XLGradebook

Gradebook for Microsoft Excel

Rodney Carr
This material is Copyright

Rodney Carr 1997-2011. You may not distribute the material without the permission of the author.

Other Products & Order Form: XLent.doc

Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................................................................ 2
The XLGrades.xls workbook...................................................................................................................................................... 2
Hardware Requirements and Installation................................................................................................................................... 2
Launching XLGradebook........................................................................................................................................................... 3
Layout of the Gradebook worksheet.......................................................................................................................................... 4
The macros................................................................................................................................................................................ 5
Getting ready - setting up student names, Importing, etc.......................................................................................................... 6
Hiding columns.......................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Entry of students results........................................................................................................................................................... 7
Marking sheets.......................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Merging results.......................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Sorting....................................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Selecting and Filtering students................................................................................................................................................ 9
Printing....................................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Saving........................................................................................................................................................................................ 9
Sending emails to students..................................................................................................................................................... 10
Processing results - summing, rescaling, assigning lettergrades, etc......................................................................................11
Summaries............................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Example/Tutorial...................................................................................................................................................................... 12
Support, Upgrades, Home Page, Bugs & Fixes and Author Contact Details..........................................................................18

Introduction
XLGradebook is a set of standard Microsoft Excel (Versions 5 and above) workbooks that together provide a
number of very useful macros to turn Excel into a good tool for organizing and processing your students grades.
The main workbook in the set is XLGrades.xls (Excel versions before 2007) and XLGradebook.xlsm (Excel versions
2007+). The workbook can be copied and renamed and is used for keeping your students records in. The other
workbook, XLMarksheet, provides a marking sheet that can be used to help automate the marking process.
The following information is for Excel 2007+; there are minor differences for previous versions of Excel.

The XLGradebook.xlsm workbook

XLGradebook.xlsm is the main workbook in the package. This workbook comprises the main worksheet called
Gradebook and some other sheets used for summarizing results.
XLGradebook.xlsm can be copied and re-named as you like, but the sheets in the workbook must be left with the
names they have.
On the Gradebook sheet there is some basic required layout (see below) but you can freely alter values or formatting
in the cells on the sheet. On the other sheets you should only alter cells that have blue text in them.
Help is available by clicking the Help button on the Gradebook sheet or double-clicking on any cell with red text on
the other sheets (though, note that Excel has a feature that if you double-click on the boundary of a cell the cursor
moves to the edge of the current non-blank block - this feature is not disabled so you have to be careful to click in the
interior of pink cells for help).
XLGradebook.xlsm contains macros to carry out tasks. Common tools are provided via buttons in the top left corner
of the Gradebook sheet, but more are available under the XLGradebook menu that appears when
XLGradebook.xlsm is opened. The macros mostly work by your first clicking on cells in columns or a rows that you
wish to work on and then selecting the desired tool by clicking one of the buttons or selecting it from the
XLGradebook menu. The macros do nothing until they are accessed in this way. In particular, you can use the
regular Excel tools as normal the macros do not interfere with normal Excel functions. Descriptions of the macros
are given below; more help is available from Help in XLGradebook.xlsm itself.
Note for Callista users: There is a special version of XLGradebook that contains macros for Importing data from a
Callista class list, or exporting to a Callista file for uploading purposes.

Hardware Requirements and Installation

XLGradebook uses Microsoft Excel 2007 (there is a version for earlier versions of Excel) for the actual workbooks,
and Word (versions 6 and above) for this documentation. The requirements for running XLGradebook are therefore
exactly the same as the requirements for running these Microsoft products. It will run on a MAC or PC based system.
At least 8 meg of RAM is recommended. About 1.5 meg of hard-disk space is required for the whole package with
this documentation.
There are three files in the XLGradebook package:
XLGradebook.xlsm (about 1 meg)
XLMarkSheet.xls (about 500k)

 XLGradebook.doc (this documentation) (about 250k)

Installation is simply a matter of copying XLGradebook.xlsm and XLMarksheet.xls to your disk. You can rename the
files anything you like.

Launching XLGradebook
To start using XLGradebook, simply open XLGradebook.xlsm, or any copy of it. Enable macros.
If you are not prompted to enable macros: Trust Center > Macro Setting > Disable all macros with notification. Then
close and re-open XLGradebook.xlsm.

