ALEKS grade calculator
ALEKS works out your Total from the Gradebook Categories your instructor weights, such as Objectives, Homework, Quizzes, Tests and Scheduled Knowledge Checks. Inside a category, each assignment counts by its weight in points, the lowest scores can be dropped, and work that is not due yet is not part of the grade. This free ALEKS grade calculator follows those rules from McGraw Hill’s ALEKS help and shows the math for every step.
Runs in your browserNothing you type is sent or savedRules from McGraw Hill’s ALEKS help
Updated
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How does ALEKS calculate your total grade?
Your instructor turns on the ALEKS gradebook and sets it up under Gradebook Setup. McGraw Hill’s help names the settings that decide your Total:
| Setting | What McGraw Hill’s help says | In this calculator |
|---|---|---|
| Category Weight | A percentage for each Gradebook Category. “The total weight percentage cannot exceed 100%.” | Category weight %. A total over 100% is flagged. |
| Assignment weight | “Enter the points for the assignment in the Weight column.” Each category also has a Default Weight. | Weight (points). Leave it blank and every assignment in the category counts the same. |
| Drop Score | Set next to the Default Weight. The gradebook legend marks a dropped score with a D badge. | Drop lowest, per category. |
| Extra Credit | A box on each assignment. It “will only affect student scores when at least one regular assignment (non-extra credit and non-zero weight) in this category has been completed.” | An Extra credit box on each row, with that rule. |
| Not due yet | Scores in italics are “Not due yet (not part of grade).” The Student Gradebook’s Total Score “doesn’t include scores for open assignments.” | A blank score is left out. |
The help does not print one formula that joins these settings, so the calculator uses the one they describe. In each category, an assignment is worth its weight in points, and the category percentage is the points you earned divided by the points possible. Each category percentage is then multiplied by its category weight. The results are added and divided by the weight of the categories that count.
Sources, checked October 2026: McGraw Hill’s Enable and Manage the New ALEKS Gradebook, Set Up and Navigate the Classic ALEKS Gradebook and The ALEKS Gradebook (ALEKS Training Series, PDF).
What do the ALEKS gradebook categories measure?
McGraw Hill’s gradebook guide shows the categories below. Your class may use only some of them, and your instructor can add an external category for work done outside ALEKS. A category with no weight does not change your Total.
| Gradebook Category | What the score reflects |
|---|---|
| Objectives | The topics in each objective your instructor sets, with a due date. McGraw Hill notes: “Module grades only include learned topics that occur before the due date.” |
| Scheduled Knowledge Checks | Your result measured against a goal your instructor enters. See how it is scored. |
| Homework, Quizzes, Tests | Questions your instructor picks. Each question is worth 1 point by default, and ALEKS grades the assignment when you finish it. |
| Pie Progress Goals | A snapshot of your progress in the adaptive content, recorded at the due date. It credits the highest level you reach and counts learned and mastered topics together. |
| Time Goals and Topic Goals | Time spent and topics learned, measured against a goal. McGraw Hill’s grading guide gives ratio examples: 126 minutes against a 180-minute goal is 70%, and 11 topics against a goal of 12 is 92%. |
Homework, Test and Quiz content does not affect your ALEKS Pie or Objective progress, according to McGraw Hill’s assignment guide. A homework score moves your Homework category and nothing else.
Sources, checked October 2026: McGraw Hill’s The ALEKS Gradebook, Creating an Assignment (PDF), Ask An ALEKS Implementation Manager: Understanding Pie Progress and Grading and Motivation in ALEKS (PDF).
How is an ALEKS Knowledge Check scored?
A Scheduled Knowledge Check is scored against a Goal percentage your instructor enters when scheduling it. McGraw Hill defines the goal as “the percentage of the class that grades on the Knowledge Check are based on.” With a 50% goal, a student who assessed as knowing 40% of the entire class gets 80%. Meeting or beating the goal gives 100%.
Knowledge Check score = share of the class you know ÷ goal, up to 100%. For example, 40 ÷ 50 = 80%.
