Mark sheet to ranks and grades with Python

Teachers and class representatives do this every exam: add up five subjects, work out the percentage and grade, rank the class and find the topper in each subject.

This program does all of it for a class in one go. Change the pass mark below and press Run to see who would need a re-test.

Mark sheet → ranks and grades

CBSE-style totals, grades, ranks and subject toppers for a whole class.

Pass mark per subject

→ press Run. The first run downloads Python (~4 MB, cached after that).

The Python behind it · 29 lines

1pass_mark = 40  # out of 100, per subject
2
3# Class 12 marks: Maths, Physics, Chemistry, English, CS
4students = {
5    "Aarav": [92, 88, 79, 85, 98], "Diya": [78, 91, 88, 93, 95],
6    "Kabir": [65, 58, 72, 80, 88], "Meera": [99, 94, 96, 90, 97],
7    "Rohan": [45, 52, 38, 70, 66], "Sana": [84, 79, 91, 88, 90],
8    "Vihaan": [71, 66, 69, 75, 82], "Ishita": [88, 95, 90, 84, 93],
9}
10
11def grade(pct):
12    for cutoff, g in [(91, "A1"), (81, "A2"), (71, "B1"), (61, "B2"), (51, "C1"), (41, "C2")]:
13        if pct >= cutoff:
14            return g
15    return "D"
16
17ranked = sorted(students.items(), key=lambda kv: -sum(kv[1]))
18print(f"{'Rank':<5}{'Name':<8}{'Total':>6}{'%':>7}  Grade  Result")
19for rank, (name, marks) in enumerate(ranked, start=1):
20    pct = sum(marks) / 5
21    failed = [m for m in marks if m < pass_mark]
22    result = "PASS" if not failed else f"Re-test ({len(failed)})"
23    print(f"{rank:<5}{name:<8}{sum(marks):>6}{pct:>7.1f}  {grade(pct):<5}  {result}")
24
25subjects = ["Maths", "Physics", "Chemistry", "English", "CS"]
26print("\nSubject toppers:")
27for i, subject in enumerate(subjects):
28    top = max(students, key=lambda n: students[n][i])
29    print(f"  {subject:<10} {top} ({students[top][i]})")

How the code works, step by step

1.Keep marks in a dictionary

Each student's name maps to a list of five marks in a fixed subject order. A dictionary of lists is a natural shape for a mark sheet.

3# Class 12 marks: Maths, Physics, Chemistry, English, CS
4students = {
5    "Aarav": [92, 88, 79, 85, 98], "Diya": [78, 91, 88, 93, 95],
6    "Kabir": [65, 58, 72, 80, 88], "Meera": [99, 94, 96, 90, 97],
7    "Rohan": [45, 52, 38, 70, 66], "Sana": [84, 79, 91, 88, 90],
8    "Vihaan": [71, 66, 69, 75, 82], "Ishita": [88, 95, 90, 84, 93],
9}

2.Turn a percentage into a grade

grade() walks a list of (cutoff, grade) pairs from the top and returns the first one the percentage reaches. Changing the grading scheme means editing one list, not a chain of if statements.

11def grade(pct):
12    for cutoff, g in [(91, "A1"), (81, "A2"), (71, "B1"), (61, "B2"), (51, "C1"), (41, "C2")]:
13        if pct >= cutoff:
14            return g
15    return "D"

3.Rank the class

sorted with key=lambda kv: -sum(kv[1]) orders students by total, highest first, and enumerate(start=1) numbers the ranks. A list comprehension finds every subject below the pass mark.

17ranked = sorted(students.items(), key=lambda kv: -sum(kv[1]))
18print(f"{'Rank':<5}{'Name':<8}{'Total':>6}{'%':>7}  Grade  Result")
19for rank, (name, marks) in enumerate(ranked, start=1):
20    pct = sum(marks) / 5
21    failed = [m for m in marks if m < pass_mark]
22    result = "PASS" if not failed else f"Re-test ({len(failed)})"
23    print(f"{rank:<5}{name:<8}{sum(marks):>6}{pct:>7.1f}  {grade(pct):<5}  {result}")

4.Find each subject's topper

max with a key function returns the student with the highest mark in subject i. It is the same max you know, just told what to compare.

25subjects = ["Maths", "Physics", "Chemistry", "English", "CS"]
26print("\nSubject toppers:")
27for i, subject in enumerate(subjects):
28    top = max(students, key=lambda n: students[n][i])
29    print(f"  {subject:<10} {top} ({students[top][i]})")

Make it yours

Read the marks from a CSV exported from Excel or Google Sheets.
Give students with equal totals the same rank.
Write each student's result to its own text file to print or share.