Layout of the Gradebook worksheet

The main sheet in the XLGradebook.xlsm workbook is called Gradebook (the name shouldnt be changed). For the
macros in the workbook to work there is a minimal amount of required (fairly standard) layout on this sheet:
Items (marks, grades, other information) go in columns. Each row (below the top two header rows) contains data
for an individual Student.
The top 2 rows (1 and 2) contain information about the subject and the various items. They are always visible,
so that they remain on the screen as you scroll down.
At least 2 of the leftmost columns (A and B at least) must also be always visible, so they remain visible as you
scroll to the right.
Each row (from Row 2 down) corresponds to a separate student. Normally students names and IDs go in the
always visible columns and their results or other information go in columns to the right.
The name of the subject goes in A1. This has the text aligned to the bottom of the cell, so it shows up below the
macro buttons. It is also formatted to extend across all bar the rightmost Always visible column.
The current date is in the cell to the right of the subject name.
You must name each item (column) to the right of the always visible columns by entering information into the cell
on Row 1. Every item MUST have a (unique) name. In Row 2, goes the out off scores or weightings, if
appropriate.
There is no limit to the number of items (Columns) or number of students (Rows). Blank columns or rows are
allowed, if you wish. You can apply any formatting you like.

The macros
Below is an image of the XLGradebook menu and macro buttons with a brief description of each items. More
information is available using the Help button.

Getting ready - setting up student names, Importing, etc

This is probably the hardest part of all - getting the information into the thing! You can enter the data by hand, or use
regular cut-and-paste operations. There is also an Import facility for importing from a comma-delimited file.
To set up by hand or with cut-and-paste:
1. Click Clear Gradebook from the XLGradebook menu.

2. Click Options on the XLGradebook menu and enter/alter (if necessary)

The number of always visible columns (I usually have at least three - ID, Last Name and First Names).
A description of the subject into the box provided. This appears in Cell A1 on the Gradebook sheet.
The date format in the box provided.
Click OK when you are done.
3. Enter your students names and IDs. You can do this by hand, or cut and paste them from another list.
To set up by importing data from a comma-delimited file:
If you have data in a comma-delimited file (from admins computer system, for example) you can import it into the
workbook. The file can either have header information or not. To import:
1. Click Import on the XLGradebook menu. Click the appropriate box regarding the header information. Click OK.
2. Select the name of the comma-delimited file to import and click OK.
3. Enter a description for the subject when prompted.
You can hide, delete, insert or otherwise modify the resulting columns. If desired, click Options on the XLGradebook
menu to alter the number of Always visible columns.

Hiding columns
1. Click on any cells in the columns you want to hide. They do not need to be adjacent.
2. Click Hide Columns.
Click Unhide to unhide all the columns.

Entry of students results

To enter a set of results:
1. Click on Row 1 of the column in which you want to enter the information.
2. Enter a name for the item (like Test # 1 or Class number).
3. If the item is an assessment item enter what the item is out of in the cell on row 2. For example, if the item was
marked out of 10 enter 10 into Row 2 of the column. If the item contains information that does not have an out
of score, leave the cell in row 2 blank.
You can now enter the results one-by-one by hand into the column. Or use the Search and Data Entry facility as
follows:
1. Click on any cells in the column(s) in which you want to enter the results or other information. For example, if you
have set up two columns for the Mark and Marker Initials in Columns K and L respectively, click on any cells in
Columns K and L. The columns do not need to be adjacent.
2. Click on the Search and Data Entry button (SDE on some Macs), or select it from the XLGradebook menu.
3. In the Search for box enter part of an identifier for the student whose data you wish to enter (like, start keying in
part of their name or ID. The highlighted row will move to the first row where there is a match. You can click Find
Next to go to the next matching row (as this is clicked the matching entries are cycled through; if there is no other
match, the highlighted row will not move). If you clear the Search for box, the highlighted row moves to a blank
row at the bottom of the list for you to enter data for a student not already on your list. If you enter a * itll match
anything, so that clicking Find next will select the next student in the list.

4. Press Enter or click on a box for data. Enter the desired information. If you have more than one item of
information to enter, pressing Enter will move you to the next item until you reach the bottom. Then pressing Enter
will enter the data into the highlighted row and the form is then cleared ready for the next students results to be
entered. Clicking the Enter button in the window at any time will enter the data into the highlighted row. You can
click Undo Last to undo the last entry you made.

