My stand alone Moodle 1.9 is a little newer than yours, not sure when this feature came in, but try this. Go to the gradebook, go to the full view. There should be a box at the top that says, "Agregate only non-zero grades." Check that box. That should allow that grade to be included in the total only if there is actually a grade in it and ignore when there is not.
Paula
Thanks for the reply. I should have indicated that I do have Aggregate only non-empty grades checked for the main category and for all subcategories.. I dont have a Aggregate only non-zero grades.
I attached a screen shot of what I see
Thanks!
Tiffany
As you indicate in your op "Aggregate only non-empty grades" isn't going to work with Sum of grades aggregation. Thought about this for a while and the only thing I came up with is to use the LAE Grader -- it uses accurate points with all aggregation types so you would be able to rely on the "Aggregate only non-empty grades".