Create grade categories to drop the lowest quiz score in myCourses

You can add Grade Items (columns) to a Grade Category if you have several quizzes or assignments and want to average out each student’s lowest score. You can also use Grade Categories to organize similar Grade Items or columns under a common heading.

Categories appear with a grey background on the Manage Grades page. Items in categories appear indented under the Category.

In this article:

Create a grade category

The steps and options for creating a Grade Category are different depending on the Grading System you are using in your course. See Grade settings in myCourses to change your grading system.

Create a Category using the Points or Formula grading system

1. On the Manage Grades page, click New > Category.

2. Enter a Name for the category (e.g. Weekly Quizzes).

3. To drop the lowest score in the category:

   1. Under Distribution, select the checkbox beside Distribute points across all items.

   2. Enter the number of Points per item.

   3. Enter 1 beside Number of lowest non-bonus items to drop for each user.

4. Click Save and Close.

Create a Category using the Weighted grading system

1. On the Manage Grades page, click New > Category.

2. Enter a Name.

3. Enter the Weight (percentage) of students’ final grades you want the category to be worth.

4. To drop the lowest score in the category:

   1. Select Distribute weight evenly across all items.

   2. Enter 1 beside Number of lowest non-bonus items to drop for each user.

      

      If you are not dropping the lowest score in the category and you want items in the categories to have different weights, you can select one of the following Distribution options:

      • Manually assign weight to items in category: You must manually adjust the weights for all items in the category yourself. This is not recommended.
      • Distribute weights by points across all items in the category: Weights for the items in the category are automatically distributed according to their Max. Points values.

5. Click Save and Close.

If you are using the Weighted grading system and you want to hide an item in the category, make sure to also hide the category itself. Otherwise, students will still be able to see the category score and calculate the hidden item’s grade from it. See Managing grade items for more information.

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Add Grade Items to a Grade Category

You can add items to a category while you are creating Grade Items by selecting a Category from the drop-down list on the Properties tab of the item. You can also use the Edit function on the Manage Grades page to add multiple Items to Categories at the same time.

1. On the Manage Grades page, select the checkbox at the top of the list of Grade Items.

2. Click Edit at the top or bottom of the list. This will take you to the Edit Items and Categories page.

3. Scroll to the right side of the page and select a Category for your items from the drop-down lists in the Category column.

4. Click Save.

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View dropped grades in a Category

On the Enter Grades page, click Switch to Standard View if necessary. Dropped scores for each student will appear with an exclamation icon beside them.

If you are dropping the lowest score in a category and you have only entered scores for one item, it will be dropped for all students.

In the student view of Grades, the word Dropped will appear below any dropped items.

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Delete a Grade Category

Deleting a Grade Category will not delete any Items in the Category. They will still be in your gradebook, but no longer in a Category.

1. On the Manage Grades page, click More Actions > Delete.

2. Select the checkbox beside the Category.

   

   Categories appear with a grey background and no Type.

3. Click Delete.

4. In the pop-up window that appears, click Delete.

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