Marking sheets
A column of marks on the Gradebook sheet can have a marking sheet associated with it. A marking sheet is a
separate file that is based on XLMarksheet (included in with XLGradebook) that can be used to record details of
students work along with feedback, comments, etc. A marking sheet typically is used to provided feedback to
students, but in addition if a marking sheet is associated with a column in XLGradebook, data (names, IDs etc) can
be automatically transferred from XLGradebook to the marking sheet as required, and results from the marking sheet
can be recorded back in XLGradebook. This reduces transcription errors and increases marking efficiency.
To set up and use XLMarksheet, see the help available on the Setting up mark sheet sheet in XLMarksheet. The
main features of a marking sheet are:
1

The title of the sheet goes in Cell A1

Student information starts on row 3:

Labels in Column A
Actual data in Column B (i.e. the first item in B3, next item in B4, etc).

Questions, marks and comments go in rows below the student information:

Labels for questions in Column A
Marks in coloured cells in Column C. The total mark (computed with a formula) in topmost coloured cell in
Column C. Other mark cells can contain either actual marks, or formulas for subtotals, etc.
Comments go in cells in Column B to the left of coloured marks cells.
Out of marks in Column D.

Name of folder where student marking sheets are to be stored in the grey area on row 7.

Name of the students marking sheet file in the grey area on row 8. Usually this is a formula based on the
students data in Column B starting at row 3.

Save the marking sheet using an appropriate name and place in the same folder as your XLGradebook file.
To link a marking sheet to a column on the Gradebook sheet in an XLGradebook file:
1

Click on the top cell (in row 1) of the column on the Gradebook sheet.

Use Insert > Comment from Excel's main menu to insert a comment

Delete any text in the comment box that Excel creates and add the following information
Line 1: MS: Name_of_associated_marking_sheet_file
Line 2: A formula for creating the first item of information to be placed into the marking sheet (will appear in
cell B3 on the Mark Sheet). The formula should refer to information in a column. It can refer to a single
column or join parts from a number of columns using the concatenation operator, &. The formula may also
include other characters (between quotes).
Lines 3 and below (if needed): Same as for Line 2, but for the information to appear in B4, B5, etc on the
Mark Sheet.
Example:

MS: Assign1.xls Note: The first two characters of the comment must be "MS".
A
Note: The data in B3 on the Marking sheet comes from Column A in this example.
B&""&D
Note: For B4 on the Marking sheet. You can use quotation marks (that have a space between
them in this case) to define characters that will appear in the result. The concatenation
operator, &, is used to join the pieces (Column B, a space and Column D in this
example).

Merging results
If you have given a copy of the workbook to different teachers or markers and they have filled in results for their
students (leaving the others blank) you can quickly merge the separate lists into one. To do this open the master
copy of you workbook and copy each set of data from the copies into the master, one-underneath-the-other, keeping
items in line columnwise. This will result in multiple listings for the same student, of course. Then click on any cell in a
column that can be used to uniquely identify students (like their ID number) and click Merge. This will merge rows
that have identical keys. It will stop if there are any conflicting results and ask you to resolve the conflict before
proceeding.

Sorting
You will probably often need to sort your list in various ways. Excel provides a Sort facility on its menu, but for quickly
and safely sorting the rows according to information in a particular column:
1. Click on any cell in the column
2. Click the Sort button, or select Sort from the XLGradebook menu.
The rows will be kept intact, but will be sorted according to the selected column.

Selecting and Filtering students

If you wish to view or print or list or work with students in one subgroup, click on any cell in the rows containing the
students and click the Select button. The rows do not need to be adjacent. When you want to recover the entire set
of students, click Unselect.
Selecting places a copy of the entire list on another (hidden) sheet in the workbook and then copies the selected
students back to the Gradebook. When Unselect is clicked the entire list as it was before the selection was carried
out is recovered.
Excel also provides a Filter facility on its menu. Filtering allows you to hide students that do not match particular
criteria. The Filter option on the XLGradebook menu uses Excels filter facility, but is set up so that criteria on
selected columns can be easily applied.

Printing
1. Click on any cells in the columns you wish to print. The columns do not need to be adjacent.
2. Click the Print button, or select Print from the XLGradebook menu.
The selected columns will be printed out, arranged next to each other.

Saving
You can use Excels normal Save facility to save a copy of the whole workbook. The Save facility provided in
XLGradebook allows you to save in other formats.
1. Copy of workbook (same as Excels File | Save)
2. Markers copy. Saves the selected columns to a file. Extra sheets and most of the macros are not saved, but
some useful basic ones are retained for markers to use.
3. Plain copy. Saves a copy of the selected columns to a file. Extra sheets and macros are removed from the saved
file.
4. Comma-delimited file. Saves the selected columns to a comma-delimited file.

Sending emails to students

If you have Microsoft Outlook installed, you can send emails directly to students from XLGradebook. The Email tool
allows you to create emails from information in 1 or more columns:
Column 1:

The email addresses of the students

Column 2:

The subject of the emails. Can be the same for all students, or tailored for different students.

Column 3:

The body of the emails. Can be the same for all students, or tailored for different students.
There is a tool to combine a number of columns containing information for different
paragraphs in the body.

Columns 4,5,6, etc:

Attachments. If a column has an associated marking sheet (based on XLMarksheet see

earlier section) the marking sheets for students are attached. Or an attachment column can
contain the name of a file to attach, which can be the same for each student or vary form
student-to-student.

Last column:

Can be used to record information relating to the outcome. Usually this is the date at which
the email is sent, but contains other information if a problem has occurred preventing the
email from being sent.

10

Processing results - summing, rescaling, assigning lettergrades, etc

At the end of the teaching period you will probably want to do things like add up test scores, do rescaling, get a final
total mark (out of 100, say) and assign lettergrades. All of these operations can be carried out by in the XLGrades.xls
workbook by selecting the column(s) you wish to operate on and selecting the desired operation from the
XLGradebook menu. There are usually options depending on precisely what you want to do.
Summing can be a weighted sum or a sum with all component scores counting equally. The result is easily
rescaleable at any time.
Rescaling can a simple linear rescaling (so that 5/10 becomes 10/20, for example). It can also be more complicated maybe you want to lower the pass mark to 45% without altering other cut-off marks - to do this you enter the From
and To information on the Rescale sheet. If you only want to alter one cut-off mark you can repeat From and To
values in the table (for example the values in this table:
From
100
45
0
0
0
0
0

To
100
50
0
0
0
0
0

simply lowers the pass mark (which is 50% here) to 45 without forcing 80 to stay at 80, for example.) You can also
rescale only one subgroup of students results.
If you want to assign lettergrades, the actual labels and their cut-off scores are on the LetterGrades sheet.
You can only carry out one rescaling using the Rescale sheet and one assigning of lettergrades at a time you will
be prompted so that before doing another you first must fix the results (up until then the results will update if
changes are made on the Rescale or LetterGrades sheets.)

Summaries
You might want to obtain summaries of the marks; maybe you also want to do it for different subgroups of students
and compare.
To obtain overall summaries of a particular item, click on any cell in the column you wish summarise and click
Summarise on the XLGradebook menu. Summaries of the marks appear on the Summaries sheet. If you now select
students using the Select facility, the results on the Summaries sheet will apply for that group. (Note that unlike
Selecting, Filtering does not actually remove students it hides ones that do not match the criteria. So if Filtering is
applied, information on the Summaries sheet will continue to apply to the whole group.)
You can obtain summaries for subgroups of students all at once by selecting the column of marks you wish to
summarise (as above) but before clicking Summarise selecting a cell in the column containing the group names
(dont forget that Row 1 of the grouping column must contain a name describing the groups - maybe Teacher). (As
described previously, if the second column is not adjacent to the first use Ctrl- or Command-Click to select it). Now
when Summarise is clicked the (group-by-group) summaries appear on the Group Summaries sheet - there is a
frequency chart (for up to 8 groups) and numerical summaries (for up to 25 groups).
When Lettergrades are assigned, summaries of the results appear on the LetterGrades sheet.

11

Example/Tutorial
This example uses the example data in the shipped version of XLGradebook.xlsm.
The left-hand column has the step-by-step instructions. The right-hand column has comments and more details.

Simple editing
Simple editing will be covered as needed...

Layout and Freezing panes

1 On the Gradebook sheet, scroll backwards and forwards and
up and down - notice how the top 2 rows and a number of the
leftmost columns are always visible.

2 Click Options on the XLGradebook menu. Dont bother

changing anything - just see that this is where things like the
number of always visible columns is set and then click
Cancel.

