Attendance Tracker
One sheet per course. Work out the real allowance at the start of term, then log absences as they happen rather than reconstructing them later.
BFCBrilliance · bfcbrilliance.com/tools/class-attendance-calculator
The course
- Course
- Instructor
- Sessions in total
- Attendance required (%)
- SESSIONS I MUST ATTEND
- ABSENCES ALLOWED
- Absences used
- ABSENCES LEFT
Log every absence as it happens
| Date | Session missed | Reason | Excused? | Documented? | Running total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The arithmetic, and what a percentage really buys
- Sessions required
- total × threshold, rounded UP
- Absences allowed
- total − sessions required
- ⚠ Rounding
- always up — no part-attendance
- 80% of 30 sessions
- 24 required, 6 allowed
- 90% of 30 sessions
- 27 required, 3 allowed
- ⚠ 90% of 14 sessions
- 13 required — ONE absence
- Twice weekly, 15 weeks
- 30 sessions
- Once weekly, 14 weeks
- 14 sessions
At the start of term
- Attendance threshold read from THIS syllabus, not last term's
- Total sessions counted as meetings, not weeks
- Excused-absence rules read and understood
- Documentation requirements noted (and the deadline for submitting it)
- Whether lateness counts as a partial absence checked
- Whether labs and lectures are counted separately checked
- Allowance written on this sheet before the term starts
- Anything ambiguous asked about NOW, not when you need it
Short courses are the trap
The same 90% policy allows three absences on a 30-session course and one on a 14-session course. Intensive summer terms and once-a-week seminars are where a single missed meeting spends the whole allowance.
Meeting the rule is not the same as being fine
The threshold is an administrative floor. The damage from missed sessions is to your understanding of the material, and that starts with the first one — it does not wait until you are out of allowance.