If your attendance percentage drops below your college's minimum requirement, a few things typically happen, roughly in order of severity:
1. A warning or shortage notice. Many colleges flag students between, say, 65–75% attendance with a formal notice or a call from the department, giving a window to course-correct before the exam-eligibility list is finalized.
2. Condonation or "shortage" applications. Most universities have a formal process for requesting an exception — usually capped at a certain percentage below the cutoff (for example, down to 65%) and requiring valid documentation such as medical certificates.
3. Being detained or marked ineligible. Below the condonation threshold, you may be barred from sitting the exam for that subject or semester entirely, regardless of academic performance, and may need to repeat the term or the specific paper.
4. Academic probation or parental notification. Some institutions escalate repeated shortages to a formal academic standing issue rather than treating each semester in isolation.
The exact rules differ significantly between universities, countries, and even individual departments, so the one universal piece of advice is: read your institution's specific attendance policy document, not general internet advice, the moment you suspect you're close to the line. Then use a tool like our Bunk Calculator to see in real numbers exactly how many classes you need to attend, consecutively, to climb back above the requirement.