The normalized scores for the various assignments are averaged together to provide a composite number than can be used to rank students in terms of overall performance. Similar rankings are produced from the normalized scores on the midterm and final exams.

It is the ranking that is the point of this whole process. Over the course of a semester, I will become very familiar with the work of some students, both strong and weak, and will have a pretty good idea of what grade-level they are performing at. By computing a reliable and statistially valid ranking, I can then determine where the students whose work I am less certain of should fall in relation to those others.