Test Grade Calculator

Price	100% free, no sign-up
Input	Points earned / possible, or questions / wrong
Output	Percentage and letter grade
Processing	Runs locally in your browser

What is Test Grade Calculator?

A test grade calculator converts the raw mark on a paper into the percentage and letter grade a gradebook records. Marks come in two shapes: points earned out of points possible (42/50) and questions right out of questions asked (23/25). Both reduce to the same percentage — the correct answer count divided by the total — so one tool handles either. The letter grade then comes from the percentage bands on the standard scale, with the percentages most schools use for cut-offs shown in the FAQ below. This is the tool for marking a single paper or answering the question 'what did I get?' after an exam is handed back.

Common Uses for Test Grade Calculator

Convert an exam mark into a percentage and letter quickly
Check a score against a course's own letter cut-offs
Grade a short quiz out of 10 or 20 by question count
Confirm the score a learning management system reported

Marks that convert cleanly

Scores out of 25, 50, 100 and 20 are the easiest to read because the percentages land on familiar values: 20/25 is 80%, 45/50 is 90%, 17/20 is 85%. Anything out of an odd total — 23, 37, 58 — needs the division, which is where a quick calculator saves the most time across a stack of papers.

Letter cut-offs vary

The percentage-to-letter mapping used here is the common US convention, but individual courses may set a 90% A floor rather than 93%. Always check the syllabus before treating a letter as final: the percentage is objective, the letter is policy.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is 42 out of 50 as a grade?

84%, which is a B on the standard scale (83–86%). It sits just under the B+ band, which starts at 87%, so two more marks would have moved it up a letter.

What percentage is a C?

73–76% is a C, with 77–79% a C+ and 70–72% a C-. The C band as commonly described spans roughly 70–79% including its plus and minus variants.

How do partial points work?

Enter the actual points earned, including halves if your rubric allows them. The percentage is then exact — 42.5 out of 50 is 85% — and the letter grade follows the unrounded value.

What if the test has a curve?

Use the grade curve calculator: apply a flat number of points, a square-root curve, or recover a fixed share of the gap to 100%, then convert the curved score here.