Guide
How Canvas What-If grades work
Canvas lets you type a hypothetical score into any assignment on your Grades page and watch the course total move. It is the fastest way to answer "what happens if I get an 80 on the midterm." Here is exactly how it behaves, what it saves, and the questions it cannot answer on its own.
Canvas labels every What-If total with that warning. Nothing you type reaches your instructor or the gradebook.
Enter a What-If score in four steps
- 01Open Grades. In the course, choose Grades from the course navigation. On the global Grades page, click a course name first.
- 02Click the score cell. Any assignment with a posted grade, or no grade yet, turns into a text box. Canvas announces "Enter a What-If score."
- 03Type a score and press Enter. Enter points, not a percentage, on the assignment's own scale. The cell changes style and a revert arrow appears beside it.
- 04Read the sidebar total. The course total, and each assignment group total if the course is weighted, recalculates with your What-If score included.
The same weighted-group math, without logging in to Canvas.
Saved scores, reverting, and the graded-only setting
What-If scores are saved to your own view of the course, which is why the sidebar has a Show Saved What-If Scores button: if Grades loads with your real scores, that button restores the hypotheticals you entered last time. To go back, click the arrow next to any changed score or use Revert to Actual Score in the sidebar; reverting clears the saved value too.
The checkbox Calculate based only on graded assignments sits under the total and is on by default. With it on, ungraded work drops out of the divisor and your total reflects only what has been scored. A What-If score on an ungraded assignment counts as graded, which is how you test a future exam. Turn the checkbox off and every blank becomes a zero, the "if I stop now" view. Weighted courses rescale the group weights accordingly; the Canvas grade calculator shows that math step by step.
Where What-If stops
- Unposted grades block entry. If the instructor has not posted an assignment's grades, the cell shows a "not posted" indicator and cannot take a What-If score.
- One assignment at a time. There is no way to type a target total and have Canvas solve for the score you need; you adjust and re-read until it matches.
- One course at a time. What-If lives inside a single course's Grades page, so a semester-wide picture means repeating the exercise per course.
- Group rules still apply. Dropped lowest scores, excused assignments, and extra credit are handled by Canvas's rules, so a What-If score may change the total less or more than you expect.
When to use Assignly's Grade Rescue instead
What-If is the right tool when you have one hypothetical and one course. It gets tedious when the real question is "what do I need on everything left to end with a B," or when the answer spans five courses that are all sliding at once.
Assignly connects with your school login and reads the same assignment groups, weights, and scores Canvas uses, then works the problem backwards: pick a target letter and Grade Rescue shows the score you need on the remaining work, which assignments move the grade most, and how every course is trending on one screen. Every projection is labeled an estimate, and nothing is written to Canvas. It is the calculator you wish the Grades page had, sitting next to the assignments you can still act on.
- Target-first. Choose the grade you want; see what each remaining assignment needs.
- Cross-course. Every course's current grade and projection together, not one Grades page at a time.
- Tied to the work. The assignment that matters most is one click from a reviewable draft you finish and submit yourself.
What-If grade questions
How do I enter a What-If grade in Canvas?
Open the course, go to Grades, and click the score cell of any assignment. Type a hypothetical score and press Enter. The total in the sidebar recalculates with that score in place of the real one.
Are What-If scores saved?
Yes. Canvas stores each What-If score with your own view of the course, so it is still there the next time you open Grades. If the page loads with real scores, use the "Show Saved What-If Scores" button in the sidebar to bring them back.
Can my instructor see my What-If scores?
No. What-If scores change only what you see on your Grades page. Your instructor's gradebook, your official total, and any grade posted to your transcript are untouched.
How do I undo a What-If score?
Click the revert arrow that appears next to a changed score to restore that one assignment, or use "Revert to Actual Score" in the sidebar. Reverting also clears the saved What-If value.
Why can't I enter a What-If score on some assignments?
What-If entry is turned off for assignments whose grades the instructor has not posted yet; Canvas shows a "not posted" indicator instead of a score. It is also unavailable if the course hides quantitative grade data from students.
What does "Calculate based only on graded assignments" do with What-If scores?
It is checked by default and leaves ungraded work out of your total. A What-If score you type into an ungraded assignment counts as graded for that calculation. Uncheck it and every remaining blank counts as zero, which shows the worst case if you stopped submitting.