In Excel, freezing panes is achieved by using Window Freeze

Panes - the rows above and to the left of the cell with the cursor are
frozen.
On the Gradebook sheet, the n ( 2) leftmost columns are always
visible. So are the top 2 rows. Student names & IDs go in the
leftmost columns, names of items in Row 1 and out of scores
(weightings) in Row 2. The name of the subject goes in A1, the
date is in Row 1 of the rightmost always visible column. You can
alter the number of always visible columns, etc, under Options on
the XLGradebook menu.

Sorting
1 On the Gradebook sheet, click on any cell in the column
labelled Group and click Sort to sort the students into their
groups.

You have to be careful if sorting by hand in Excel - you have to

make sure that ENTIRE ROWS are selected before sorting to keep
students results together.
The Sort button on the Gradebook sheet sorts the data according
to the currently selected column, keeping rows intact.

Searching & Entering Results

Lets enter some more Assignment 3 results into the column
labelled Assignment 3 (there are some entered already). And lets
pretend we had 500 students!
- Euler: 21
- Cauchy: 22 (It was a re-marking)
- Some-one who forgot to write their name,
ID = 94892415, got 28
1 Click on any cell in the column for Assignment 3.
2 Click Search and Data Entry. Note that an entire row is
selected data that is entered from the Sear and Data Entry
window will be recorded in that row. Start entering something
to identify a student.
3 When the student is found (watch the Found box) press Tab or
Enter to go down to the Data box and enter the data. Click or
press Enter. The data is entered into the highlighted row and
the boxes cleared ready for the next search.

To enter results by hand youd probably alphabeticalize the papers,

sort the data by Name or ID and go down the column entering as
you go. If you wish to locate a particular student, use Excels Edit
Find.
Search and Data Entry searches the whole worksheet starting
from the top and finds the first match to whatever is in the Search
for box. Data can be entered into columns selected before the
button was clicked. There is an Undo Last facility that undoes the
last entry (that works up until a new search is started).

12

Merging
Suppose that a marker had supplied the following marks for Test 9,
in a separate workbook.

To include these in the Gradebook you can copy-and-paste a copy

of the results below the existing ones on the Gradebook sheet, as
shown below.

Now the results can be merged:

1 Click on any cells in a key column. (As would be typical) we
use the ID column, Column A, so click on any cell in that
column.
2 Click Merge. Results for the same student will be merged if
there are no conflicts. In this data, there are two different
marks for Archimedes, so the merge operation stops and
allows you to resolve the conflict. In this case, simply delete
the 5 and press Continue.

Merging results form multiple sources can be carried out by reentering the results into your master file. XLGradebooks Merge
tool allows you to combine such files without the need to re-enter
results.

13

Sending Emails to Students (if MS Outlook is installed)

We want to send an email to the students containing their mark on
Assignment 3. Well provide the information for the emails in
columns to the right of the other results, but the columns could be
anywhere on the sheet.
1 Create a column containing email addresses of the students.
Click on T1 and type email addresses (or whatever). In T3,
T4, T5, etc, enter the emails for the students. For example:
archem@thebestuniversity.edu.au
cauchy@thebestuniversity.edu.au
descart@thebestuniversity.edu.au
etc
2 Enter the subject of the email in another column. Click on U1
and type Subject. In U3 enter Assignment 3 marks and fill
down to U12.
3 Well form the body from 3 separate paragraphs.
In V1 enter Body 1.
In V3 enter the formula
=Dear &B3
This will concatenate the word Dear with the students
name in B3, to form Dear Archimedes. Fill this formula
down to V12.
In W1 enter Body 2.
Well leave one blank line between the salutation and the
next paragraph, so enter 1 into W2.
In W3 enter the formula
=Your mark in Assignment 3 is &P3
Fill down to W12.
In X1 enter Body 3
In X2 enter 2 (well leave two blank rows before the next
paragraph)
In X3 enter your name and fill down the X12.
4 Now form the body by combining the paragraphs in columns V,
W and X:
Click on any cells in columns V,W and X
Click the Email button
Click Create email body. A new column V will be inserted
with the heading Body in row 1 and a formula to combine
the other columns in rows 3 to 12
5 Insert a column to record the outcome: click on column W and
Insert Column from Excels menu. Enter Outcome in W1.
6 Send the emails:
Select the students email address in Column T (i.e.
highlight T3 to T12)
Click on any cells in columns U, V and W (the headings
are usually the most convenient)
Click the Email button
Click Preview next email. The first email will be displayed.
If you are satisfied it is correct, you would normally sent it.
For this tutorial you probably want to cancel and delete it.
After you have done so you will be returned to
XLGradebook and asked if you sent it. If you click Yes the
date would be entered into column W, otherwise Not
sent.
Repeat for each other student. If you are satisfied with the
first few you would normally click Send all to send the rest
without any further prompts or previews.

