Moodle grade calculator
Moodle works out your course total with the aggregation each category uses. Natural, the default, adds up your points, scaled by any weights your teacher adjusts. Mean of grades, Weighted mean of grades and Simple weighted mean of grades turn each grade into a fraction first. Empty grades are left out unless Exclude empty grades is off. This free Moodle grade calculator follows Moodle’s own gradebook code for all four methods.
Runs in your browserNothing you type is sent or savedRules from MoodleDocs and Moodle’s code
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How does Moodle calculate your course total?
Each Moodle category, and the course total itself, has an aggregation setting that says how its grades combine. Moodle’s documentation works every method on the same three items, A1 scored 70 out of 100, A2 scored 20 out of 80 and A3 scored 10 out of 10, in a category with a maximum of 100:
| Aggregation | How it combines grades | Moodle’s example |
|---|---|---|
| Natural (default) | Adds up the points. The maximum is the sum of the items’ maximums, and weights can be adjusted. | 100/190 = 52.63% |
| Mean of grades | Turns each grade into a fraction and averages them, so every item counts the same. | (0.7 + 0.25 + 1.0) ÷ 3 = 65% |
| Weighted mean of grades | Multiplies each fraction by an item weight you set and divides by the total weight. | Weights 10, 5 and 3: 62.5% |
| Simple weighted mean of grades | Weights each item by its maximum grade. An item can be extra credit. | 52.6%, or 55.6% with A3 as extra credit |
| Median, Lowest, Highest, Mode | The middle, lowest, highest or most common fraction. | Median 70%, lowest 25%, highest 100% (not in this calculator) |
Moodle’s documentation says that by default the only aggregation type available is Natural. Your site administrator can turn on the others, so pick the one your gradebook shows under Gradebook setup.
Source, checked October 2026: MoodleDocs, Grade aggregation (Moodle 4.5).
How does Natural weighting work?
Natural is the sum of your grade values, scaled by weights. Left alone, each item’s weight is its maximum grade over the category’s total maximum, so the result is simply your points over the points possible. Your teacher can adjust a weight. The adjusted weight then stays fixed, and the items left on automatic share the rest of the weight in proportion to their maximum grades. If every weight is adjusted to the same value, Natural works as a mean of grades.
With A1 adjusted to 40%, A2 and A3 share the other 60% in the ratio 80 to 10. The category is 0.40 × 70% + 0.533 × 25% + 0.067 × 100% = 48%. Left on automatic weights, the same grades give 52.63%.
Moodle’s gradebook code handles two edge cases the docs skip. When adjusted weights add up to more than 100%, they are scaled back to 100% and the automatic items get nothing. When an item is empty and left out, its weight is shared among the items you do have. The calculator follows that code: leave Weight % blank for an automatic weight, or type the adjusted weight your gradebook shows.
Sources, checked October 2026: MoodleDocs, Grade aggregation, and Moodle’s grade_category.php (auto_update_weights and the Natural branch of aggregate_values_and_adjust_bounds).
What does Exclude empty grades do?
Moodle defines an empty grade as “a grade which is missing from the gradebook,” like an assignment that has not been graded or a quiz not yet attempted. The Exclude empty grades setting decides whether those grades are left out or counted as the minimum, usually 0. It is on by default.
Two 50-point assignments, one graded 45 and one empty. Excluded, the category is 45 out of 50, or 90%. Counted as 0, it is 45 out of 100, or 45%.
Sources, checked October 2026: MoodleDocs, Grade categories, and Moodle’s gradebook language strings and default gradebook settings.
How does Drop the lowest work in Moodle?
Drop the lowest removes a set number of your lowest grades from a category before it is aggregated. Grades are compared as fractions of their maximum, and when two are tied Moodle drops the one with the higher maximum grade. With Natural, Moodle applies the rule only when all of these are true:
- every item in the category has the same weight,
- every item has the same maximum grade,
- the category has no subcategories,
- and no item is extra credit.
