Finals week brings two different questions, and students usually ask them in this order. First: "If I get an 85% on my final, what will my grade be?" Later, closer to the exam: "What do I need to get a B?"
Both questions use the same three numbers. Your current grade. The final's weight. A score, either one you are guessing at or one you are solving for. The only difference is which number is missing.
This guide covers both directions. You will get the projection formula and the required-score formula, worked examples for each, and what to do with more than one assessment left. Every number below has been checked.
What is the formula to calculate your final grade?
This formula blends two things. It shrinks your current grade to account for the portion the final still controls. Then it adds your expected final score, scaled by its own weight.
Worked example: projecting your final grade
Say your current grade is 84%, the final is worth 30% of the course, and you expect to score 92% on it.
Projected Grade = 84 × (1 − 0.30) + 92 × 0.30 = 84 × 0.70 + 92 × 0.30 = 58.8 + 27.6 = 86.4%
An 84% going in becomes an 86.4% course grade. A strong final pulled the average up. Try your own numbers in the Final Grade Calculator, which has a dedicated projected-grade mode.
What score do I need on my final exam?
This is the same formula, solved for the final score instead of the total. It answers the question every student actually wants answered before the exam, not after.
Worked example: finding your required score
Say your current grade is 84%, your final is worth 30%, and you want at least a 90% in the course.
Required Score = (90 − 84 × 0.70) ÷ 0.30 = (90 − 58.8) ÷ 0.30 = 31.2 ÷ 0.30 = 104%
A required score of 104% means the target is not reachable through the final alone. No ordinary exam awards more than 100%. That is not a bug in the formula. It is useful information. A 90% course grade would need a higher current grade first, a lower target, or extra credit elsewhere.
What score do I need to pass the course?
Use the same required-score formula and set the target to your passing cutoff instead of a letter grade. Say your current grade is 72%, the final is worth 30%, and the course needs 60% to pass. Required score = (60 − 72 × 0.70) ÷ 0.30 = (60 − 50.4) ÷ 0.30 = 32%. A 32% on the final would leave you at exactly 60%.
Two cautions. The passing cutoff is set by your school, program, or instructor, and some courses require a minimum score on the final itself in addition to a course percentage. And if the required score comes out above 100%, passing is not possible through the final alone unless extra credit is available.
What does it mean when the required score is negative?
A negative result means the opposite problem. You have already secured your target grade, using only the work completed so far.
Say your current grade is 95%, the final is worth 10%, and your target is 85%.
Required Score = (85 − 95 × 0.90) ÷ 0.10 = (85 − 85.5) ÷ 0.10 = −5%
Even a 0% on the final would leave you at 85.5%. That is above the 85% target. A negative number is not an error. It simply confirms the target is already locked in, assuming your current grade and the final's weight are both accurate.
Where does your "current grade" actually come from?
Both formulas depend on one thing being correct: what your current grade represents. This is the single most common source of a wrong projection, and it is worth checking before you trust either result.
Your current grade should reflect only the portion completed so far. Leave the final and any other remaining work out entirely, rather than counting it as zero. If your gradebook shows a grade that already treats missing work as a zero, that number is too low and will throw off both formulas. See our guide on how to calculate a weighted grade for how to build this number correctly when a category has no grade yet.
Learning platforms complicate this further. Canvas, for example, shows two different numbers. Its "current grade" counts only graded work. Its "total grade" counts every assignment, as if ungraded work were worth zero. For these formulas, you want the current grade, not the total grade.
What if you have more than one assessment left?
Both formulas above assume a single remaining final. Real courses often leave more than that: a final exam and a final project, or a final and a last quiz.
Treat each remaining piece as its own weighted contribution, then solve for the one you actually want to project or target. Say your current grade is 88%, based on 60% of the course so far. A midterm project worth 15% and a final exam worth 25% remain, adding up to the other 40%.
Say you already know the midterm project score, 85%. You can then solve for the exact final exam score needed to reach a 90% target.
Required Final = (90 − 88×0.60 − 85×0.15) ÷ 0.25 = (90 − 52.8 − 12.75) ÷ 0.25 = 24.45 ÷ 0.25 = 97.8%
If you do not yet know the midterm project score, hold it at an estimate, solve for the final, and re-check once the real project score comes in. The What-If Grade Calculator is built for testing several scenarios like this side by side.
How does extra credit change these formulas?
Extra credit typically adds points within a specific category rather than adding directly to your overall percentage. Calculate your required final score first, using the formulas above, then check how much a specific extra-credit opportunity would lower that number. Our guide on how extra credit changes your grade walks through the common methods, and the Final Grade Calculator has its own extra-credit mode.
Is a projected grade the same as your official grade?
No. A projected or required-score number is an estimate built from the numbers you enter. Your instructor's actual gradebook can apply rules you cannot see. Dropped lowest scores, rounding conventions, category minimums, and after-the-fact curves are all common. Treat these formulas as a close, honest estimate, and confirm anything grade-critical against your syllabus or your instructor directly.
Two directions, one formula
Projecting a final grade and finding a required score are the same equation, read in two directions. One tells you where you will likely land. The other tells you exactly what to aim for. Both depend on getting your current grade right first. That means leaving remaining work out of it, rather than counting it as zero.
Enter your own numbers into the Final Grade Calculator for either mode, or explore a range of final-exam scenarios with the What-If Grade Calculator.