The grade book in the "Tools" section may cause some confusion because of the terminology used in the grade book and the format of the data. The grade book lists the points per "item," but not all items may be weighted the same. In the example shown above from HUM 160 Introduction to Film, each type of assessment is worth 100 points, but one of the assessments is a test (Quiz 1), others are discussion board activities (DB1, etc.) , and two others are papers (Report 1 and 2). The individual discussion assignments count 7.1428571% each (displayed as 7%) because all 7 discussions count 50% of the final course grade. The test grade counts 10% of the final course grade, and the papers count 40% of the final course grade, or 20% each since there are only two papers. Since the student has now completed all of the course assignments, the "weighted total" apears at the bottom of the screen. In this course, a grade of 88% is a B, so the student's final grade of "B" would be added after the course ends. The "weight" of the final grade is shown as "0%" since it is a letter that is not part of the assignments in the course.

The total points have no bearing on the grade in this example since the final course grade is based upon percentages or weights that each type of assignment receives toward the final course grade. In other courses, however, the final course grade may be based upon the total number of points. Since the two film reports were submitted through the Blackboard Assignments area, the student can now click the grade receive for each paper, and the professor's evaluation will appear on the screen. The page will also contain the student's paper attached and may contain a copy of the teacher's version of the paper with comments added.

In another semester, or in another course, however, the instructor may weight all grades the same and base the final grade on the total number of points earned. In the example below, the student earned a grade of A with a total of 937 out of 1000 points: