How do I manage relative grading weight values?

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Buzz makes it easy to weight activities individually or by category.

What are grading weight values?

When you create or edit gradable activities, you may encounter a prompt asking you to define an activity’s Weight in category* using an editable field. This number defines how much impact that activity’s grade has on the final grade, relative to the other gradable activities in the same Grading Category and/or course. The ability to easily assign activities different weights allows you to more precisely assess student performance on the most critical competencies and personalize your attention based on that performance.

What are grading weight values?

*Weight in category is not available in courses using Multi-Outcome Scoring.

Configure grading weight values

Buzz determines relativity by comparing each assigned weight value, so to fully understand the significance of the an individual activity’s weight, you need to know the values assigned to the other activities. To easily review and edit all activity weight values:

  1. Navigate to the Editor using the Main Menu, and select the Weights tab.
  2. This page lists all gradable activities within their assigned categories. Use the categories dropdown to limit the activities displayed by category. Check the Show empty box to include categories with no gradable activities.
  3. From here you can:
    • Edit weight values in the Weight column.
    • Review the percentages each weighted value creates.
    • Move activities between categories by dragging them to the desired category.
    • Edit, Preview, or Delete activities using the menu at the far right of each.
Configure grading weight values

If you want to weight activities only against the other activities in the same category, and then weigh the categories against each other:

  1. Open Course Settings in the Editor toolbar and select the Gradebook tab.
  2. Check the Use weighted categories box in the Grading Categories card.
  3. Save.

With this box unchecked, all activities are weighed against each other regardless of category.

Additional articles


  • The green percentages in the Syllabus page represent scores that include extra credit.
  • It’s important to understand how scores are weighted when assigning gradable personalized activities, so you understand how they will affect final grades.
