When late penalties apply

If you submit an assessment task after the due date and you don’t have an approved extension or have been granted special consideration, a 5% late penalty will be applied to your available marks for each calendar day it is late, up to a maximum of seven days. 

After seven days, the assessment task will receive a mark of zero, and you may not be provided with individual, written or timely feedback.

The late penalty will be calculated on the available marks for the assessment task. This penalty will then be subtracted from the achieved mark for the assessment task.

For more detail about supplementary assessments and last to complete assessment, see the Assessment and Results Policy.

Example: 

A student achieves 36/40 for an assessment task but the task was submitted three days late. A late penalty of 5% is calculated on the available marks (40) which is 2 marks per day late. As the task was submitted three days late, the total penalty is 6 marks, so the student’s final mark is 30/40.

Example scenarios

Ling has an online quiz that must be attempted by the due date which is Monday 13 October. This assessment is ineligible for an automatic extension as all students need to attempt it by the same date. These terms are clearly stated in the unit outline.​

Ling is not unwell and does not have any other unavoidable exceptional circumstances. Unfortunately, she was busy with work and didn’t plan enough time to prepare for the quiz. Ling takes some extra time to prepare, attempts the quiz on Wednesday 15 October and achieves a mark of 25/30. Ling’s final mark is worked out as:

  • Achieved mark: 25/30

  • Late penalty: 10% (two days late x 5% per day)

  • Penalty calculation: 3 marks (10% x 30 available marks)

  • Penalty applied: 25 - 3 (available marks minus penalty)

  • Final mark: 22/30

Nathan has an essay due on Friday 15 August. He realises on Thursday 14 August that he needs a little more time to refine the conclusion and finalise his academic references. Nathan requests an automatic extension for this assessment task, which is granted, pushing his due date to Monday 18 August. He completes and submits his work on Monday. Nathan did not lose any marks as he correctly requested an automatic extension before the due date and was able to submit his work by the new due date.

Ellie must submit her portfolio of digital drawings on Canvas by the due date, which is Monday 6 October. She gets busy with working over the weekend and can’t complete her portfolio by the due date. Ellie decides to take some extra time and submit it one day late on Tuesday. She doesn’t request an automatic extension or apply for special consideration. 

Ellie achieves an initial mark of 40/50, but loses 2.5 marks for submitting one day late (5% x 50). Ellie’s final mark is 37.5/50 (40-2.5).