If the extension is the same for all students, you can enter the just
the usernames (archem, Cauchy, descart, etc) and provide the
extension @thebestuniversity.edu.au in the appropriate box
under XLGradebook Options.

If you wish to send the same email to each student, you can enter
multiple paragraphs into one cell in Excel. You type a paragraph as
normal then press Alt + Enter to start a new paragraph.

If you do not wish to record the outcome, you dont need to create
the additional column or select it in the next step. Then when you
click the Email button, unclick the Record outcome box.
You are warned if an outcome is about to be recorded in a cell with
existing text.

14

15

Summing
Add up the three assignment results, weighted equally. And rescale
so the result is out of 25.
1 Select any cells in the columns to sum (labelled Assignment
1, Assignment 2 and Assignment 3) (if the columns were not
adjacent - or even if they are - click on the first, then Ctrl- or click to select others).
2 Click Sum Columns. Select Sum with the weights as in Row
2. Out of: 25. Name of Item: Total Assignment. Click OK. (A
new column is inserted with the summed scores.

Sum Scores allows two basic types of sums to be carried out you can sum with the weights as in Row 2 of the selected columns
or so that all scores are counted with equal weight. The results are
placed in a new column without disturbing any other results. The
results are rescalable at any time
When Summing, any text in the component columns is ignored
and (usually) evaluates to zero. Under Settings and Utilities is an
option to make it so that Excel returns an error in such a case
(which is handy for picking up gaps and errors).

Simple Rescaling
Rescale the Exam mark so it is out of 60.
1 Click on any cell in the column labelled Exam.
2 Click Rescale. Select Simple Linear Rescale and fill in the To
box with 60. Click OK. (A new column is inserted with the
rescaled scores. A * is added to the name of the item and this
is used as the name for the new item.

There is a simple formula for rescaling. The Rescale facility enters

this formula into a new column.

1 Sum the Test scores and rescale the result to be out of 15.
Make it so that all the component test scores are weighted
equally. Call the result Total Test.
2 Add up
Total Test
Total Assignment
Exam*
Use the weights as shown in Row 2 and call the result Total

Trickier Rescaling
Sometimes you want to alter students scores using a non-linear transformation (like, lowering the pass mark without altering
other cut-off marks for other grades.
Lower the pass mark to 45%, without changing the other cut-off
You could use Excels formulas (IF statements, etc) to carry out this
marks.
more complicated rescaling. It can also be done using Excels tablelooking-up (database) functions.
1 Click on any cell in the Total column.
2 Click Rescale, check Rescale using information on Rescale
XLGradebooks Rescaling using information on Rescale sheet
sheet and OK. This will make a new column called Total *.
inserts a new column into the worksheet with a formula that refers
3 Initially Total* will be the same as Total, but click over to the
to the information in the From/To table on the Rescale sheet. The
Rescale sheet and alter the From and To values as shown
values in this new column change as the data in the From/To table
below.
change (or if students results are changed, of course). One little
From
100
80
70
60
45
0
0

To
100
80
70
60
50
0
0

Now the Total* column will have the rescaled scores.

proviso: you can only carry out one such rescaling at a time - to do
another you have Fix the first (this appears in the Rescale dialog
box) and after fixing the values in the rescaled column will not
update.

16

Advanced Filtering
Filter out the students who failed the exam (Exam* < 29.5) but
passed overall (TOTAL* >= 49.5).
1 Click on any cells in the Exam* and TOTAL* columns
2 Click Filter. Enter <29.5 in the Exam* box and >=49.5 in the
TOTAL* box. Click Apply Criteria.
3 Click Unfilter Students when you are done.

Excels Data > Advanced Filter allows for complicated filtering

criteria to be applied to filter out a set of students. (Its a bit of
mucking around - you have to set up a special range of cells with
the criteria.)
XLGradebooks Filter provides an easy-to-use interface into Excels
Advanced Filtering.

