Is the average always the best measure?

No. If scores are heavily skewed or have outliers, the median may better represent typical performance.

What does a high standard deviation mean?

A high SD means scores are widely spread. This could indicate varied preparation levels or an assessment with a wide difficulty range.

This tool supports 6 scores. For larger classes, use a spreadsheet or enter representative sample scores.

Compute the class average from a set of student scores, along with the range and standard deviation.

Score 1

Score 2

Score 3

Score 4

Score 5

Score 6

Class Average

80.2

Highest Score91.0

Lowest Score68.0

Standard Deviation8.43

Class Average vs Score 1

The class average (mean) is the sum of all scores divided by the number of students.

Average = Sum of Scores / Number of Students

Standard Deviation = sqrt(Sum of (Score - Mean)^2 / N)

The standard deviation tells you how spread out the scores are. A smaller SD means students performed more uniformly.

Six student scores: 85, 72, 91, 68, 77, 88.