Preliminary Microbiology Grade Calculator

Website: https://calebhendren.github.io/micrograde/

Disclaimer: This tool is informational. The official final letter grade is calculated by the instructor of record.

Privacy and data

• All calculations run client-side in your browser.
• No grades are uploaded or sent to any server.
• Scores are saved to your browser's local storage so they persist between visits.

Purpose

• Enter scores for your assessments and view your running course grade.
• See your current letter grade and what you need to reach higher thresholds.
• See whether the replacement policy benefits your grade.

Section types

The calculator supports three section formats. On first visit you choose your section type, and the app remembers your choice.

Separate Lecture & Lab (550 points)

For sections where lecture and lab are graded independently and combined into a 550-point total.

Lecture (400 pts)

Assessment	Max
Unit 1 Exam	100
Unit 2 Exam	100
Unit 3 Exam	100
Final Exam	100

Lab (150 pts)

Assessment	Max
Lab Quizzes (10×)	3 each, 30 total
Skills Tests (5×)	1 each, 5 total
Midterm Exam	50
Final Exam	50
Pathogen Project	15

Letter-grade thresholds

Grade	Points
A	493+
B	438–492
C	383–437
D	355–382
F	0–354

Hybrid: Online Lecture + On-Ground Lab (550 points)

For BIOL 2230 hybrid sections — online lecture (proctored on-campus exams) with an on-ground lab. Based on the published BIOL 2230 hybrid syllabus.

Online Lecture (400 pts)

Assessment	Max
Online Quizzes (10×)	10 each, 100 total
Midterm Exam (proctored)	150
Final Exam (proctored)	150

On-Ground Lab (150 pts)

Assessment	Max
Lab Quizzes (10×)	3 each, 30 total
Skills Tests (5×)	1 each, 5 total
Practical Midterm Exam	50
Practical Final Exam	50
Pathogen Project	15

Letter-grade thresholds (same as Separate mode)

Grade	Points
A	493+
B	438–492
C	383–437
D	355–382
F	0–354

The hybrid syllabus does not include a replacement policy; the calculator reflects this.

Integrated Lecture/Lab (weighted percentages)

For sections where lecture and lab are combined into a single weighted grade.

Assessment	Max Score	Weight
Unit 1 Exam	100	24%
Unit 2 Exam	75	24%
Unit 3 Exam	75	24%
Final Exam	100	24%
Skills Tests (5×)	1 each	1%
Pathogen Project	15	3%

Raw scores are converted to percentages before applying weights.

Letter-grade scale

Grade	Percentage
A	90–100%
B	80–89.9%
C	70–79.9%
D	65–69.9%
F	below 65%

Replacement policy

In Separate and Integrated modes, the Final Exam score replaces the lowest Unit Exam score if the replacement benefits the student's grade. In integrated mode, comparison is by percentage since exams have different point maximums. Hybrid mode does not use a replacement policy (the hybrid syllabus does not specify one).

Skills tests

All three modes break skills tests into five individual assessments (0 or 1 each):

1. Aseptic Technique
2. Oil Immersion
3. Slide Staining
4. Bacterial Isolation
5. Biochemical ID

What the app displays

• Which unit exam was replaced by the final (if applicable).
• Subtotals and percentages for each grading category.
• Current letter grade.
• Points or percentage needed to reach the next threshold(s).
• In integrated mode with partial scores entered: the average needed on remaining assessments for each letter grade.

Themes (light & dark)

The calculator ships with three light themes and three dark themes. A theme picker and a one-click light/dark toggle live in the header. The first-visit theme follows the visitor's operating-system prefers-color-scheme; afterwards the choice is remembered per browser.

Mode	Theme
Light	Light (default)
Light	Sepia
Light	High Contrast (Light) — WCAG AAA
Dark	Dracula
Dark	Nord
Dark	High Contrast (Dark) — WCAG AAA

Instructors can change the default theme — or disable the toggle entirely — in config.js (ui.defaultTheme, ui.allowThemeToggle).

Accessibility

The interface targets WCAG 2.1 AA and supports common university accessibility requirements:

• Semantic landmarks (header, main, footer) and a visible-on-focus skip-to-content link.
• Every input has a programmatically associated <label>. Inputs without visible labels use aria-label.
• Live regions (aria-live="polite") announce updated totals, replacement messages, and the letter grade.
• Keyboard navigation throughout; visible :focus-visible outlines that remain visible in all themes.
• The two High Contrast themes meet WCAG AAA (7:1) on body text and respect the OS forced-colors mode (@media (forced-colors: active)).
• Color is never the sole indicator of meaning — the letter grade is always present as text.
• Respects prefers-reduced-motion and prefers-color-scheme.
• Number inputs use inputmode="decimal" for soft-keyboard support and have min/max attributes for assistive validation.

If you discover an accessibility issue, please open an issue on GitHub.

Use

1. Visit https://calebhendren.github.io/micrograde/
2. Select your section type.
3. Enter your scores.

For instructors

Customize via config.js

All course-specific values — assessments, point maxima, weights, letter-grade thresholds, the replacement policy, mode labels, the GitHub link, and the default theme — live in a single file, config.js at the repository root. No build step, no JavaScript bundler, no framework. Edit, save, push.

Examples:

// Change letter-grade thresholds for the 550-point modes
window.MICROGRADE_CONFIG.separate.thresholds = { A: 500, B: 445, C: 390, D: 360 };

// Disable a mode entirely
window.MICROGRADE_CONFIG.modes.integrated.enabled = false;

// Force a specific default theme and hide the picker
window.MICROGRADE_CONFIG.ui.defaultTheme = 'light-contrast';
window.MICROGRADE_CONFIG.ui.allowThemeToggle = false;

// Add a "replacement policy" to a points-based mode (Separate / Hybrid)
window.MICROGRADE_CONFIG.hybrid.lecture.replacement = {
    sourceId: 'lecFin',
    replaceableIds: ['lecMid'],
};

// Rename or re-weight an exam
window.MICROGRADE_CONFIG.integrated.exams[1].max = 100;
window.MICROGRADE_CONFIG.integrated.exams[1].weight = 20;

Separate and Hybrid share the same points-based schema (storageKey, totalPoints, thresholds, lecture.components, lecture.replacement, lab), so you can copy one and edit it to add additional course variants. The header of config.js documents every supported field.

Fork and adapt

• Fork this repository and edit config.js for your syllabus.
• For deeper changes (new assessment types, custom replacement rules), edit the relevant module in js/.

Publish as a GitHub Pages site

1. Repository → Settings → Pages.
2. Build and deployment → Source: Deploy from a branch.
3. Branch: master. Folder: / (root). Save.
4. Access at https://<your-username>.github.io/<repo-name>/.

No build step is required — the project is plain HTML, CSS, and ES modules, all served directly by GitHub Pages.

Project layout

.
├── index.html         # Minimal HTML shell — landmarks and mount points
├── config.js          # Instructor-editable configuration
├── css/
│   ├── base.css       # Resets, layout, typography
│   ├── components.css # Cards, forms, buttons, pills, theme picker
│   └── themes.css     # 6 themes via CSS custom properties
├── js/
│   ├── app.js         # Entry point — boots the app
│   ├── themes.js      # Theme registry, picker, light/dark toggle
│   ├── pointsCalc.js  # Generic points calculator (Separate + Hybrid modes)
│   ├── integrated.js  # Weighted-percent integrated-mode calculator
│   ├── dom.js         # DOM helpers (element builder, number parsing)
│   └── storage.js     # localStorage helpers with safe failure
└── README.md