Late Penalty Calculator
What the work would have earned with no penalty.
The number your syllabus gives for each day late.
Whole days, counted the way your syllabus counts them.
How much of the course grade this one assignment is worth.
Leave empty if there is no cutoff. Later than this counts as a zero.
Day by day, both readings
For the score and rate entered above, the late score after each day under both readings of the penalty, and what the chosen reading's late work is worth in course-grade points.
| Days late | Points off the maximum | Percent off your score | Course points (your reading) |
|---|
How the math works
A late penalty is subtracted from the score the work would have earned. The question every syllabus has to answer, and many leave ambiguous, is what the percentage is a percentage of.
Points off the maximum. Each day late takes a fixed slice of full marks, the same for every student:
late score = score − rate × days
At 10% per day, 85% submitted two days late becomes 65%.
Percent off your score. Each day takes a share of what you earned, so a stronger piece of work loses more points per day and a weaker one loses fewer:
late score = score × (1 − rate × days ÷ 100)
The same 85% two days late becomes 68%. Neither reading ever goes below zero.
What the late work is worth in the course is the late score times the assignment's weight. With the assignment worth 20% of the course, the 65% is worth 13.0 points of your course grade and the 68% is worth 13.6, against 0 for not handing it in. The lateness itself costs 4.0 and 3.4 points of course grade.
Two edge states the tool says out loud. When the penalty uses up the whole score, the late work earns nothing, and the tool says so instead of printing a negative grade: at 10% per day, 85% reaches zero on day 9 under the first reading and day 10 under the second. And past a cutoff you enter, a submission counts as a zero however good it was.
Questions
Is late work still worth submitting?
In arithmetic terms, yes whenever the late score is above zero, because a zero is what the alternative earns. At 10% per day, 85% work handed in two days late is worth 13.0 points of the course grade when the assignment carries 20%, against 0 for not submitting. The tool does not weigh that against anything else your time is needed for; it only shows the points.
My syllabus says 10% per day. Which reading is it?
The tool cannot know, and it does not guess. "10% per day" can mean ten percentage points of full marks or ten percent of the score you earned, and the two give 65% and 68% for the same 85% work two days late. If your syllabus does not say, ask the person who wrote it.
When does late work reach zero?
Under points off the maximum it depends on your score: 85% at 10% per day reaches zero on day 9. Under percent off your score every score reaches zero on the same day, 100 divided by the rate, which is day 10 at 10% per day. A cutoff in your syllabus can end it sooner, and the optional cutoff box models that.
Does a partial day count as a full day?
That is a policy question this page cannot answer. The tool takes whole days and applies the rate to each; count the days the way your syllabus does, including any grace period, weekends or hour-based rules.
What if the assignment is worth 0% of the course?
Then neither the work nor the penalty moves your course grade, and the tool says so instead of printing course points. The late score is still shown, because some courses require the work even when it is ungraded.