ARCHIVED: In Oncourse Gradebook, how do extra credit or grade penalties affect grade calculation in percentage gradebooks?

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Important:
Oncourse is retired. For details, see ARCHIVED: About the Oncourse retirement.

In the Gradebook tool, you can give extra credit or grade penalties with adjustment items and adjustment categories, either of which can take positive or negative values. See ARCHIVED: Giving extra credit or a grade penalty in Gradebook.

How the adjustments affect the grade calculation will depend on how you have set up your gradebook. To understand how the different ways of setting up your gradebook work without adjustment items, see ARCHIVED: How categories and weighting affect grade calculation in percentage gradebooks. For information about setting up your gradebook, see ARCHIVED: Using categories and weighted grades in Gradebook.

For points gradebooks, see ARCHIVED: How categories and weighting affect grade calculation in points gradebooks and ARCHIVED: How extra credit or grade penalties affect grade calculation in points gradebooks.

On this page:


Adjustment items with no categories

If you set up a percentage gradebook with no categories, the value of an adjustment item is added to the final calculated percentage:

Item Weight Grade (%) Weighted item score
Essay 1 2 100 200
Essay 2 2 90 180
Homework 1 1 90 90
Homework 2 1 95 95
Test 1 3 97 291
Test 2 3 87 261
Adjustment - 5 -
Subtotal 12 - 1117

Weighted item score = item score * item weight

Grade calculation: Sum of weighted item scores divided by sum of item weights; adjustment is added last

  • Grade without adjustment: 93.08% (1117/12)
  • Grade with adjustment: 98.08% ((1117/12)+5)

Adjustment items with unweighted categories

Grades in gradebooks with simple, unweighted categories are calculated the same way as in gradebooks with no categories:

Item Weight Grade (%) Weighted item score Category average
Essays       100%
Essay 1 2 100 200  
Essay 2 2 90 180  
Adjustment - 5 -  
Homework       92.5%
Homework 1 1 90 90  
Homework 2 1 95 95  
Tests       92%
Test 1 3 97 291  
Test 2 3 87 261  
Total 12 - 1117  

Weighted item score = item score * item weight

Grade calculation: Sum of weighted item scores divided by sum of item weights; adjustment is added last

  • Grade without adjustment: 93.08 (1117/12)
  • Grade with adjustment: 98.08% ((1117/12) + 5)

Note: In a percentage gradebook with unweighted categories, adjustment items are included in category averages for display purposes only; for course grade calculation, adjustment items are applied to the course average. Category averages in unweighted gradebooks do not affect the grade calculation, and are truncated (not rounded) for display purposes.

Adjustment items with weighted categories

In gradebooks with weighted categories, the category average is used to calculate the final grade, and adjustment items affect the category average:

Item Weight Grade (%) Weighted item score Category weight Category average Weighted category score
Essays       30 100% 30%
Essay 1 2 100 200      
Essay 2 2 90 180      
Adjustment - 5 -      
Subtotal 4 - 380      
Homework       30 92.5% 27.75%
Homework 1 1 90 90      
Homework 2 1 95 95      
Subtotal 2 - 185      
Tests       40 92% 36.8%
Test 1 3 97 291      
Test 2 3 87 261      
Subtotal 6 - 552      

Weighted item score = item score * item weight

Weighted category score = ((Sum of weighted item scores/sum of weights for that category) + adjustment items) * category weight

For example, with the adjustment item, the weighted category score for the essays is ((380/4)+5)*.3 = 30%; without the adjustment, the weighted category score would have been (380/4)*.3 = 28.5%.

Grade calculation: Sum of weighted category scores

  • Grade without adjustment: 93.05% (28.5% + 27.75% + 36.8%)
  • Grade with adjustment: 94.55% (30% + 27.75% + 36.8%)

Adjustment categories with weighted categories

With weighted categories, you can also add adjustment categories. Note that the category weight for the regular categories totals 100% without the adjustment category.

Note:
Gradebook items in an adjustment category should be regular Gradebook items, not adjustment items, in order to affect student grades as intended.
Item Weight Grade (%) Weighted item score Category weight Category average Weighted category score
Essays       30% 100% 30%
Essay 1 2 100 200      
Essay 2 2 90 180      
Adjustment - 5 -      
Subtotal 4 - 380      
Homework       30% 92.5% 27.75%
Homework 1 1 90 90      
Homework 2 1 95 95      
Subtotal 2 - 185      
Tests       40% 92% 36.8%
Test 1 3 97 291      
Test 2 3 87 261      
Subtotal 6 - 552      
Bonus       5% 60% 3%
Bonus 1 5 70 350      
Bonus 2 5 50 250      
Subtotal 10 - 600      

Weighted item score = item score * item weight

Weighted category score = ((Sum of weighted item scores/sum of weights for that category) + adjustment items) * category weight

For example, with the adjustment item, the weighted category score for the essays is ((380/4)+5)*.3 = 30%; without the adjustment, the weighted category score would have been (380/4)*.3 = 28.5%.

Grade calculation: Sum of weighted category scores, including adjustment category

  • Grade with no adjustments: 93.05% (28.5% + 27.75% + 36.8%)
  • Grade with adjustment items but no adjustment category: 94.55% (30% + 27.75% + 36.8%)
  • Grade with adjustment items and adjustment category: 97.55% (30% + 27.75% + 36.8% + 3%)

This is document ayly in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2018-01-18 16:24:08.