How a Dropped Lowest Grade Changes Your Average
Lots of syllabi say something like "the lowest quiz grade will be dropped." It sounds small, but it can move your category average a lot, especially if your lowest score was really low.
Example: five quizzes
Your quiz scores are 85, 90, 40, 95, and 88.
- All five counted: 398 ÷ 5 = 79.6
- Lowest (40) dropped: 358 ÷ 4 = 89.5
That's almost 10 points higher in the quiz category.
What it does to your final grade
Multiply the change by the category's weight. If quizzes are 15% of your grade:
9.9 points × 0.15 = about 1.5 points on your final grade
One and a half points can be the difference between a B+ and an A-.
The points-based twist
If assignments are worth different amounts of points, dropping the lowest percentage isn't always the biggest help. Say you have three quizzes:
| Quiz | Score | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| Quiz 1 | 2 / 10 | 20% |
| Quiz 2 | 60 / 100 | 60% |
| Quiz 3 | 90 / 100 | 90% |
- Nothing dropped: 152 ÷ 210 = about 72.4%
- Drop Quiz 1 (lowest percent): 150 ÷ 200 = 75%
- Drop Quiz 2 instead: 92 ÷ 110 = about 83.6%
Dropping the bigger quiz helps more, even though its percent was higher. Your professor's rule decides which one gets dropped, so read the syllabus wording carefully. "Lowest score" and "lowest percentage" can mean different things.
Using this in Grade Index
Enter the category average after the drop. In the five-quiz example, you'd type 89.5 for Quizzes, not 79.6.