Sometimes when a kid finds out that he got a good test score, like a 95%, he'll ask, "Will this raise my grade?" Without having his grade memorized, I won't be able to answer. If he then tells me that he currently has a 66.2% for his overall grade, I still won't be able to answer, believe it or not. I'll probably tell him that it depends on what kind of 66.2% he has. You see, there are a lot of different ways to get a 66.2% in math class. Bob and Fred have different category scores, ...

    ... but both of them have a 66.2% for their overall grade. As you can see, a 95% on a test is great news for Bob ... his test average was 0%. This new score will raise his grade. However, Fred has averaged 100% on tests to this point, so a 95% on a test is not as good as what he has done in the past; therefore, this new score will actually lower his grade.

    Understanding this concept is very important to doing an analysis of your grade. Kids who don't understand this sometimes think they can balance a low test grade with some extra work on a couple of homework assignments. As you've seen, it's not that simple; homework points are different than test points, which are different from notebook points, and so on. If you want to have a strong grade, we'll need you to be strong in all the areas.