What a hundred-question test can and cannot express
A hundred-point test or assignment, where the score and the percentage are the same number and every letter boundary is reachable exactly.
Every question on a hundred-question paper is worth 1% of the grade, so the only grades that exist are the 100 multiples of that figure. That is fine enough that every letter boundary falls exactly where the school says it does, which is why hundred-point marking is the default in most gradebooks.
The practical consequence is that a borderline case on a hundred-question test is decided by a single question. Going from 60 correct to 59 moves the grade by1% — the difference between 60% and 59%, or between a D- and an F on a 60% pass mark. 59 out of 100 is the highest score on this test that still fails.
What each letter needs out of 100
| Letter | Starts at | Lowest score out of 100 | Which is |
|---|---|---|---|
| A+ | 97% | 97 out of 100 | 97% |
| A | 93% | 93 out of 100 | 93% |
| A- | 90% | 90 out of 100 | 90% |
| B+ | 87% | 87 out of 100 | 87% |
| B | 83% | 83 out of 100 | 83% |
| B- | 80% | 80 out of 100 | 80% |
| C+ | 77% | 77 out of 100 | 77% |
| C | 73% | 73 out of 100 | 73% |
| C- | 70% | 70 out of 100 | 70% |
| D+ | 67% | 67 out of 100 | 67% |
| D | 63% | 63 out of 100 | 63% |
| D- | 60% | 60 out of 100 | 60% |
Clearing the 93% A cut-off takes 93 out of 100, which allows 7 wrong answers; that score actually lands on93%, an A. A pass at 60% takes 60 out of 100, allowing 40 wrong. Those cut-offs are the common US ones and your school's may differ by a point or two — the percentage column is the part that transfers, and the letter grade to GPA page gives the full band table with grade points on the 4.0, 4.3 and 5.0 scales.
Every score out of 100
100 rows, highest first: the score, the percentage it produces, the letter it lands in on a standard plus/minus scale, and how many questions that leaves wrong. Each score links to a page working that grade out in full, including what the next letter up would take and what the same percentage looks like on a test of a different length.