Why some programmes use 80% instead of 75%
An 80% rule is common in professional, studio, or placement-linked papers where missing a fifth of contact time is treated as too much lost practice. It is stricter than 75%: on a 50-class module you may miss 10 sessions at 80%, versus 12 at 75%. Two extra allowed skips sound small until they collide with a week of interviews.
Do not assume 80% because a friend in another faculty has it. Ask which document governs you: academic regulations, a departmental circular, or a professional-body requirement. This calculator starts at 80% so the colour coding (safe / risky / below) matches that higher line. Risky here means within five points, so 75–79.9% is already in the warning band.
Worked example: tutorials counted with lectures
A law paper has held 20 lectures and 10 tutorials (30 sessions). You attended every lecture but missed 4 tutorials: 26/30 = 86.7%. Ten mixed sessions remain. Final total 40; 80% of 40 is 32. You have 26, so you need 6 more presents and can miss 4. If tutorials are optional in your head but compulsory on the register, those four remaining tutorial skips would use the entire budget.
Worked example: already under 80%
You sit at 28 attended of 40 held (70%). The “must attend” tab solves (attended + x) / (total + x) ≥ 0.80, which rearranges to x ≥ (80 × 40 − 100 × 28) / 20. That is (3200 − 2800) / 20 = 20 consecutive sessions, finishing at 48/60 = 80%. Recovery at 80% is slower than at 75% because each new class also inflates the denominator toward a higher target.
If only 12 classes remain, 20 consecutive sessions are impossible. The miss tab will say that you need extra classes beyond those remaining to recover, meaning you cannot reach 80% without extra classes or an official exemption. Compare that path with a 75% attendance calculator only if your written policy actually allows 75%. For the formula itself see how attendance percentage is calculated.
Placement weeks and 80% papers
Internship blocks are the usual way an 80% student gets surprised. A two-week placement that overlaps six contact sessions uses more than half of a 10-skip budget on a 50-class paper. Ask whether placement days are coded as present, as a separate register, or as ordinary absence. If they count as absence, move optional skips (club events, early trains) off those weeks before you treat the placement as “already approved”.
Studio and performance modules sometimes take attendance by hour, not by session. Enter the same unit the portal uses: if the office counts 3-hour studios as one held class, do not triple them here. If it counts hours, convert both attended and held to hours so the 80% line matches the spreadsheet they will print at the end of term.