Test Grade Calculator
The online EZ grader: questions, wrong answers, and the full grading chart.
Example: 27 questions, 4 wrongPercentage = (questions − wrong) × 100 ÷ questions
85.19%
| Wrong | Percentage | Grade |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 100 | A |
| 1 | 96.3 | A |
| 2 | 92.59 | A |
| 3 | 88.89 | B |
| 4 | 85.19 | B |
| 5 | 81.48 | B |
| 6 | 77.78 | C |
| 7 | 74.07 | C |
| 8 | 70.37 | C |
| 9 | 66.67 | D |
| 10 | 62.96 | D |
| 11 | 59.26 | F |
| 12 | 55.56 | F |
| 13 | 51.85 | F |
| 14 | 48.15 | F |
| 15 | 44.44 | F |
| 16 | 40.74 | F |
| 17 | 37.04 | F |
| 18 | 33.33 | F |
| 19 | 29.63 | F |
| 20 | 25.93 | F |
| 21 | 22.22 | F |
| 22 | 18.52 | F |
| 23 | 14.81 | F |
| 24 | 11.11 | F |
| 25 | 7.41 | F |
| 26 | 3.7 | F |
| 27 | 0 | F |
How many can you miss on 27 questions?
- A at 90 %: 2 wrong
- B at 80 %: 5 wrong
- C at 70 %: 8 wrong
- D at 60 %: 10 wrong
Everything is computed in your browser; no score and no name is ever sent to a server.
Grading 35 papers by hand? Grade the whole class with Evalmee
Grading paper multiple-choice tests? Papeez scans and grades them
How to use this easy grader
- 01
Type the number of questions
Enter how many questions the test has — 27, 40, 60. The grading chart under the result is rebuilt for that length, so it is ready before you open the first paper.
- 02
Type how many the student got wrong
Enter the number of wrong answers. The percentage and the letter grade appear as you type; if you counted ticks rather than crosses, Options makes the same field count right answers instead.
- 03
Read the chart, or print it
The chart lists every possible number of wrong answers with its percentage and its grade, coloured band by band. Print it once and grade the whole pile by reading a line, with no calculator at all.
Grading chart for 10, 20, 25, 30, 40 or 50 questions
The chart above is built for the exact number of questions you type. The one below is the printed grading chart for the six test lengths that come up most often, so the percentage is there whether or not the calculator is open.
Read it down the left column: one wrong answer out of 25 is 96 %, four wrong out of 40 is 90 %, ten wrong out of 50 is 80 %. The letter grade follows from the percentage and from the scale in force — with the standard US scale, everything at 90 % and above is an A.
| Wrong answers | Out of 10 | Out of 20 | Out of 25 | Out of 30 | Out of 40 | Out of 50 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 100 % | 100 % | 100 % | 100 % | 100 % | 100 % |
| 1 | 90 % | 95 % | 96 % | 96.67 % | 97.5 % | 98 % |
| 2 | 80 % | 90 % | 92 % | 93.33 % | 95 % | 96 % |
| 3 | 70 % | 85 % | 88 % | 90 % | 92.5 % | 94 % |
| 4 | 60 % | 80 % | 84 % | 86.67 % | 90 % | 92 % |
| 5 | 50 % | 75 % | 80 % | 83.33 % | 87.5 % | 90 % |
| 6 | 40 % | 70 % | 76 % | 80 % | 85 % | 88 % |
| 7 | 30 % | 65 % | 72 % | 76.67 % | 82.5 % | 86 % |
| 8 | 20 % | 60 % | 68 % | 73.33 % | 80 % | 84 % |
| 9 | 10 % | 55 % | 64 % | 70 % | 77.5 % | 82 % |
| 10 | 0 % | 50 % | 60 % | 66.67 % | 75 % | 80 % |
How many questions can I miss?
The calculator answers this for the test you typed, letter by letter. The table below gives the same answer for the six common test lengths, on the standard US scale: the largest number of wrong answers that still lands in each band.
A test of 27 questions is the classic case: miss two and you are at 92.59 %, an A; miss three and you are at 88.89 %, a B. The threshold box in the calculator does the same thing for any target you type, including one that is not a letter — a pass mark set at 65 %, for instance.
| Questions | A (90 %) | B (80 %) | C (70 %) | D (60 %) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 20 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 |
| 25 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 10 |
| 30 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 |
| 40 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 |
| 50 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 |
Grading scale: letter grades and percentages
The scale below is the one most US schools and districts use, and the one the calculator starts from. It is a convention, not a law: your institution's handbook is what decides, and plus and minus grades, a 7-point scale or a pass/fail threshold are all common variants.
