Education
GPA, grades & study calculators
Drop the Lowest Grade Calculator
Many syllabi drop your lowest score before averaging — one bad quiz should not sink the semester. This calculator does exactly that: enter every score, tell it how many of the lowest to drop, and it excludes them, then averages what remains. It shows which items were dropped so you can check the result against your syllabus rule. For example, five quiz scores of 70, 88, 92, 85 and 95 average to 86% with everything counted, but dropping the single lowest (70) lifts the average to 90% — an A. Free, private, and runs entirely in your browser.
Drop-lowest grade = average of your scores after excluding the N lowest-scoring items
- Worked example: quizzes 70, 88, 92, 85, 95 — drop the lowest (70) → average of 88, 92, 85, 95 = 360 ÷ 4 = 90% (an A)
- With everything counted the same five scores average to 86%, so dropping one lifts the grade by 4 points here.
- Set "Drop lowest N" to 2 to drop your two worst scores — the calculator always removes the lowest by score first.
Frequently asked questions
How does dropping the lowest grade change my average?
The lowest score is removed before averaging, so the remaining scores carry the full grade. For quizzes of 70, 88, 92, 85 and 95, dropping the 70 leaves an average of (88 + 92 + 85 + 95) ÷ 4 = 90% instead of 86%. The more your lowest score drags down the set, the bigger the lift.
How many grades can I drop?
Set the "Drop lowest N" field to however many your syllabus allows — commonly one or two. The calculator always removes the lowest-scoring items first, then averages the rest, and marks the dropped rows so you can confirm the rule matches your class.