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A Progress Knowledge Check has about 20 questions, mostly on topics you learned recently. A Comprehensive Knowledge Check has about 25 questions on all the material in the class, including topics you have not learned yet. ALEKS also starts a Goal Completion Knowledge Check the first time you fill your pie, and McGraw Hill notes that students often score below 100% on it.
Sources, checked October 2026: McGraw Hill’s Schedule a New ALEKS Knowledge Check and ALEKS Frequently Asked Questions.
How do drop lowest and extra credit work in ALEKS?
Your instructor enters a Drop Score for a category in the same place as its Default Weight. The gradebook then marks the dropped score with a D badge, and it no longer counts. McGraw Hill’s help does not say how ALEKS picks the lowest score when assignments have different weights. This calculator drops the lowest percentage, always keeps at least one score and marks the row it dropped.
Extra credit is a box your instructor ticks when editing an assignment’s weights. It counts only once at least one regular assignment with a weight above zero has been completed in the same category. The help does not give the extra credit formula. This calculator adds the extra credit points you earned to the category without adding them to the points possible. It never drops an extra credit score and does not cap the category at 100%. If your gradebook disagrees, enter the category without the extra credit row and compare.
Sources, checked October 2026: McGraw Hill’s Set Up and Navigate the Classic ALEKS Gradebook (Edit Assignment Weights) and The ALEKS Gradebook (gradebook legend).
Why doesn’t an open ALEKS assignment count yet?
ALEKS shows the score of an assignment that is still open in italics, and that score is not part of the grade until the due date passes. The Student Gradebook’s Total Score leaves open assignments out too. So early in a term your Total can rest on a few closed assignments.
In the calculator, a blank score means “not due yet” and is left out. If a whole category has nothing due yet, it is left out and the other weights scale up to fill the Total. McGraw Hill does not publish that step, so tick “Count blank scores as 0” to see the other end of the range. An assignment that has closed is not blank: type the score your gradebook shows for it, even if that is 0.
Sources, checked October 2026: McGraw Hill’s The ALEKS Gradebook and Set Up and Navigate the Classic ALEKS Gradebook (Student Gradebook).
A worked example
This class weights four categories. Homework drops its lowest score, and Test 2 is not due yet.
| Category | Weight | Scores (weight in points) | Category result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Objectives | 40% | 100% (10), 92% (10), 78% (10) | 27 of 30 points = 90% |
| Homework, drop lowest 1 | 20% | 80% (10), 40% (10, dropped), 92% (20) | 26.4 of 30 points = 88% |
| Scheduled Knowledge Checks | 15% | 80%, the 40 ÷ 50 example above | 80% |
| Tests | 25% | 84% (100), Test 2 not due yet (100) | 84% |
Total: (40 × 90 + 20 × 88 + 15 × 80 + 25 × 84) ÷ 100 = 8,660 ÷ 100 = 86.6%.
The weight in points matters inside a category. Homework 3 is worth 20 points, so its 92% moves Homework twice as far as a 10-point assignment would. If Test 1 were not due yet either, Tests would drop out and the Total would be (3,600 + 1,760 + 1,200) ÷ 75 = 87.47%. Counting Test 2 as 0 instead makes Tests 42% and the Total 76.1%.
Why your ALEKS grade might not match
- An assignment is still open. Its score is in italics and does not count until the due date passes.
- Your instructor adjusted a score. McGraw Hill’s help says “adjusted scores will always overwrite actual student scores.”
- You have an exception. An extension (the EX badge) changes your own due date, so your open and closed assignments can differ from a classmate’s.
- A late penalty applied. When late submission is allowed, ALEKS deducts a percent or points from that assignment’s score, once. Enter the score after the penalty.
- You retook an assignment. Your instructor picks whether the gradebook records your best, final or average score.
- A question had several parts. With partial credit on, ALEKS divides the parts you got right by the number of parts.
