### I would really appreciate information about scales.

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I would really appreciate information about scales.

A but of explanation here but bear with me....

Since I do not grade on the conventional % rate and use points issued for grades, I have never been able to get the automated category totals to work. I realize that I am asking for something the system is not designed for but feel that if I could understand what is happening maybe I can make it work for me.

I issue a certain number of points for a project.  In one case 378.  If a student turns in a project exactly as described in the assignment then they get  a C or 50% of the points available.  Adding some personal touches will net a B or 75% of the points.  If a student goes beyond the book and finds attributes on the internet etc, the grade is A or 100% of the points available.

I have found it very useful to create a scale as follows:

0, F, 170, D-,174,  D, 181, D+, 193, C-, 208, C, 227, C+, 249, B-, 276, B, 306, B+,340,  A-, 378, A

When I grade, I evaluate by grade then use the scale as a look up for the appropriate number of points.  To determine term grade, I export to a spread sheet and cross sum and then apply a curve.  So far, it serves me well.

I then see some incredibly bizarre calculations for the automated columns and have switched them off or have hidden them.  Apparently, the system does not take the number from the grade field to manipulate but the number of entries in the scale.  It was suggested that I fill the scale with 378 entries as place holders but this is unwieldy.

Is there some reason the system does not work mathematically instead?

Re: I would really appreciate information about scales.

If you could post a screenshot of your grades, with arrows pointing to what you consider "difficult", then maybe we could help explain what the math is doing and what the "incredibly bizarre" scores are doing, logically. Then perhaps you could adjust how you are seeing the numbers to make more sense.

Re: I would really appreciate information about scales.

Posting a screen shot is not going to be easy.  I have gone to great lengths to hide anything that did not make sense to the students. Trying to find them again is not really a high priority.

Maybe this can be answered in a different way:
Here are two generations of a scale that I have used:

NA, 0, F, 85, D-, 87, D, 91, D, 96, C-, 104, C, 113, C+, 115, B-, 138, B, 153, B+, 170, A-, 189, A , 0, NA, 189

and when someone suggested that calculations are based on number of entries rather than actual value selected I used:

0, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 25, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 50, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 75, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 100, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 125, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 150, , , , , , , , , , , , , NA, 0, F, 85, D-, 87, D, 91, D, 96, C-, 104, C, 113, C+, 115, B-, 138, B, 153, B+, 170, A-, 189, A , 0, NA, 189

As far as grading goes they work extremely well but it really confuses Moodle in the calculated statistical columns.  In this last version, in some cases, Category Total was working better.  For the moment, whether or not I have 189 place holders is important but not all that significant at this time.

Another idea is that if I want 189 scale then I have to place every number between 0 and 189 in the scale but this would be ridiculous.

Conversation welcome.
Meanwhile, I will look for a more specifiker example.

Re: I would really appreciate information about scales.

Scales are just as you've described -- each placeholder counts for one point.  Customizable scales have been a long-sought enhancement.

Might I suggest having you look at the LAE Grader report plugin.  Most schools go to it because it scrolls both directions without losing the student columns or the grade header rows.  One of the other features is optionally calculating accurate point totals for categories and courses.  Seems like you'd save yourself a lot of time if you maintained your letter grades, used accurate point totals and allowed the LAE Grader report to calculate it all (it doesn't change any values in the grades tables).