Select TOP predicate - sql

Question

I have a table with fields StudentID, ClassID, ExamID, SubjectID and Scores
I am trying to get a sum of 7 top Scores from attempted subjects from every student. The SQL statement below is giving me the sum of scores of all the subject from the top 7 students:
SELECT TOP 7 Sum(tblScores.Scores) AS Total, tblScores.AdmissionID
FROM tblScores
WHERE (((tblScores.ExamID)=[Forms]![frmReports]![lstC]) AND ((tblScores.ClassID)=[Forms]![frmReports]![lstB]))
GROUP BY tblScores.AdmissionID
ORDER BY Sum(tblScores.Scores) DESC;
The Class and Exam criteria is read from the Form "frmReports"
Any one who can help me out?

Answer 1

Consider a correlated subquery to calculate a running rank of scores. Then, nest this select query in a derived table for Score aggregation, filtered by each students' top 7 scores (including ties):
SELECT main.AdmissionID, Sum(main.Scores) As [Total]
FROM
(SELECT tblScores.AdmissionID, tblScores.Scores,
(SELECT Count(*) FROM tblScores sub
WHERE sub.AdmissionID = tblScores.AdmissionID
AND sub.Scores >= tblScores.Scores) As ScoreRank
FROM tblScores
WHERE (((tblScores.ExamID)=[Forms]![frmReports]![lstC])
AND ((tblScores.ClassID)=[Forms]![frmReports]![lstB]))
) As main
WHERE main.ScoreRank <= 7
GROUP BY main.AdmissionID

Answer 2

Try this:
SELECT TOP 7 Sum(tblScores.Scores) AS Total, tblScores.AdmissionID
FROM tblScores
HAVING (((tblScores.ExamID)=[Forms]![frmReports]![lstC]) AND ((tblScores.ClassID)=[Forms]![frmReports]![lstB]))
GROUP BY tblScores.AdmissionID
ORDER BY Sum(tblScores.Scores) DESC;

Answer 3

# Parfait - Thank you for your guidance. I have actually tweaked your solution to get a perfect answer: Here is the sql:
SELECT Dupe.AdmissionID, Dupe.Scores, Dupe.ScoreRank
FROM (SELECT qryFilteredScores.AdmissionID, qryFilteredScores.Scores, (SELECT Count(*) FROM qryFilteredScores AS sub
WHERE sub.AdmissionID = qryFilteredScores.AdmissionID AND sub.Scores >qryFilteredScores.Scores)+ 1 AS ScoreRank FROM qryFilteredScores WHERE (((qryFilteredScores.ExamID)=Forms!frmReports!lstC) And ((qryFilteredScores.ClassID)=Forms!frmReports!lstB))) AS Dupe
WHERE (((Dupe.Scores)<>0) AND ((Dupe.ScoreRank)<=7));
Alternatively, you can use a derived table or stored query (where you save derived table as separate object referenced in this query) and avoid inline subqueries:
SELECT Dupe.AdmissionID, Total.TotalScore
FROM qryFilteredScores AS Dupe
INNER JOIN
(SELECT sub.AdmissionID, Sum(sub.Scores) As TotalScore
FROM qryFilteredScores sub
WHERE ([AdmissionID]=Dupe.[AdmissionID]
AND ((sub.ClassID)=[Forms]![frmReports]![lstB])
AND ((tblScores.ExamID)=[Forms]![frmReports]![lstC]))
GROUP BY sub.AdmissionID) AS Total
ON Dupe.AdmissionID = Total.AdmissionID
GROUP BY Dupe.AdmissionID, Total.TotalScore
ORDER BY Dupe.AdmissionID;