Is 'the total" for the entire worksheet, or just for a given row?
If the former:
=SUMPRODUCT(--(ISTEXT(A1:A35)),B1:B35)

adjust the ranges as needed
best wishes
--
Bernard V Liengme
Microsoft Excel MVP
http://people.stfx.ca/bliengme
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"Cindi" wrote in message
...
I'm new at this and I need help totaling grades on a spreadsheet. I want
to
say if column A contains any letter grade then add column B to the total.
How can I do this? Thanks.
--
JustLearning