear on report cards and transcripts.” So the Q1 grade on a report card is a stored copy. If a teacher changes a score afterward, the school has to store grades again (by default, administrators have 30 calendar days after the term ends) or change the stored grade by hand.
What is E1 in PowerSchool?
A term code your school created. PowerSchool’s documentation doesn’t define E1. It fits the letter-then-number format, so a school can use it for any grading term it sets up, an exam term for example. Only your school’s setup says what it is, so check the report card key, the grading policy or ask the teacher.
How a semester grade is built from its parts is set by the calculation. PowerSchool’s term weighting example: “you can calculate the S1 grade based on the final grades for Q1 and Q2. In this scenario, you would enter 40% for Q1 and 60% for Q2.” If your school adds an exam term, it gets its own weight in that formula. The PowerSchool grade calculator works out S1 from your quarter and exam grades.
What do the PowerSchool score flags mean?
Flags are markers a teacher puts on an assignment score. PowerTeacher Pro, the teacher gradebook, has six, each with a keyboard shortcut:
| Flag | Hotkey | PowerSchool’s description |
|---|---|---|
| Collected | Co or . | “Marks an assignment collected”: turned in, not yet scored |
| Late | La or * | “Marks an assignment late” |
| Missing | Mi or / | “Marks an assignment missing” |
| Exempt | Ex | “Marks an assignment exempt” |
| Absent | Ab | “Marks an assignment incomplete due to student absence” |
| Incomplete | In | “Marks an assignment incomplete” |
A flag on its own is a label. PowerSchool’s help describes flags as a way to note work that is “missing, were received late, or were collected but not yet scored or graded,” and doesn’t say a flag changes the score by itself. What changes your grade is the score in the cell, an Exempt setting, or a special code your district set up with a value.
How do MIS, ABS and INC affect a PowerSchool grade?
That depends on how your district built each code. Special codes live in a special codes grade scale, and PowerSchool gives administrators these settings for each one:
- Assignment % Value or Assignment Numeric Value: what the code is worth when used on an assignment. PowerSchool’s example is a code used “to award a pre-defined percentage of the total points possible.”
- Final Grade/Score is Exempt: “make the assignment score exempt from calculating in to the final grade.”
- Is Missing, Is Late, Is Absent, Is Collected, Final Grade/Score Incomplete: each one automatically adds that flag when a teacher uses the code.
So in one district MIS can count as zero, and in another ABS can leave the assignment out of the grade entirely. Teachers can also put a special code on a final grade, such as NC for no credit, but PowerSchool says “special codes are never the result of a final grade calculation.” A code in the final grade column was typed in by a person.
What do ^, * and 1 mean on PowerSchool grades?
PowerSchool’s Student and Parent Portal user guide (August 2015 edition) explains three symbols on the Class Score Detail page:
- ^ (caret): “score is exempt from final grade.”
- * (asterisk): “an assignment is not included in final grade.”
- 1: “this final grade may include assignments that are not yet published by the teacher.”
The same guide says icons show each assignment’s status, with a legend at the bottom of the page. Your district’s portal version may look different. Assignments set up as Collected Only never count either: PowerSchool says that score type “has no score value and does not count toward the final grade.”
A worked example: four ways to mark one assignment
Say a class uses total points and you have three 20-point assignments scored 18, 15 and 20. Here is the grade for each way the teacher might handle a fourth 20-point assignment you didn’t turn in.
| How assignment 4 is marked | Points counted | Grade |
|---|---|---|
| Exempt | 53 / 60 | 88.33% |
| Code worth 50% | 63 / 80 | 78.75% |
| Missing, scored 0 | 53 / 80 | 66.25% |
| 0, with a 50% minimum | 63 / 80 | 78.75% |
Total points is PowerSchool’s simplest method: “dividing the points earned for the class by the number of points possible.” The minimum assignment value applies only if your administrator enabled it: then “scores entered below the configured minimum value are automatically adjusted to that value.” With category weighting, the category percent is rounded before it’s weighted. The PowerSchool grade calculator handles both.
Where Silent Student fits
We make Silent Student, a paid desktop study app for students 13 and up. Our free PowerSchool grade calculator and PowerSchool GPA calculator need no account and run in your browser.
Questions people ask
What does Q1 mean in PowerSchool?
Q1 is a grading term name, usually quarter 1. PowerSchool calls these store codes or final grade names, and each school sets its own on the Final Grade/Reporting Term Setup page.
What is S1 in PowerSchool?
S1 is usually the first semester grade. PowerSchool’s term weighting example calculates the S1 grade from the Q1 and Q2 final grades, weighted 40% and 60%.
What is E1 in PowerSchool?
A grading term your school created. PowerSchool doesn’t define E1, but store codes follow a letter-then-number format, so a school can use E1 for a term such as an exam. Check your school’s report card key or ask the teacher.
What does MIS mean in PowerSchool?
MIS is the default special code for missing. What it does to your grade depends on how your district set it up: a special code can be worth a set percentage, can make the score exempt, and can add the Missing flag automatically.
What does the caret symbol mean in PowerSchool?
PowerSchool’s Student and Parent Portal guide says a caret (^) indicates the score is exempt from the final grade, and an asterisk (*) indicates an assignment is not included in the final grade.
Does a Missing flag count as a zero in PowerSchool?
PowerSchool’s help doesn’t say the flag changes the score by itself. A zero counts if the teacher enters one, and a district can set up a special code such as MIS with its own value.
Sources
All fetched and checked November 2, 2026.
- Permanently Store Grades (PowerSchool SIS administrator help; store code format, historical grades)
- Final Grade/Reporting Term Setup and Final Grades Setup (PowerSchool SIS administrator help; Y1 and Q3 examples)
- Grade and Gradebook Reports (PowerSchool SIS administrator help; Y1, S1, Q1 and T1 as grading terms)
- Grade Calculation Types (PowerTeacher Pro help; total points, term weighting, category rounding)
- Enter scores and comments and Tips and Tricks (PowerTeacher Pro help; flags, hotkeys, default special codes)
- Grade Scales (PowerSchool SIS administrator help; special codes settings)
- Create an Assignment (PowerTeacher Pro help; Collected Only score type)
- Traditional Grade Calculations (PowerTeacher Pro help; minimum assignment value)
- PowerSchool Student and Parent Portal User Guide, released August 2015 (PowerSchool; symbols on Class Score Detail)
How this guide was made. We drafted it with AI from the PowerSchool help pages listed above and quote them directly. Silent Student checked each quote against its source and worked the example table by hand on November 2, 2026. Schools name their own terms and set their own codes, so yours may differ.
Related: PowerSchool grade calculator · PowerSchool GPA calculator · Infinite Campus flags · Missing assignments on Schoology · All guides
Written by the company that makes Silent Student. Silent Student is not affiliated with or endorsed by PowerSchool. PowerSchool and PowerTeacher are trademarks of PowerSchool Group LLC or its affiliates.