Using formaulas to find averages

[lostweasel]

Right so i have a table with grades of about 30 students from 6 tests. the grades ranging from (5c,5b,5a,6c,6b,6a) i would like to find the average grade of the individual students.

Do i need to make excel believe that 5c=1 5b=2 etc so it can work out an average based on the numbers or is it easier to create a new mirrored table using a formula to change any values equal to the grade into the correct number, then creating the averages using this table?

I feel like ive jumped in the deep end a bit.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[finspa]

Can you use median or mode averages rather than mean?

 

[lostweasel]

Not really, the aim is to find the average level the student is working at not the middle grade or the most occurring grade.

 

[lostweasel]

For example if the student has 2 grades out of 6 at the highest level and the rest are the 4 lowest grades then the mode average would say they are working at the highest level when that is untrue.

 

[gaz_chops]

I would suggest you use the table to lookup the values for 5a etc, then use average on that data.

You could then use the same table to convert the average back to a grade.

 

[finspa]

ARe you planning on pivoting the data to see what is the average grade in class, school etc?