Out of 40 Grading Scale and Grade Chart

These are the scores out of 40 students look up most. Each one opens its own page with the next letter up, the score every letter needs and the same percent on other test lengths.

The fastest way to grade a stack of 40 question tests is to know the lines. On the 10 point scale an A takes 36 right (4 misses at most), a B 32, a C 28 and a D 24. The 7 point scale is stricter: an A needs 38, a B 34, a C 30 and a pass 28.

Every letter on the plus and minus scale can happen on a 40 question test, because one question (2.5 points) is narrower than the three point step between a plus, a plain letter and a minus. A full A (93% or more) takes 38 right, so 2 misses at most.

Find the score and read across: the number wrong, the percent and the letter on all three common scales. Every row has its own link (for example the 32/40 grade row) to send to a student, and the print button gives a clean one page sheet for free.

Each question is worth 100 / 40 = 2.5 percentage points, so every miss costs 2.5 points off a perfect score. That is why 4 misses still leave an A and 17 misses drop you to an F.

The 10 point and 7 point scales disagree on 10 scores out of 40: 24 (D or F), 25 (D or F), 26 (D or F), 27 (D or F), 28 (C or D), 29 (C or D), 32 (B or C), 33 (B or C), 36 (A or B) and 37 (A or B). If your school uses the 7 point scale, read the third letter column.

Rounding matters on 4 scores: 25/40 is 62.5%, which rounds to 63%; 29/40 is 72.5%, which rounds to 73%; 33/40 is 82.5%, which rounds to 83%; 37/40 is 92.5%, which rounds to 93%. Read from the exact percent (the rule here) the letter stays lower; a gradebook that rounds to a whole percent first moves it up a step. Your syllabus says which rule applies.

Passing on the 10 point scale starts at 60%, which is 24 right; on the 7 point scale it is 70%, 28 right. Whether a D passes the whole class is a separate rule, covered in the passing grade guide.

Divide the number right by 40 and multiply by 100: 32 / 40 x 100 = 80%. Then read the letter off your school's scale. The lookup at the top does both, for right or wrong answers, and the chart lists every score, so a teacher can grade a whole class from one sheet.

Grading a test of another length, or with weighted sections? The test grade calculator takes any number of questions and builds the easy grader chart for it, and the grading scale chart turns any percentage into a letter. Charts for other lengths: out of 10, out of 12, out of 15, out of 20, out of 25, out of 30, out of 50 and out of 60.