Change the thresholds in the calculator and the chart, the colours and the “how many can I miss” block all follow. A UK-style scale — distinction at 70 %, merit at 60 %, pass at 40 % — takes four edits.
| Letter grade | Percentage | Grade point |
|---|---|---|
| A | 90 – 100 % | 4.0 |
| B | 80 – 89 % | 3.0 |
| C | 70 – 79 % | 2.0 |
| D | 60 – 69 % | 1.0 |
| F | 0 – 59 % | 0.0 |
Grading scale with plus and minus grades
The eleven-band version splits each letter into three: A− starts at 90 %, A at 93 %, A+ at 97 %, and the same pattern runs down to D−. Add the bands you use in the calculator's scale editor and the chart repaints itself; the arithmetic underneath does not change.
Negative marking and partial credit
A plain easy grader assumes a wrong answer is worth nothing and every question is worth one point. Competitive exams and many multiple-choice papers do not work that way: a wrong answer costs a quarter of a point, an unanswered question costs nothing, and guessing is meant to be a bad bet. Open the marking panel in the calculator and type what your paper actually does.
Deducting points for a wrong answerNegative markingThe deduction of points for wrong answers to a closed question, intended to discourage answering at random. The practice also penalises reasoned risk-taking and, according to the research available on the subject, disadvantages cautious candidates more than it disadvantages the ones who are poorly prepared. is the reason the number of unanswered questions matters: on a 40-question test with 30 right, 6 wrong and 4 left blank at −0.25 a mistake, the paper scores 28.5 out of 40, or 71.25 %, where a plain count of right answers would have said 75 %. The chart follows the same scheme, so the printed ruler still matches the papers.
Partial credit works the same way from the other side: set the points per right answer to 2 and a half-credit answer becomes a whole number again. The percentage is unchanged, because it is always computed against what a perfect paper would earn under the same scheme.
Grade calculator formula
With one point a question and nothing deducted, the percentage is the number of right answers divided by the number of questions. Rounding happens once, at the end: rounding each step would move a borderline paper across a grade boundary. With a penalty, the numerator becomes the points actually earned and the denominator stays what a perfect paper earns.
percentage = (questions − wrong) × 100 ÷ questions
with penalties: percentage = (right × points_right + wrong × points_wrong) × 100 ÷ (questions × points_right)FAQ
Divide the number of right answers by the number of questions, then multiply by 100. A test of 27 questions with 4 wrong gives 23 ÷ 27 × 100, or 85.19 %. Compare that percentage with your grading scale to get the letter: on the standard US scale, 85.19 % is a B.
It depends on the length of the test. On 27 questions you can miss 2 for an A, 5 for a B and 8 for a C; on 40 questions, 4, 8 and 12. The calculator prints the answer for the test you typed, band by band, and for any target percentage you enter.
Most US schools pass at 60 %, the bottom of the D band, and many courses require 70 % to count towards a major. UK degree classifications pass at 40 %. There is no universal figure: the handbook of the institution running the exam is what decides, and the calculator lets you type your own threshold.
The paper original is a sliding ruler: you set it to the number of questions, and read the percentage next to the number of wrong answers. This page does the same thing without the plastic — you type the number of questions, and the chart lists every possible number of wrong answers with its percentage and grade.
Yes. The calculator starts from the standard US scale — A at 90 %, B at 80 %, C at 70 %, D at 60 % — and every threshold is editable. Type your own and the result, the chart colours and the “how many can I miss” block update together. Nothing is saved to a server.
Open the marking panel and enter what a right answer, a wrong answer and an unanswered question are each worth. A 40-question test with 30 right, 6 wrong and 4 blank, penalised a quarter point a mistake, scores 28.5 out of 40 — 71.25 %. The chart is rebuilt under the same scheme.
Yes. The Print button produces a sheet of its own: the tool's name, the marking scheme written out, the date, then the result and the chart, with none of the web page around it. Up to thirty questions the chart is one column; beyond that it is dealt into two column groups so that sixty rows still fit on one portrait page. Print it once for the test and grade the pile by reading a line.
And when a whole class needs grading?
Evalmee grades the closed questions, applies your marking scheme and publishes the grades of the whole cohort — with the chart built for you.