The other aggregation methods drop the lowest fraction without those limits. Keep the highest is the opposite setting and cannot be combined with Drop the lowest. In your user report, a grade left out this way is marked “dropped” when the Weight column is shown.
Sources, checked October 2026: MoodleDocs, Grade categories and User report, and Moodle’s grade_category.php (apply_limit_rules and can_apply_limit_rules).
How does extra credit work in Moodle?
Only Natural and Simple weighted mean of grades have an Extra credit checkbox. An extra credit item’s maximum is not added to the category’s maximum, so it can only raise the grade. A category still cannot go past its maximum unless your site administrator allows grades over the maximum.
Moodle’s example: Item 1 (0 to 100) is extra credit and Item 2 runs 0 to 75. Scores of 20 and 70 add up to 90, but the category total is 75 out of 75.
Sources, checked October 2026: MoodleDocs, Grade aggregation, and Moodle’s gradebook language strings (aggregationcoefextrasum_help).
Why your Moodle course total might not match
- Your categories use different aggregations. The calculator uses one method for all categories. Pick the one most of yours use, or work a category out separately.
- A category’s maximum is not 100. A category that is not Natural counts as 100 points in its parent here, the default maximum in Moodle’s code. Your teacher can change it.
- There are subcategories. This calculator has one level of categories under the course total.
- A grade was overridden, locked or excluded. Moodle does not recalculate a locked or overridden total, and it skips an excluded grade.
- Scales and outcomes. Moodle counts scale items by default and leaves outcomes out. This calculator takes number grades only.
- Letters and decimals. Moodle compares the unrounded percentage to each letter’s boundary. The default letters start the A at 93% and the D at 60%, and your site or course can change them.
Sources, checked October 2026: MoodleDocs, Grade categories, and Moodle’s gradelib.php (grade_get_letters and grade_format_gradevalue_letter), grade_category.php and default gradebook settings.
Moodle grade calculator FAQ
What is the Moodle grade calculation formula?
It depends on the aggregation. With Natural, the default, your total is the points you earned divided by the points possible, adjusted by any weights your teacher changed. Mean of grades averages each grade as a fraction of its maximum. Weighted mean of grades multiplies each fraction by an item weight and divides by the total weight. Simple weighted mean of grades weights each grade by its maximum.
What does Contribution to course total mean in Moodle?
It is an optional column in the user report. It shows, as a percentage, how much each grade item adds to your course total after weighting.
Why did my Moodle weights change?
With Natural, automatic weights come from each item’s maximum grade, so they shift whenever an item is added or removed. With Exclude empty grades on, the weight of an empty item is shared among your graded items, so your weights can differ from the class setup until everything is graded.
Can a Moodle grade go over 100%?
Usually not. By default, Moodle limits every grade to its item’s maximum, and extra credit can raise a category to its maximum but not past it. Your site administrator can turn on Unlimited grades, which allows grades over 100%.
What are Moodle’s default grade letters?
A from 93%, A- from 90%, B+ from 87%, B from 83%, B- from 80%, C+ from 77%, C from 73%, C- from 70%, D+ from 67%, D from 60% and F below that. Your site or course can replace them, so check the letters your gradebook shows.
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 different learning platform? Try the Blackboard grade calculator, the D2L Brightspace grade calculator or the Canvas 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
- MoodleDocs, Grade aggregation (Moodle 4.5). Every aggregation method and the worked examples. Checked October 2026.
- MoodleDocs, Grade categories. Exclude empty grades, Drop the lowest and its Natural limits. Checked October 2026.
- MoodleDocs, User report. Contribution to course total and dropped grades. Checked October 2026.
- Moodle, lib/grade/grade_category.php (MOODLE_405_STABLE). Natural weights, drop rules, category maximums. Checked October 2026.
- Moodle, lib/gradelib.php, admin/settings/grades.php and lang/en/grades.php. Default letters, defaults and setting labels. Checked October 2026.
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