GCSE Exam Timetable Summer 2026: Key Dates and How to Plan Around Them

For most core subjects, the exam dates are the same or very close across AQA, Edexcel and OCR. Maths is a good example — all three boards sit Paper 1 on the same day. But for some subjects, particularly languages, humanities and some sciences, dates can differ slightly between boards

If you're not sure which board you're on for a particular subject, ask your teacher, or check the front cover of any past paper or mock exam. The board's name will be printed clearly. Our timetable section is organised by exam board, so once you know yours, finding your specific dates is straightforward.

Not everything in your GCSE assessment happens in an exam hall in May or June. Several subjects have components assessed earlier in the year, and missing a deadline can seriously affect your final grade.

Key things to be aware of:

Add these to your timetable alongside your written exams. The free timetable tool on our site lets you add any kind of date ( not just written exams) so your whole assessment picture is in one place.

👉 Add your NEA deadlines and exam dates to your free personal timetable

Knowing your exam dates is only useful if you do something with them. The students who find exam season most manageable are the ones who look at the full picture early — spotting which weeks are packed, which subjects need more preparation time, and where the breathing space actually is.

A few practical steps to take right now:

The fastest way to do all of this is to put every date into a visual calendar rather than a printed list. Seeing the shape of your exam season changes how you plan for it.

👉 View your 2026 GCSE exam dates and build your free personalised timetable in calendar view

If you want something to take you further than just the dates, the GCSE Revision Diary Planner is worth looking at alongside the digital timetable. It's currently an Amazon No.1 bestseller, written by a team with over 40 years of teaching experience, and it's designed to give you a full planning framework for the entire revision period, not just a list of exam days.

Inside, you'll find weekly revision schedules, daily planning pages, a mock paper analysis section for identifying where you're losing marks, and subject-by-subject resource lists. It works across all exam boards. For students who find it hard to maintain structure week to week, having the physical planner alongside a visual digital timetable covers both the big picture and the daily detail.

👉 See the GCSE Revision Diary Planner on Amazon (opens in new tab)

Within a single exam board, proper clashes are extremely unlikely because boards plan their timetables specifically to avoid them. That said, you can absolutely have two papers on the same day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. That's by design and very common. If you spot one in your timetable, plan to focus on the morning paper the night before, then review the afternoon subject briefly at lunchtime.

Morning sessions typically start at 9am and afternoon sessions at 1:30pm, though your school may adjust these slightly. The confirmed times for each paper are available in our full summer 2026 timetable.

Tell your school immediately. Your school can submit a request for special consideration to the exam board, which is taken into account when your grade is awarded. Don't just not turn up — contact school on the day, even if you can only send a message.

If you're entitled to extra time or other access arrangements, your school's SENCO will have applied for these on your behalf. If you think you should have arrangements in place but haven't heard anything, speak to your SENCO now. Applications can't be made at the last minute.

Results day is Thursday 20 August 2026.

The dates are confirmed. The revision plan is the part that's still up to you.

👉 View all summer 2026 GCSE exam dates and build your free personalised timetable now