Setting up your grade book
Basics on Functions
Here are three common mistakes when working with functions. If something is not working then check to make sure
that it isn’t one of these three problems.
1. Make sure the cursor is in the box where the answer should go before inserting the function.
2. Make sure all of your parenthesis close *not like this⇛ (A4*3)+B4*4)
3. Always write the row and column
Depending on the way you grade you will want to use different
functions.
The Simple SUM function works best when all of your tests and assignments add up to 100 (Ex 5Hs@10 pts +
1midterm@ 25pts + 1final @25pts = 100).
-Fx=SUM(A3, C3, E3)- If your values are not all next to each other.
-Fx=SUM(A3:E3) -If the values you want to sum are next to each other.
The AVERAGE function is best when each part of the class is weighted equally (tests, homeworks, quizzes and
participation are all 25%) or when you have an odd number of assignments that need to be averaged together (3 quizzes
that count for 25% of the final grade)
-Fx=AVERAGE(A3,C3,E3) - If your values are not all next to each other.
- Fx=AVERAGE(A3:E3) -If the values you want to sum are next to each other.
* This also works well if you think you might be dropping the lowest quiz grade or deleting a quiz or homework from the
final grade.
The Weighted SUM is used when you grade each assignment out of 100 and want each graded section to count for
a different percent of the grade (HW15%, Quizzes 20%, midterm 40%, final 25%)
Fx=SUM((A3*.3)+(C3*.1)+(E3*.4)+(F3*.2))
The IF function can be used to turn a number grade into a letter although if you are new to using Excel you might
want to wait until you are more comfortable with it to try this. In the function below (M4) is the cell that contains the
first student’s final grade, yours will be different.
Part 1:
Fx =IF(M4<63,"F",IF(M4<66,"D-",IF(M4<69,"D",IF(M4<73,"D+",IF(M4<76,"C-",IF(M4<79,"C",O4))))))
Part 2:
Fx=IF(M4<83,"C+",IF(M4<86,"B-",IF(M4<89,"B",IF(M4<93,"B+",IF(M4<94,"A-","A")))))
*In Excel 2007 it can be done all in one function:
(M4<63,"F",IF(M4<66,"D-",IF(M4<69,"D",IF(M4<73,"D+",IF(M4<76,"C-",IF(M4<79,"C",(M4<83,"C+",IF(M4<86,"B",IF(M4<89,"B",IF(M4<93,"B+",IF(M4<94,"A-","A")))))))))))