Grade categories are great for grouping activities together, calculating subtotals, making special calculations such as weights and the ability to drop the lowest score. 

1. From the navigation bar on the left of the screen, click on Grades
2. Once the Gradebook is up click on Setup
3. At the bottom of the page, click on Add category

Grade Category

4. Enter the Category name 

1. Using the drop-down menu, select the Aggregation
   1. Natural - sum of all points 
   2. Weighted mean of grades - each grade item can be given a weight to change its importance in the overall mean. (set the maximum grade for the category total)
   3. Simple weighted mean of grades - A difference from Weighted mean is what the weight of each item is its maximum graded. (set the maximum grade for the category total)
   4. Highest grade - the result of the highest grade
2. Show more…
   1. Exclude empty grades - this is for a running gradebook if there is not a grade in the column it will not count for or against the student. If the student is missing work, please put a zero in the grade column to keep the gradebook accurate. 
   2. Drop the lowest - this setting enable a specified number of the lowest grades to be excluded from the aggregation. 

Drop the lowest grade Helpful Hint - if you are going to use this feature, wait until you have entered more grades than the number of dropped scores. Otherwise when you enter the first activity and you are dropping the lowest one score, it will still drop as it is the lowest in the category. 

Grade total Options

1. Determine the type of grade associated with this category. 
   1. There are four types: 
      1. None - no grading possible
      2. Value - a numerical with a max an min grade 
      3. Scale - select a rating from the list (rarely ever used)
      4. Text - feedback only

7. Maximum grade - determine the maximum grade for the whole category. 
8. Hidden - hide grades from students, A Hidden until date can be set under Show more…
9. Locked - Prevents grades from being updated. A locked after date can be set up Show more…
10. Weight Adjusted  - uncheck this to reset a grade item weight to it automatically calculated value. Checking this will prevent the weight from automatically being adjusted
11. Save Changes