How to set up a grading scheme

Decide what counts towards a result and how much each part is worth.

Last updated 12 October 2026

What you will learn

What a grading scheme does
How to create one
Why a new scheme does nothing until you activate it

Before you begin

Decide which parts count — assignments, quizzes, attendance, practical work, the final exam — and the percentage each is worth.

A grading scheme is the rule that turns a pile of marks into one result. Without it, the system knows a student scored 8 out of 10 on an assignment but not what that is worth overall.

The Grading schemes screen with the New scheme button. — Grading schemes. Each scheme lists the parts that count and their weights.

Create a scheme

Step 1. Click Grading schemes in the left-hand menu.
Step 2. Click New scheme.
Step 3. Type a Name. This is the only required box.
The create form. Note the message at the top: the scheme is created inactive.
Step 4. Add a Description so colleagues know what it is for.
Step 5. Set the Overall pass mark (%) — the percentage a student needs overall.
Step 6. Choose what happens to Work with no mark yet.
Leave out of the total is the usual choice: an exam that has not happened yet is ignored, so a student's standing is out of what has actually been assessed.
Step 7. Click Create.

A new scheme is not used yet

It is created inactive. Nothing is graded by it until you set the weightings for each part and then activate it. That is deliberate — a half-finished scheme must not start changing results.

After it exists

Open the scheme and add each part that counts, with its weight. The weights are what the Performance screen uses.

What you should see

The scheme appears in the list, marked inactive, ready for you to add weightings.

Helpful tips

Make the weights add up to 100. It makes every result easy to explain to a student.
Changing a weighting re-calculates every affected student straight away, so agree the scheme before term starts.

If something goes wrong

Students' results have not changed after you created a scheme.: The scheme is still inactive, or has no weightings. Open it, add the parts and their weights, and activate it.