Attendance Calculator
Work out your attendance percentage, or find out what you need from the classes still to come to meet a required minimum.
From your syllabus or student handbook.
Attendance
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Classes attended
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Classes missed
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Classes you can still miss
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Classes you must attend
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Attendance so far
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| If you miss | Classes attended | Final attendance | Meets requirement |
|---|---|---|---|
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Attendance is counted against the classes that have actually been held, not against the whole course. That is why a percentage can move sharply early in a term and barely move at all near the end.
Related calculators
Classes I Can Miss Calculator
Find out how many remaining classes you can skip and still meet your attendance requirement.
Credit Hours Calculator
Track credit hours completed, in progress and remaining against your degree requirement.
How to use this calculator
- Choose which question you are asking. The first two give you your percentage; the third tells you what is still needed.
- Enter the classes held so far and either the ones you attended or the ones you missed.
- For the third mode, add the classes still to come and your required minimum.
How the calculation works
Your attendance percentage is the classes you attended divided by the classes that have been held.
To work out what is still required, the calculation runs over the whole course rather than what has happened so far. It finds the total number of classes you need to attend to clear the minimum, subtracts what you have already attended, and what is left has to come from the classes still to come.
That total is always rounded up. You cannot attend three quarters of a lecture, and rounding down would tell a student they are safe when one more absence would drop them below the line.
A worked example
Thirty classes have been held and you have attended 24. Fifteen classes remain, and your course requires 75%.
- Attendance so far: 24 ÷ 30 = 80%
- Total classes in the course: 30 + 15 = 45
- Classes needed for 75%: 75% of 45 = 33.75, rounded up to 34
- Still to attend: 34 − 24 = 10
- So of the 15 remaining, you can miss 5
Check it: attending 10 more gives 34 of 45, which is 75.56% — just clear. Attending only 9 gives 33 of 45, which is 73.33% — not enough. The rounding up is what makes the difference.
Why attendance gets harder to fix
Like a GPA, an attendance percentage becomes harder to move as the term goes on. Missing three classes out of the first ten is very different from missing three out of forty:
| Classes held | After 3 absences | Classes needed to get back to 80% |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | 70% | 5 more in a row |
| 20 | 85% | already above |
| 30 | 90% | already above |
The same three absences read very differently depending on when they happen. Early absences look worse than they are; late ones are harder to recover from.
Important notes and limitations
Attendance policies vary, and some carry real consequences
Required minimums differ between institutions, between departments and sometimes between courses. Some schools tie attendance to financial aid eligibility or, for international students, to visa status. If a number here is close to your limit, confirm the policy with your instructor or registrar rather than relying on this.
- Excused absences are excluded from the count at some schools and not at others.
- Cancelled classes normally do not count as held — leave them out of both figures.
- Partial attendance — arriving late or leaving early — is counted differently everywhere, and this calculator works in whole classes.
- Your instructor's record is the one that counts. This is a planning tool.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate my attendance percentage?
Divide the classes you attended by the classes that have been held, then multiply by 100. If 24 of 30 classes have been attended, that is 24 ÷ 30 = 0.80, so 80%.
How many classes can I miss?
Switch to "what I need from here" and enter your required minimum along with the classes still to come. The Classes I Can Miss Calculator answers the same question with nothing else on the page.
Does my school actually have an attendance requirement?
Many do, and they vary widely — 70%, 75% and 80% are all common, and some courses set their own on top of a university-wide rule. Your syllabus or student handbook is the place to check. Some institutions tie attendance to financial aid or visa status, which makes it worth knowing exactly.
Do excused absences count against me?
That depends entirely on your school. Some exclude documented illness or university activities from the count; others treat every absence the same. If you have excused absences, ask whether they come out of the total before relying on a number.
What if classes are cancelled?
A cancelled class usually does not count as held, so it drops out of both figures. Enter only the classes that actually took place.