Grade Average Calculator
Enter your grades for each grading period (two-month terms, trimesters or semesters) and see your yearly average, how much you still need to reach the school's passing average, what your grade becomes after a make-up exam and how many absences you have left.
Educational use: results are estimates made for study and reference. Checking the answer and deciding what to do with it is the sole responsibility of whoever uses the tool. Read the legal notice.
On this page
- How to use the calculator
- Common slip-ups with report card grades
- Solved examples
- Your school's rule is the one that counts
- Reference tables
- The math behind the tool
- Seeing the grades against the average
- Questions from students and parents
- Who the tool is for
- Report card vocabulary
- Fun facts about grades and averages
- Where the 0 to 10 grade comes from
- Keep going
How to use the calculator
Choose what you want to find out in the first field. The form then shows only the fields that calculation needs.
Yearly average or the grade you still need
- Enter how many grading periods the year has: 4 two-month terms, 3 trimesters or 2 semesters.
- Type the minimum average your school requires. The field starts at 6, but check your school rules.
- Fill in the grades you already have and leave blank the ones that have not happened yet.
- If every grade is filled in, you get the yearly average. If some periods are missing, you get the grade you need in each remaining one.
Make-up exam
Enter the yearly average, the grade you got (or want to get) on the make-up exam and your school's rule. The calculator shows the final average and, when it makes sense, the make-up grade you need to reach the minimum average.
Attendance
Enter the total number of school days or classes and your absences so far. The result is your attendance percentage, the maximum number of absences allowed and how many you have left.
Use a period for decimal grades, such as 7.5.
Common slip-ups with report card grades
Assuming your school follows the same rules as another one
The minimum average, the weight of each term, make-up exams and rounding change from school to school and from one school system to another. The calculator does the math with what you enter. If your school's rules say something different, treat the result as an estimate.
Forgetting that some terms carry different weights
Here, every grade counts the same. If your school gives more weight to the second semester, for example, use the weighted average calculator, which accepts weights.
Thinking the missing grade is just the gap to the average
If the minimum average is 6 and your current average is 5, scoring 7 in the next term is not enough. It is the sum that has to reach the total. The more periods have gone by, the harder it is to move the average.
Treating the partial average as the final average
With 2 grades recorded, the partial average is not official yet. It only shows a trend.
Ignoring attendance
A high average does not make up for too many absences. Students fail for absences even with good grades, and it is usually decided at the end of the year, when there is no way left to fix it.
Leaving the highest grade at 10 when your school uses points
If grades go up to 100, change the highest-grade field. Otherwise any grade above 10 will be rejected as an error.
Solved examples
1. Yearly average with four terms
Grades 6, 7, 5 and 8, with a minimum average of 6:
Yearly average 6.5, half a point above the minimum.
2. How much do I need in the last two terms?
Two grades recorded, 5 and 6, and a minimum average of 7 over 4 terms:
You need 8.5 in each of the two remaining terms. You can mix it up, such as 9 and 8, as long as the sum is 17.
3. When the average is already secured
Grades 8, 7 and 9, minimum average 6, with the 4th term still to come:
The minimum average is already secured, even if the last grade is zero. In practice, it is worth checking whether your school sets a minimum grade for each period.
4. When it is no longer possible
Grades 3 and 4, minimum average 7, four terms:
You would need 10.5, which is above the maximum of 10. With the remaining grades alone, the average cannot get there. Ask your school about a make-up exam.
5. Make-up exam by averaging
Yearly average 4.5, make-up grade 7, minimum average 6:
With a 7, the final average is 5.75, still below 6. You would need 7.5 on the make-up exam. If your school's rule were "the higher grade counts," the same 7 would be enough.
6. Attendance and absence limit
200 school days and 38 absences so far, minimum attendance of 75%:
Attendance is at 81%, and you can still miss 12 days without going over the limit.
Your school's rule is the one that counts
This calculator does the math with the numbers you enter and with common rules, such as the simple arithmetic average and make-up by averaging. Schools and school systems have their own rules, with different weights, rounding, minimum grades per subject and passing criteria that the tool does not know about. So the result is an estimate for study and planning.
A student's official status is the one recorded in the school's system and rules, and that is the one that counts. Always confirm with the school office or the teacher before making any decision. Checking the results and using them is entirely the user's responsibility.
Bottom line: this tool is educational. Results do not replace your own checking, and how you use them is entirely your responsibility. More details in the legal notice.
Reference tables
To estimate what is missing, a direct calculation is points needed minus points you already have. This table shows the total points that minimum averages of 6 and 7 require:
| Periods | Total needed (average 6) | Total needed (average 7) |
|---|---|---|
| 2 semesters | 12 | 14 |
| 3 trimesters | 18 | 21 |
| 4 two-month terms | 24 | 28 |
And the absence limit for a minimum attendance of 75%, depending on the number of school days:
| School days (or classes) | Absence limit (25%) |
|---|---|
| 100 | 25 |
| 160 | 40 |
| 180 | 45 |
| 200 | 50 |
| 800 classes | 200 |
If your school tracks absences by class rather than by day, use the total number of classes in the year.
