I am baffled by a stupid percentage thing I need to calculate

[CovidCorvid]

Google isn’t helping.

I need to work out some Overall percentage grades for different values…I’m not even sure how to explain this.

I have 5 different values all out of a 100. 4 of the values will be worth 19% of the final total percentage and the 5th value will be worth 5%. How do I work out the final percentage?

With the 4 which are worth 19% each I know I could add them together and divide by 4…..but that would only give a mark out of 95%. Somehow I have to add that last 5% in.

So is that 18.30% overall

Also makes it easier to identify and correct mistakes if you mistype any figures!

@DriverOrDiver

I am not an excel wizard and this is weirdly difficult to explain without excel in front of me! So I’m going to assume you’re doing something like calculating grades across a class of students.

A1 = candidate name
B1 = score paper 1
C1 = score paper 2

Up to paper 5

Then at G1 do your formula for the overall percentage, which would be (B10.19)+(C10.19)+(D10.19)+(E0.19)+(F1*0.05)

Then if you copy and paste it down Excel will work out what you’re trying to do for the remaining 29 students.

Am sure somebody else who has had more sleep can explain that better. Somebody who knows what they’re doing can knock it up in about 10 mins.

Thank you. I’ll have a go at excel again.

Bloody hell - just browsing mn with cup of coffee to hand and I opened this shocker ! Read the question many times. Had glimmers of understanding and much fog of uncertainty. My poor brain. Op YABVVU not to have given a warning of some sort - I can just imagine your scribbled bits of paper strewn across desk (some tear stained/screwed up in frustration?).
A little later I’ll reconnect and see if I understand.
At the moment my conundrum is - do two small pieces of toast equal one large and, if so, which should I put my poached egg on ?

If you click on a cell in excel, in the bottom right corner of the cell border there is a little box. If you drag that across (or down depending on your set up), it will copy your formula across, and adjust for the correct cells. So in the layout suggested above, it would change A1 to A2 and so on.

Just adding to Drivers excellent advice, if you put a "Test Student" as the top line, and give them full marks in each paper, the final column should be 100%.
(And you know a formula needs an = sign st the start, yes?)

Yes the Excel spreadsheet described above is perfect (assuming your results for the individual assessments are percentages). Since you're not a confident spreadsheet user, do a good few spot checks to make sure everything is working as it should, but if this is the kind of thing you do often it's well worth putting the time in to figure it out.

Have added ‘play around with excel spreadsheets to finally start to understand them’ to my to do list - again. They are magical but rather intimidating to the uninitiated.

A refinement to Driver’s way would be to add a row in at the top (or on another sheet of the same work book) giving the percentages. That way you’d be able to use it for another set of exams with minimal changes and your colleagues would think you were an actual genius.
Like so (I did this on my phone as am in bed but like a challenge)

@YouthfulIndiscretion

A refinement to Driver’s way would be to add a row in at the top (or on another sheet of the same work book) giving the percentages. That way you’d be able to use it for another set of exams with minimal changes and your colleagues would think you were an actual genius. Like so (I did this on my phone as am in bed but like a challenge)

Much improved!

I think the golden rule of Excel (which I frequently break as a self-trained excel idiot) is to have all formulae relate to a cell rather than a typed-in number - that way you can chop and change later without breaking the spreadsheet. My version is a one-use bodge but it will do the job for now. Youthful’s will see you through for years to come!

@YouthfulIndiscretion

A refinement to Driver’s way would be to add a row in at the top (or on another sheet of the same work book) giving the percentages. That way you’d be able to use it for another set of exams with minimal changes and your colleagues would think you were an actual genius. Like so (I did this on my phone as am in bed but like a challenge)

Even better is to leave a good few empty rows at the top and use them for some summary statistics so you can spot any glaring errors or inconsistencies. Things like a count, average etc.

@YouthfulIndiscretion

A refinement to Driver’s way would be to add a row in at the top (or on another sheet of the same work book) giving the percentages. That way you’d be able to use it for another set of exams with minimal changes and your colleagues would think you were an actual genius. Like so (I did this on my phone as am in bed but like a challenge)

That is amazing, thank you!