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    Excel 10 Automatic Grading

    Uploaded by

    Md Yusof
    This document provides instructions for using Excel to automate grading tasks. It describes how to calculate weighted final grades for students by multiplying their assignment grades by the assignment weights. It also explains how to use the VLOOKUP function to automatically assign letter or pass/fail grades based on the students' numeric final grades. Key steps include setting up the spreadsheet with student names and assignment sections, entering grades, creating formulas to calculate weighted grades, and copying the formulas down to automate the process for all students. The goal is to make grading extremely tedious tasks more efficient.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Excel 10 Automatic Grading

    Uploaded by

    Md Yusof
    289 views8 pages
    This document provides instructions for using Excel to automate grading tasks. It describes how to calculate weighted final grades for students by multiplying their assignment grades by the assignment weights. It also explains how to use the VLOOKUP function to automatically assign letter or pass/fail grades based on the students' numeric final grades. Key steps include setting up the spreadsheet with student names and assignment sections, entering grades, creating formulas to calculate weighted grades, and copying the formulas down to automate the process for all students. The goal is to make grading extremely tedious tasks more efficient.

    Original Description:

    mexcel

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    This document provides instructions for using Excel to automate grading tasks. It describes how to calculate weighted final grades for students by multiplying their assignment grades by the assignment weights. It also explains how to use the VLOOKUP function to automatically assign letter or pass/fail grades based on the students' numeric final grades. Key steps include setting up the spreadsheet with student names and assignment sections, entering grades, creating formulas to calculate weighted grades, and copying the formulas down to automate the process for all students. The goal is to make grading extremely tedious tasks more efficient.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    289 views8 pages

    Excel 10 Automatic Grading

    Uploaded by

    Md Yusof
    This document provides instructions for using Excel to automate grading tasks. It describes how to calculate weighted final grades for students by multiplying their assignment grades by the assignment weights. It also explains how to use the VLOOKUP function to automatically assign letter or pass/fail grades based on the students' numeric final grades. Key steps include setting up the spreadsheet with student names and assignment sections, entering grades, creating formulas to calculate weighted grades, and copying the formulas down to automate the process for all students. The goal is to make grading extremely tedious tasks more efficient.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 8
    At a glance
    Powered by AI
    The key takeaways are that Excel can be used to automate grading tasks like calculating weighted final grades and assigning letter grades for students. It allows grading tasks to be performed quickly and easily compared to doing them manually.

    The main steps to create a grading spreadsheet are to list the assignments and their weights, create tables for letter/pass-fail grades, and include a section to record students' assignment grades.

    The main functions used are formulas to calculate weighted grades by summing the products of grades and weights, and the VLOOKUP function to assign letter/pass-fail grades by looking up the numeric grade in the grade table.

    Excel 2010: Automating Grading Tasks

    Learning Guide

    Why use Excel to grade students?


    The primary reason why many instructors and teaching assistants
    already use Excel documents to store and manage course grades is
    that Excels functions and formulas allow you to assign grades
    quickly and easily. The techniques in this learning guide will help
    you perform grading-related tasks that are extremely tedious and
    labor-intensive when done manually.

    Which tasks can be automated?


    Although Excel can automate almost any task involved with
    grading, this guide will emphasize:
    Calculating weighted final numeric grades for each student
    Weighted final grades are composed of individual grades
    students have received for each course assignment, taking into
    account the importance of each assignment within the structure
    of your course.
    Assigning letter grades to each students numeric grade.
    Once you have calculated a numeric final grade, Excel makes it
    possible to automatically assign a letter grade for each student.
    Note: The Excel spreadsheet that is used as in this tutorial can be
    downloaded here. Because this tutorial will continually reference
    the sample worksheet, it is highly recommended to use it as a
    template for your own document.

    Creating a grading spreadsheet for your course


    Before creating your spreadsheet, you will need the following
    prerequisite information:
    1. The name of each student.
    2. His/her grade on each assignment.
    3. What percentage of the final course grade each assignment
    will be worth.
    4. If you do letter grades, what your grade distribution is; i.e.
    an A = 93.0-100, A- = 92.9-90.0, etc.
    To create your grading spreadsheet:
    At the top of your spreadsheet, create a section listing each
    course assignment and its weight in the final grade divided by
    100. So, for example, if the midterm exam if 35% of the
    students final grade, Midterm Exam would have a value of
    0.35.

    Assignment:
    Weight

    Weighting
    Midterm
    0.35

    Paper
    0.2

    Final
    0.45

    Create a section that lists each grade (either letter or pass-fail)


    and the minimum final point value (without dividing by 100)
    needed to earn each grade. These tables must have only two
    columns and must be sorted in ascending order (from smallest
    to largest). Also make sure that the numerical score is on the
    left and the corresponding letter grade to the right, as below.
    Letter Grades
    Pass/Fail
    Minimum Score Grade Minimum Score Grade
    0.0
    F
    69.9
    Fail
    60.0
    D70.0
    Pass
    63.0
    D
    67.0
    D+
    70.0
    C73.0
    C
    77.0
    C+
    80.0
    B83.0
    B
    87.0
    B+
    90.0
    A93.0
    A
    97.0
    A+

    Create a section for the students grades. This section will


    include each students name, as well as his/her assignment
    grade, overall weighted grade, and final letter grade.
    Student Grading Sheet
    Name Midterm Paper Final #/Grade
    Josh
    Tara
    Juan
    Will
    Rose

    Final Letter

    As the course progresses, manually record each students


    assignment grade into this course document. At the end of the
    semester (before calculating final grades), your spreadsheet
    might look something like this:

    Note: The black outlines and the red-and blue-shaded columns are
    just there for decoration and do not serve a functional purpose.
    The extra cells in the Student Grading Sheet and Weighting
    sections serve in case you wish to add students or assignments.

