Late-assignment penalty calculator
Calculate a late assignment mark and the pre-penalty mark needed for a target. Enter the penalty basis, grace period, rounding and cutoff yourself.
How it works
A worked example
An 80% assignment two periods late with a five-per-period penalty becomes 70% under a percentage-point rule, 72% under a linear 5%-of-earned-mark rule, or 72.2% under a compounded 5%-of-earned-mark rule. Reaching 75% under the first rule needs an 85% original mark.
Assumptions to check
Enter policy-counted late hours; weekends and holidays are not removed automatically. Grace hours are subtracted before counting penalty periods. Choose started, completed or proportional periods. The deduction cap is percentage points in the first mode and a percentage of earned marks in the other modes. An optional zero-mark cutoff applies at or beyond the entered late hours, before grace subtraction. Pass-mark floors, extensions, tiered rules and discretion are not automatic.
Read all calculation notes ↗A few useful answers
Is a 10% penalty the same as ten percentage points?
No. Ten points from an 80% mark leaves 70%; ten percent of the earned 80 leaves 72%. Ask which basis the course applies.
Does one hour late count as a full day?
Only if your policy counts each started period and the period is 24 hours. Completed or proportional periods give different results.
Can this model working days or a pass-mark floor?
You must count eligible time yourself for working-day rules. Pass-mark floors and changing penalty tiers are not supported; do not use a flat-rate result for those policies.
Planning estimates, not official academic results. Your course and institution set the rules.
What grade do I need before a late penalty?
The calculator reverses the entered rule to find the original mark needed for your desired adjusted mark. It also applies the same penalty to a perfect 100% mark. If that ceiling is below your target, improving the original mark alone cannot reach it.
Use the approved deadline and the right clock
Start from the actual deadline or an approved extension. Convert only the hours counted by the policy. An elapsed-hour input cannot know local holidays, institutional closures, submission-system timestamps or an extension granted later.
A scenario is not permission to submit late
The mark is an estimate under your inputs, not a promise of acceptance. A course can reject work, set a different cap or apply separate requirements. Use the assignment planner to schedule unfinished work before the confirmed deadline.
Guides for this calculation
Late penalties: percentage points or a percent of your mark?
Check your institution’s rules
These sources explain example methods and policy differences. No university preset is applied.
UCL: examples of late rules that include working days and floors ↗