To determine what you need on your final exam, you should know three key pieces of information:

• Your current course grade (percentage).
• Your desired final course grade (percentage).
• The weight of the final exam as a percentage of your overall grade.

Once you have these, you can calculate the minimum score you need on the final exam using this formula:

Final exam grade=Desired grade−Current grade×(100%−Final exam weight)Final exam weight\text{Final exam grade}=\frac{\text{Desired grade}-\text{Current grade}\times (100%-\text{Final exam weight})}{\text{Final exam weight}}Final exam grade=Final exam weightDesired grade−Current grade×(100%−Final exam weight)​

For example, if your current grade is 88%, you want a 90% overall, and the final exam is worth 30%, the calculation would be:

• Current work weight = 100% - 30% = 70%
• Weighted current grade = 88% × 70% = 61.6%
• Points needed from final = 90% - 61.6% = 28.4%
• Required final exam score = 28.4% ÷ 30% ≈ 94.7%

So, you would need about 94.7% on the final to reach a 90% overall

. You can also use online final grade calculators where you input these values, and they compute the required final exam score instantly

. In summary, gather your current grade, desired grade, and final exam weight, then use the formula or an online calculator to find out what you need on your final exam.