originally posted by
Rose:
Student name: Rose
First quiz score: 95
Second quiz score: 75
Midterm Exam score: 96
Final Exam score: 80
Final score: 106.50 (Does this look right?)
Grade: A
i'm gonna have to say no, this doesn't look right. Step back for a minute, and forget the
Java stuff. look at all the test/quiz scores. the highest grade somebody got on any single
test was a 96%. How could their FINAL grade be HIGHER?
let's just talk about the math...
Generally, what we think of as a final grade for a class is an average. The most common meaning of "average" is the mean-average, where you simply add all the values up, and divide by the number of entries. so, the mean-average of 8,10,4 and 13 is (8+10+4+13)/4 = 35/4 = 8.75
note that the mean is less than some, but more than other values in your original list. it is impossible for the mean to be smaller than the lowest, or greater than the highest value of your original list. In fact, it shouldn't even be equal to either of these extremes.
Now, you have a couple things different in your grading program - you will not just take the mean average, because the final is supposed to count for more than the mid-term, which counts more than the quizzes (which makes sense, since the final is a bigger test).
NOTE: it is implied from the directions that the quiz scores will be entered as a raw score from 0-10 (i assume this since the directions say "Do not forget to normalize the quiz scores, They should be coverted to percentages before they are averaged in"). it should be pretty easy to convert these to percentages.
now, assuming you have the 4 PERCENTAGES, how do you average them? well, you need to calculate a WEIGHTED mean average - some of the percentages will count more than others (they are a HEAVIER factor in the final score - so they are weighted more - get it? :-) )
if the two quiz score are supposed to count for a TOTAL of 25% of the final score, they are worth 12.5% each. The mid-term is worth 25% of the final score, and the final is 50%. These are the 'weights' attatched to each test.
ok, so now what do we do? there are a number of ways of doing this, but i think this is the easiest to understand...
multiply each test-percentage by it's 'weight'. using your example, i'll assume the test scores were
quiz 1 = 95%
quiz 2 = 75%
midterm = 96%
final = 80%
so:
quiz 1 score * weight = 95 * 12.5% = 11.875
quiz 2 score * weight = 75 * 12.5% = 9.375
midterm exam * weight = 96 * 25% = 24
final exam * weight = 80 * 50% = 40
add up the four values = 11.875 + 9.375 + 24 + 40 = 85.25.
this is the final score. Note that it is close to the final score - this makes sense since the final 'counts the most'...