The lessons that teach this, in order

1. Lists & Looping 2. Functions 3. Dictionaries

Build it yourself, step by step Start with Lists & Looping

Questions

Is this good for a CBSE Class 11 or 12 project?: It uses the topics in the Class 11 and 12 Python syllabus (lists, dictionaries, functions, loops and sorting), so it makes a good starting point. Add file handling and your own data to make it your project.
Are these the official CBSE grade cutoffs?: They follow the familiar A1 to D pattern but are an example. Check your board's current scheme and change the list in grade() to match it.

1pass_mark = 40 # out of 100, per subject

3# Class 12 marks: Maths, Physics, Chemistry, English, CS

4students = {

5 "Aarav": [92, 88, 79, 85, 98], "Diya": [78, 91, 88, 93, 95],

6 "Kabir": [65, 58, 72, 80, 88], "Meera": [99, 94, 96, 90, 97],

7 "Rohan": [45, 52, 38, 70, 66], "Sana": [84, 79, 91, 88, 90],

8 "Vihaan": [71, 66, 69, 75, 82], "Ishita": [88, 95, 90, 84, 93],

11def grade(pct):

12 for cutoff, g in [(91, "A1"), (81, "A2"), (71, "B1"), (61, "B2"), (51, "C1"), (41, "C2")]:

13 if pct >= cutoff:

14 return g

15 return "D"

17ranked = sorted(students.items(), key=lambda kv: -sum(kv[1]))

18print(f"{'Rank':<5}{'Name':<8}{'Total':>6}{'%':>7} Grade Result")

19for rank, (name, marks) in enumerate(ranked, start=1):

20 pct = sum(marks) / 5

21 failed = [m for m in marks if m < pass_mark]

22 result = "PASS" if not failed else f"Re-test ({len(failed)})"

23 print(f"{rank:<5}{name:<8}{sum(marks):>6}{pct:>7.1f} {grade(pct):<5} {result}")

25subjects = ["Maths", "Physics", "Chemistry", "English", "CS"]

26print("\nSubject toppers:")

27for i, subject in enumerate(subjects):

28 top = max(students, key=lambda n: students[n][i])

29 print(f" {subject:<10} {top} ({students[top][i]})")

How the code works, step by step

1.Keep marks in a dictionary

Each student's name maps to a list of five marks in a fixed subject order. A dictionary of lists is a natural shape for a mark sheet.

3# Class 12 marks: Maths, Physics, Chemistry, English, CS
4students = {
5    "Aarav": [92, 88, 79, 85, 98], "Diya": [78, 91, 88, 93, 95],
6    "Kabir": [65, 58, 72, 80, 88], "Meera": [99, 94, 96, 90, 97],
7    "Rohan": [45, 52, 38, 70, 66], "Sana": [84, 79, 91, 88, 90],
8    "Vihaan": [71, 66, 69, 75, 82], "Ishita": [88, 95, 90, 84, 93],
9}

2.Turn a percentage into a grade

grade() walks a list of (cutoff, grade) pairs from the top and returns the first one the percentage reaches. Changing the grading scheme means editing one list, not a chain of if statements.

11def grade(pct):
12    for cutoff, g in [(91, "A1"), (81, "A2"), (71, "B1"), (61, "B2"), (51, "C1"), (41, "C2")]:
13        if pct >= cutoff:
14            return g
15    return "D"

3.Rank the class

sorted with key=lambda kv: -sum(kv[1]) orders students by total, highest first, and enumerate(start=1) numbers the ranks. A list comprehension finds every subject below the pass mark.

17ranked = sorted(students.items(), key=lambda kv: -sum(kv[1]))
18print(f"{'Rank':<5}{'Name':<8}{'Total':>6}{'%':>7}  Grade  Result")
19for rank, (name, marks) in enumerate(ranked, start=1):
20    pct = sum(marks) / 5
21    failed = [m for m in marks if m < pass_mark]
22    result = "PASS" if not failed else f"Re-test ({len(failed)})"
23    print(f"{rank:<5}{name:<8}{sum(marks):>6}{pct:>7.1f}  {grade(pct):<5}  {result}")

4.Find each subject's topper

max with a key function returns the student with the highest mark in subject i. It is the same max you know, just told what to compare.

25subjects = ["Maths", "Physics", "Chemistry", "English", "CS"]
26print("\nSubject toppers:")
27for i, subject in enumerate(subjects):
28    top = max(students, key=lambda n: students[n][i])
29    print(f"  {subject:<10} {top} ({students[top][i]})")

Make it yours

Read the marks from a CSV exported from Excel or Google Sheets.

Give students with equal totals the same rank.

Write each student's result to its own text file to print or share.

The lessons that teach this, in order

Questions

Is this good for a CBSE Class 11 or 12 project?

It uses the topics in the Class 11 and 12 Python syllabus (lists, dictionaries, functions, loops and sorting), so it makes a good starting point. Add file handling and your own data to make it your project.

Are these the official CBSE grade cutoffs?

They follow the familiar A1 to D pattern but are an example. Check your board's current scheme and change the list in grade() to match it.