The math behind the tool
The arithmetic mean treats all grades as equally important. If your school assigns different weights, the logic changes to a weighted average, in which each grade is multiplied by its weight before adding.
Seeing the grades against the average
A bar chart makes it clear which grades are above or below the minimum average. With grades 6, 7, 5 and 8, the average is 6.5, and only the 3rd term fell below the minimum of 6:
Questions from students and parents
How do I calculate the average of my grading periods?
Add the four grades and divide by 4. With grades 6, 7, 5 and 8, the sum is 26 and the average is 26 ÷ 4 = 6.5. If your school gives the terms different weights, the math is different: use the weighted average calculator.
What average do I need to pass the year?
It depends on the school. Many use 6 on a scale of 0 to 10, but some school systems use 5, 7 or another value. Check the school rules or your report card and enter the value in the "School passing average" field.
How do I find out how much I need in the next term?
Fill in the grades you already have, leave the missing ones blank and enter the minimum average. The tool works out the points still missing (minimum average × periods − current sum) and divides them across the remaining periods.
What if the grade needed is above 10?
Then the average cannot be reached with the remaining grades alone, and the calculator warns you. In that case, ask your school whether there is a make-up exam or another way to make up the difference.
How does the make-up exam work?
It depends on the school. The most common rules are to average the yearly average and the make-up grade, to count the higher of the two, or to have the make-up grade replace the average. The calculator offers all three.
What is the minimum attendance to pass?
Brazil's Education Guidelines and Framework Law (LDB, Law 9,394/1996) requires minimum attendance of 75% of the total school hours to pass. Some cases, such as medical certificates and special rules, are handled by the school.
How many absences can I have?
With a minimum attendance of 75%, up to 25% of classes. Over 200 school days, that is 50 absences. Enter the school days and your absences so far, and the tool shows how many you have left.
Is the partial average my final average?
No. The partial average only considers the grades already recorded and serves as an indication. The yearly average only counts once all periods are closed.
Can I use grades from 0 to 100?
Yes. Change the "Highest possible grade" field to 100 and enter the minimum average on the same scale, for example 60.
Why does the calculator's average differ from my report card?
Most likely because of weights, rounding or a rule specific to your school. Ask the school office how the average is calculated. The tool uses the simple average and does not apply any special rounding.
Who the tool is for
- Students who want to know, midway through the year, how much they need in the final terms.
- Parents and guardians who follow the report card and need to understand what is missing without doing the math in their heads.
- Test-prep and college students, who face similar average and attendance rules in each course.
- Teachers who want to quickly check a student's average before entering it in the system, always confirming in the school's official system.
- People studying for public-service exams who need to split their time between subjects according to practice test scores.
Report card vocabulary
- Yearly average
- The final result of the year's grades, normally the arithmetic mean of the periods.
- Passing average
- The value the school requires to pass, set in its rules.
- Two-month term (bimestre)
- A period of about two months. The school year has four of them.
- Trimester
- A period of about four months. The year has three.
- Semester
- Half of the school year.
- Make-up exam
- A new assessment offered to students who fell below the average, with rules that vary by school.
- Attendance
- The percentage of classes the student was present for.
- School days
- Days of actual classes in the year, not counting holidays, breaks and strikes.
- Weighted average
- An average in which each grade has a weight. Here, they all have the same one.
- Grade needed
- The grade you must earn in the remaining periods to reach the passing average.
Fun facts about grades and averages
- The grade you need grows as the year goes on. With 1 term done, a stumble can be recovered with room to spare. With 3 done, the margin disappears.
- The same total of points can come from different paths. A 10 and a 6 add up to the same as two 8s.
- 25% absences sounds like a lot, but it is not. Over 200 days, that is 50. A flu, a trip and a few late arrivals add up fast.
- The arithmetic mean is sensitive to extreme grades. A zero on one exam pulls the average down more than a 10 pulls it up, when the other grades are close together.
Where the 0 to 10 grade comes from
Giving numeric grades to school performance is a relatively recent practice in the history of education. For a long time, assessment was oral, descriptive or done through ratings. The idea of a number to sum up learning spread from the 18th and 19th centuries on, with the expansion of public school systems and the need to compare students on a large scale.
In Brazil, the 0 to 10 scale is the most common, but some school systems use letter ratings (A, B, C), points from 0 to 100 or grades by competency. Brazil's Education Guidelines and Framework Law (LDB, Law 9,394/1996) establishes that assessment must be continuous and that, to pass, a student needs minimum attendance of 75% of the total school hours. As for grades, the law leaves the definition to the school systems and to each school, which is why minimum averages vary.