- Your course grade lives in your LMS. If your class is paired with Canvas or another learning platform, ALEKS sends scores to that gradebook, and the LMS works out its own total with its own weights. The Canvas grade calculator follows Canvas’s rules.
- The number sits near a cutoff. ALEKS’s display options can show grades to up to 4 decimal places. Check the full number before you read a Total close to a letter line.
Sources, checked October 2026: McGraw Hill’s Set Up and Navigate the Classic ALEKS Gradebook, Creating an Assignment (late submission, retakes, partial credit), Understanding Pie Progress (LMS gradebook) and The ALEKS Gradebook (display options).
ALEKS grade calculator FAQ
How does ALEKS grading work?
ALEKS scores each assignment, and the gradebook combines the scores. Each Gradebook Category has a weight in percent, each assignment has a weight in points, and the lowest scores in a category can be dropped. Work that is not due yet is not part of the grade. Your instructor chooses all of these settings, so two ALEKS classes can grade the same work differently.
Are ALEKS Knowledge Checks graded?
A Scheduled Knowledge Check is scored against a goal your instructor sets: the share of the class you know divided by the goal, up to 100%. It counts toward your Total only if your instructor gives the Scheduled Knowledge Checks category a weight. Other Knowledge Checks can change how many topics show as mastered in your ALEKS Pie, and a Pie Progress Goal keeps the highest level you reached.
Why don’t my open ALEKS assignments count?
ALEKS shows an open assignment’s score in italics, and McGraw Hill’s guide labels those scores “Not due yet (not part of grade).” They join your Total once the due date passes.
Why is my ALEKS grade different in Canvas?
When ALEKS is paired with Canvas or another learning platform, it sends assignment scores to that platform’s gradebook. The course grade you see there comes from the weights set in Canvas, which can differ from the ALEKS gradebook’s weights. Your syllabus says which total counts.
Is this the same as an ALEKS placement score?
No. ALEKS PPL is a placement assessment, and your school decides what its score means. This page covers the gradebook in an ALEKS class. For placement, see the ALEKS PPL score chart.
Does this calculator send my grades anywhere?
No. The math runs in your browser, nothing you type is sent to a server, and nothing is saved. Closing the tab clears it.
Using a learning platform’s gradebook instead? Try the Canvas grade calculator, the Blackboard grade calculator, the D2L Brightspace grade calculator or the Moodle grade calculator. For a single exam, the final grade calculator works out the score you need, and the other free tools cover GPA and test grades.
Sources
- McGraw Hill, Enable and Manage the New ALEKS Gradebook (ALEKS support center). Category weights up to 100%, assignment weights and lowest scores, display options. Checked October 2026.
- McGraw Hill, Set Up and Navigate the Classic ALEKS Gradebook. Weight in points, Default Weight and Drop Score, the extra credit rule, open assignments left out of Total Score, adjusted scores. Checked October 2026.
- McGraw Hill, The ALEKS Gradebook (ALEKS Training Series, PDF). Gradebook categories, legend, scores in italics, percentages or points, up to 4 decimal places. Checked October 2026.
- McGraw Hill, Schedule a New ALEKS Knowledge Check. The goal, the 40% of class with a 50% goal = 80% example, Progress and Comprehensive checks. Checked October 2026.
- McGraw Hill, ALEKS Frequently Asked Questions. The Goal Completion Knowledge Check. Checked October 2026.
- McGraw Hill, Creating an Assignment (ALEKS, PDF). Points per question, partial credit for multi-part problems, late penalties, retake scores. Checked October 2026.
- McGraw Hill, Ask An ALEKS Implementation Manager: Understanding Pie Progress. Pie Progress Goals, module grades and due dates, LMS gradebook. Checked October 2026.
- McGraw Hill, Grading and Motivation in ALEKS (PDF). Time and topic goal examples. Checked October 2026.
Silent Student is a desktop app for Mac and Windows that opens ALEKS from your Canvas course and works Learning Mode topics in the ALEKS answer editor. It skips knowledge checks. See what it does on ALEKS, how it works or join now.