Free tool · nothing to connect
What do you need on your final?
Two numbers and you have the answer — for every letter grade at once, including the ones that are already out of reach and the ones you could not lose if you tried.
Best you can finish
89.6%
with 100% on the final
Worst you can finish
69.6%
if you score zero — the floor is already set
What you need on the final
This assumes the final is the only thing left ungraded. If you still have homework or a paper outstanding too, the answer depends on how those land as well — and that’s the case this calculator can’t solve on two numbers. Connecting Canvas reads the real weights and every ungraded item, so it doesn’t have to assume.
How the maths works
Your course grade is a weighted average. If the final is worth w of your grade, everything else is worth 1 − w, so:
final grade = (current × (1 − w)) + (final score × w)Rearranged for what you need to score:
needed = (target − current × (1 − w)) ÷ wThat is the whole thing. It also explains why the answer swings so hard on the weight: a 10% final can barely move your grade, and a 40% final can undo a semester.
When this calculator is wrong
Worth saying plainly, because most calculators do not. Two numbers only give a correct answer when the final really is the last thing outstanding.
You still have other ungraded work
A paper and a problem set sitting alongside the final means three unknowns, not one. The answer becomes a range that depends on how they split.
Your instructor drops the lowest score
A drop rule changes which of your existing scores actually count, so the current grade you typed in may not be the one being used.
The syllabus and Canvas disagree
If the weights configured in Canvas differ from the ones printed in the syllabus, Canvas wins — it is the one computing the grade that gets submitted.
Waypoint handles all three, because it reads the weights, the drop rules and every ungraded item straight out of Canvas instead of asking you to type them. See what it does.
Common questions
What grade do I need on my final to get an A?
It depends on two numbers: your grade now, and how much the final is worth. If you are at 87% and the final counts for 20%, an A is already gone — you would need 102%, because 20% of the grade cannot make up three points spread across the other 80%. Finding that out now is more useful than finding it out in the exam hall. Enter your own numbers above.
Where do I find what my final is worth?
The syllabus, under a heading like grading breakdown or assessment. In Canvas itself, open the course, go to Assignments, and switch to the Assignment Groups view — if your instructor set up weighting, each group shows a percentage. That percentage is the number to use.
Why does this not match the number Canvas shows?
Usually one of three reasons. Canvas may be ignoring ungraded work entirely, so its percentage only covers what has been marked. Your instructor may drop the lowest score in a category, which changes the arithmetic. Or the syllabus weights and the weights actually configured in Canvas may not match — that one is more common than people expect, and the configured weights are what get applied.
Can I still fail if I am at 87%?
Only if the final is worth a lot. The worst you can finish is your current grade multiplied by everything that is not the final — at 87% with a 20% final, a zero still leaves you at 69.6%. The calculator shows that floor, because knowing the downside is usually the actual question underneath.
Is this the same maths my school uses?
The weighted-average arithmetic is standard and this matches it. What varies between schools is where the letter cutoffs sit — some use 93 for an A, some 90, some round up at .5 and some do not. The table above uses the plain 90/80/70/60 scale and lets you enter your own cutoff, rather than pretending one scale is universal.
Stop typing your grades into calculators
Waypoint reads this out of Canvas for every course you are taking, then keeps reading it — so you find out what you need before the week it matters, not during it.
Connect your Canvas