Grading Calculator

Created as a personal project in Microsoft Excel, this grading calculator uses the skills learned from Spreadsheets I and II and is formatted for the use of Library and Information Technology students in determining their academic standing within each course and the program overall.

When designing this calculator during the First Term of the program, I was mostly concerned with creating a functional datasheet that could store the grades and corresponding information for each class and bring them together on a "Home page" of sorts.

I did not really spend time trying to make it look pretty or aesthetically pleasing, as I'd be using it for my personal records and later create a blank copy for use by other students in my program. I utilized the basic skills I learned in Spreadsheets I and as I discovered more tricks and concepts throughout the course, I updated and changed smaller pieces of the spreadsheet file.

During the Second Term this grading calculator was rebuilt and reformatted to add in formulas and tools learned from the second installment of the Spreadsheets course, and as such, is more complex in conceptualization. Because this updated edition was more focused on being used by people other than myself, I used my knowledge of Spreadsheets I and II to add useful tools and room for additional information.

One of the major changes was a colour assignment based on Conditional Formatting that would tell students where their Academic Standing in a course or the overall program was, signalling if they were failing, passing, or eligible for honours. Additionally, another change that impacted the calculator during updating was adding in an IF function that would only add a grade if there was a value of 1 or higher placed in the box to solve earlier issues, and I implemented the "Protect Sheet" tool to lock any formulas from accidental deletion.

After completing the first year of this two year program, I decided to overhaul the existing Grading Calculators I had built and started from scratch. In creating this new version, I wanted to not only integrate and demonstrate the skills I had learned in Spreadsheets I and II but also make it visually appealing so that it could serve as a focal point of this portfolio.

I began by creating basic labels for the data that would go into each column and then formatted it as a table and modified it for each page as necessary, using similar format and formulas as I had used in this spreadsheets predecessor while also including new columns of data for clarification and more variety. One of these was the addition of the "Assignment Type" column, utilizing the Data Validation's List function to give users a pre-set list of options to choose from designed individually for each course page.

Returning back to the idea of a "Home" page, I further detailed and conceptualized a table that would serve as the overall calculator, pulling information from each individual page to create the end result and average grade. I made use of cell labels to create distinctly different names for each pages' calculated result, as the way I had done this previously was not the best choice and could result in errors.

Lastly, I wanted to keep the formatting and required information for this calculator as simple as possible, hiding the more complex equations behind the Protected Sheet function once again. For easy navigation, I used the Course Codes as a Colour Key making certain aspects of the program easier to find for the viewer. Furthermore, I removed the conditional formatting from the 2nd version to make the project more pristine and professional in design.