Drop the lowest grade

Instructors can exclude a student’s lowest score from grade calculations in two main ways:

• Manually, using exemptions
• Automatically, by configuring a grade category to drop the lowest item

Manually exempt a grade item

Use Bulk edit exemptions to manually exclude a grade item for an individual learner.

To exempt a learner from a grade:

1. On your course homepage, navigate to Grades.
2. Click the Actions drop-down menu beside a learner's name and click Bulk edit exemptions.
   

3. On the Edit Grade Exemptions page, under the Exempt column, select the checkbox for each grade item you want to drop.
   Note: You can exempt or drop more than one grade item.
   
4. Click Save and Close.

The exempted assessment displays as Exempt in the learner’s grade column and is excluded from their final grade calculation.

Automatically drop the lowest grade using a category

You can configure a grade category to automatically drop the lowest grade item for each learner.

To automatically drop the lowest grade:

1. On your course homepage, navigate to Grades.
2. Select the Manage Grades tab.
3. Do one of the following:

• To create a new grade category: Click Newand select Category.
• To edit an existing category: Click the Actions (arrow) menu and select Edit.

• In the category settings, scroll to the Distribution section.
• Select Distribute points across all items.
• In Number of lowest non-bonus items to drop for each user, enter 1 (or more, if desired).
• Click Save and Close.

The system automatically excludes the lowest scoring item(s) from each learner’s grade calculation for the category and the final grade.

Important: The Drop lowest option is only available when: The category distributes points equally (not manually assigned weights). When using Points, if the point value is set at the Category level, all items within the category will share the same maximum point value.

Requirements & Limitations for Automatic Dropping

To use the automatic drop feature, the following conditions must be met:

• All non-bonus items in the category must have the same maximum point value.
• The category must distribute points or weight equally
• Items must be non-bonus.
• You cannot drop the lowest item across categories (only within a single category).

If you're using a Formula grading system:

• Exclude the item from the formula in a custom formula setup.

Interaction with grade calculations

Final vs Interim Grade Calculation

• The Final Calculated Grade reflects all configured dropping rules (manual and automatic).
• The Calculation > Grade item to include option, used for interim or on-demand calculations, may still include dropped items in the calculation.

This may result in interim grades not matching the Final Calculated Grade, which can cause confusion for instructors and learners.

Note: This behavior is governed by the d2l.Tools.Grades.CalcGradeItem.CalculationMethod configuration variable. When set to Milestone Calculation (default), dropped grades are included in interim or on-demand calculations. When set to Final Grade Calculation, dropped grades are excluded consistently. Contact your Brightspace administrator to confirm which setting your organization uses.