Handling conditions
How do you handle things like Students have to pass the exam, or giving the maximum of scores computed in two different
ways?
Students are to be given the maximum of their score (as computed
You can handle conditions like the ones described above in a
for TOTAL*) and their Exam mark.
number of ways. Sometimes the easiest is to make up separate
columns using the possible scoring systems take the maximum
1 Choose a blank column to the right of the others. In the cell on
(using Excels MAX function). Or sometimes you might need to use
row 1 enter MAX TOTAL*, Exam.
the If function.
2 On the cell on row 2 enter the formula =MAX(S2,V2).
3 Highlight rows 2 to 12 in the column and Edit Fill Down.

Summarizing results
Determine relevant summaries for the MAX TOTAL*, EXAM scores.
1 Click on any cell in the column to summarize and Click
Summarize. Relevant summaries are then on the Summaries
sheet.
Get summaries for selected subgroups of students, say the W9-11
group.
2 Sort by the Group column (click on any cell in the column and
click Sort).
3 Select any cells in the rows of the W9-11 students and click
Select. Now the results on the Summaries sheet applies only
to the selected students.
4 Click Unselect to get whole lot back, as they were before.

The summaries on the Summaries sheet apply to the results in the

selected column (even if other columns are inserted or removed).
The summaries update if results are changed, of course.
To display results for a subset of students you have to first Select
them. This actually creates a copy of the whole worksheet then
removes the unwanted students (Filtering just hides rows without
actually removing them so that charts, etc, still apply to the whole
lot, so it doesnt do the job). When in Select Students mode you
should not change any students results because theyll be lost
when you get the whole lot back (UnSelect) - you are warned if you
try!

Group-by-Group Summarizing
Sometimes you want group-by-group summaries of results so you can compare them.
1 Click on any cell in the MAX TOTAL*, EXAM column THEN
If two columns - a results column and then a Grouping column
Ctrl- or -click on the Group column (D).
are selected (in that order) clicking Summarize produces group-by2 Now when you click Summarize the results appear on the
group summaries on the Group Summaries sheet. This sheet acts
Group Summaries sheet - there are summaries for each group,
in much the same way as the Summaries sheet (the summaries
making comparisons easy. (Of course, with such a small group
update if students results are changed, subgroups of students can
the frequency chart looks a bit weak!)
be Selected, for example).

17

Assigning Letter Grades

Assign the Letter Grades corresponding to the scores in MAX
TOTAL*, EXAM.
1 Click on any cell in the MAX TOTAL*, EXAM column
2 Click Assign Letter Grades. A new column (called GRADES)
is added with the lettergrades in it.
3 Click on the LetterGrades sheet to see summaries of these
(the proportions of the various grades awarded).

XLGradebooks Assign lettergrades inserts a new column (called

GRADES) with a formula that refers to information on the
LetterGrades sheets (the actual codes used and cut-off marks). It
also puts summaries showing the proportions of the various grades
awarded on the LetterGrades sheet. Only one set of letter grades
can be assigned at a time - you have to Fix the grades before
doing any more - up until then, though, everything will update if
changes are made. Text (like pre-assigned or special grades) can
be inserted into the column used to determine the lettergrades - itll
just be copied over into the GRADES column.

Support, Upgrades, Home Page, Bugs & Fixes and Author Contact Details
XLGradebook Home page: http://www.deakin.edu.au/~rodneyc/XLGradebook
For Deakin University: http://www.deakin.edu.au/~rodneyc/XLGradebook/DU
Upgrades to this product can be downloaded from the XLGradebook home page.
Every attempt has been made to ensure that XLGradebook is free of bugs, but if any are found please
report them to the author. Because the working for each sheet is not hidden it is often possible to
provide fixes without needing a whole new workbook. Bugs and fixes are recorded in a file called
XLGHist.doc that can be downloaded from the XLGradebook home page.
The usual disclaimer (Im not viable for any indirect or consequential damages caused by errors
in the program) applies.
Author:
Dr Rodney Carr
14 McGhie Road
Allansford, VIC 3277
Australia
Work:
Deakin Graduate School of Business
Faculty of Business and Law
Deakin University Warrnambool
WARRNAMBOOL VIC 3280
AUSTRALIA
Phone: (03) 5563 3458
Mobile 0417 307 692
Fax: (03) 5563 3320
e-mail: rodneyc@deakin.edu.au
web: http://www.deakin.edu.au/~rodneyc