    Calculating a students final course grade


    Once you have entered all the assignment grades into your
    spreadsheet, you are ready to calculate a weighted final grade for
    each student. To calculate the weighted final course grade for Josh
    (using the sample above), you would follow this approach:
    Determine each weighted assignment grade by multiplying
    Joshs grade in that assignment by the weight of the
    assignment. For example, Joshs grade on his midterm was a
    98 and the weight of the midterm is 35% (0.35), so Joshs
    weighted midterm grade is 98*0.35.
    3

    Add together all of the weighted assignment grades to produce


    his weighted final course grade.

    Calculating a weighted final course grade in Excel


    Navigate to the red-shaded #/Grade cell where you would
    like the first students weighted grade to appear, and type:
    =((Midterm Grade*Midterm Weight)+(Paper Grade*Paper
    Weight)+(Final Grade*Final Weight))

    o In the above formula, replace each written term with the


    appropriate cell name: i.e., you would erase Midterm
    Grade and type C4.
    o Remember to keep parentheses around the two terms
    being multiplied: (Paper Grade*Paper Weight)
    o Immediately after the equal sign and right before the
    end, there should be two parentheses, as above.
    Copying the grade calculation formula
    Once you have constructed the formula that will calculate a
    weighted final course grade for the first student in your class, you
    can copy that formula so it will calculate grades for the remaining
    students in your class. Before copying a formula to other cells, you
    will need to ensure that Excel continues to use the same references
    to the cells containing each assignments weight. You do so by
    making the weight cells constant; or ascertaining that Excel will
    always multiply each grade by the same weight rather than change
    the weight to a different cell and hence different value. Once you
    have made the weight cells constant, you will be able to copy the
    calculation formula so that it works for all of your students.
    Click on the cell with the previously created formula.
    The cells formula will appear in Excels Formula bar, located
    above the column headings of your worksheet.

    Click the cursor in front of the cell reference you wish to make
    constant (in this case, cells G12, H12, and I12).
    Place your cursor after each multiplication sign and press the
    F4 key to make the cell reference constant. When you have
    finished, the formula should look like the below graphic. Note
    the dollar signs before each letter and number of the constant
    cell references.

    Press the Enter key to finalize the changes to your formula.


    Select the bottom-right corner of the cell containing your grade
    calculation formula. A cross-shaped cursor ( ) will appear,
    and the cell will be surrounded by a densely dashed line.
    While holding down the left mouse button, drag your cursor to
    the bottom-right corner of the last cell you want to copy the
    formula into, and then let go of the mouse.
    The formula will be copied down to each cell.

    Additional guidelines for creating formulas


    All formulas must begin with the = symbol. Excel will not
    recognize your formula as formula without an = as the first
    character.
    Excel uses the following symbols as mathematical operators.
    The symbol
    *
    /
    +
    ^

    Is used for
    Multiplication
    Division
    Addition
    Subtraction
    Raise to an exponent

    Excel calculates your formula in the following order:


    o From left to right
    o Starts with any exponents
    o Performs all operations within parentheses.
    o Then performs any multiplication and/or division
    o Followed by addition and/or subtraction.
    To perform a calculation that does follow the previously
    described order, use parenthesis to indicate the order in which
    your formula should be calculated.
    o In the formula =(8-3)*4, Excel will subtract the
    values in the parenthesis before multiplying.

    Assigning letter or pass/fail grades


    Excels =VLOOKUP function allows you to automatically assign
    letter grades based upon the calculated weighted final grades for
    each student.
    To calculate a students letter or pass/fail grade:
    1. Select the cell into which you wish to assign the first students
    passing or failing grade.
    2. From the Home ribbon, go to the Editing tab and click on the
    down-facing arrow of the AutoSum button.
    3. From the drop-down menu that appears, select More
    Functions

    4. The Insert Function window will appear.


    5. Search VLOOKUP in the Search for a function: textbox and
    select VLOOKUP from the bottom pane.

    6. Excel will display the Function Arguments window.


    You may need to drag this window to another location on the
    screen so you can clearly see the cells you wish to select.
    7. Click in the Lookup_value: text box.
    8. Click on the cell containing the weighted final grade for the
    first student in your course.
    9. Click in the Table_array: text box.

    11. Depending on whether you want to calculate the letter or


    pass/fail grade, select the entire desired table of grades (below
    the Minimum Score and Grade headers), starting at the upper
    left and ending at the bottom right. The table will be
    surrounded by a moving dashed line.

    OR
    12. Insert your cursor to the far left of the text box, before any text,
    and press the F4 key. The familiar dollar signs will appear.
    13. Insert your cursor immediately to the right of the colon and
    press the F4 key. Your Table_Array textbox should resemble
    this:
    14. Click in the Col_index_num: text box.
    15. Type just the number 2.
    16. Click in the Range_lookup: text box.
    17. Type just the word TRUE.
    18. Click on the OK button to finalize your function.
    The below graphic shows how the final Function Arguments
    window looks in the example worksheet.

    19. Repeat steps 1-18 again with a different Table_array selected


    to calculate the pass/fail or letter grade.

    20. Select the bottom-right corner of the cell containing your


    pass/fail formula. A cross-shaped cursor ( ) will appear, and
    the cell will be surrounded by a densely dashed line.
    21. While holding down the left mouse button, drag your cursor to
    the bottom-right corner of the last cell you want to copy the
    formula into, and then let go of the mouse.

    22. The formula will be copied down to each cell.

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