GCSE exam dates for 2027 start with Monday 10 May 2027, the first exam on the common timetable shared by the exam boards. The last GCSE exam on that timetable is Friday 18 June 2027, and GCSE results are released to students on Thursday 19 August 2027. Those three dates come from the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), the body the exam boards use to agree dates. This page puts them in a calendar, adds what to do in each month between now and results day, and shows where to find the date and time of each of your own papers.
The key dates
| What | Date in 2027 |
|---|---|
| First exam on the common timetable | Monday 10 May |
| Last GCSE exam on the common timetable | Friday 18 June |
| Contingency day (only used if there is national or significant local disruption) | Wednesday 23 June |
| Results released to candidates | Thursday 19 August |
| Results released to schools and colleges only (restricted release) | Wednesday 18 August |
| School deadline for exam entries | 21 February |
| Special consideration requests for timetabled exams: first date to submit, and final deadline (schools submit these) | 10 May, 30 June |
These come from JCQ’s “Key dates in the examination cycle, June 2027 series”. JCQ can revise them, so we recheck them at set points in the year.
One limit matters. The JCQ sheet gives key dates only. It does not give the day and time of each individual paper. Those are on the timetable of each exam board. AQA, for example, lists its timetables on its dates and timetables page, and Pearson Edexcel, OCR and Eduqas publish theirs for their own qualifications. Your school will also give you a personal timetable. Use that for the real days, and this page for the shape of the year.
JCQ also notes that schools entering students for CCEA or WJEC qualifications should check those boards’ own key dates. If you are not sure which board your school uses for a subject, ask your teacher: it can differ between subjects.
Month-by-month plan
The plan below runs from the date this page was published to results day. It is a framework to adjust, not a fixed schedule. The school dates it mentions are examples from the Surrey calendar (see the next section), so swap in your own school’s dates.
November and December 2026: get organised
- Make a topic list for each subject and rate every topic red, amber or green. Our guide to building a GCSE revision timetable walks through it.
- Switch from re-reading to self-testing. The routine is in our active recall guide.
- Find out when your mocks are, and what they cover. Your school decides this.
- Plan the Christmas break lightly. For schools on the Surrey calendar the autumn term ends on 18 December, which leaves a break of just over two weeks. A few short sessions and proper rest will do more than a full-time timetable that collapses by 28 December.
January and February 2027: mocks and what they show
Mocks are set by schools, not by the exam boards, so dates vary. When a mock paper comes back, the most useful thing is the paper, not the grade. Sort the lost marks into gaps in knowledge, running out of time, and answering a slightly different question from the one asked. Our guide on what to do after a disappointing mock result has a table for exactly this.
February has a quiet but important deadline: 21 February 2027 is the JCQ deadline for schools to submit exam entries. Ask your teacher or the school’s exams officer to confirm that every entry is right before then, including the tier (Foundation or Higher) in any subject that has tiers. If a student might need access arrangements, such as extra time, speak to the school early: JCQ’s sheet lists spring-term deadlines for schools to order modified papers (31 January 2027) and to process access-arrangement applications (21 March 2027).
March and April: the revision push
Use the mock results to cut your topic list down to what you can improve. In the weeks before the Easter break, move from untimed questions to timed ones, and mark them against the mark scheme.
The Easter break is the last long stretch of free time before the exams. On the Surrey calendar the spring term ends on 25 March and the summer term starts on 12 April. Treat the break as a chance to catch up on the reds in your topic list, not as a revision marathon. A plan of a few sessions a day, with two or three days properly off, is more likely to survive.
May and June: exam season
The first exam on the common timetable is Monday 10 May, and the last GCSE exam on it is Friday 18 June. In between, keep each day simple: know which paper is next, test yourself on it, and sleep.
Check the exact time and place for each paper on your personal timetable the evening before. The contingency day, 23 June, is not a normal exam day. It is only used if exams are disrupted nationally or significantly in your area, but AQA’s 2027 timetable notes tell schools that candidates must remain available until 23 June, so avoid booking anything important before then.
July and August: results
Schools finish for the summer on 28 July on the Surrey calendar, with results due on Thursday 19 August 2027. The summer is a break, and the only thing to prepare is what you need on the day (see below).
Half terms and holidays
School term dates are set by each school or its local authority, not by the exam boards. As an example, Surrey County Council publishes these dates for 2026/27 for community and voluntary controlled schools:
- Autumn term: 1 September to 18 December 2026
- Spring term: 4 January to 25 March 2027, with a half term from 15 to 19 February
- Summer term: 12 April to 28 July 2027, with a half term from 31 May to 4 June
Two cautions. First, Surrey says that academies, voluntary aided schools and foundation schools may have different dates, and that INSET days (staff training days) are set by each school and are not included. Check your own school’s calendar. Second, look at where the dates fall: for schools on this calendar, the half term from 31 May to 4 June sits inside the exam window of 10 May to 18 June. AQA’s 2027 GCSE timetable has no exam papers that week, but it does have them on 28 May and again on 7 June, so the “holiday” sits between two exam weeks and is best treated as a revision week. Check the timetables for your own boards, and plan around them, not the calendar.
Mocks
Mock exams are set by your school, so the timing, the papers and the marking differ from one school to the next. They are a practice run, not an official result, and schools have their own rules for how they use mocks in predictions, so ask yours. Our pillar guide on how to revise for GCSE covers how to use the weeks around mocks.
Results day: what happens and what to have ready
Results are released to candidates on Thursday 19 August 2027. Schools and colleges get them a day earlier, on a restricted basis. Your school or college will tell you how you receive yours, so ask before the end of the summer term.
A few things are worth having ready:
- A contact at school. Know who to speak to if something looks wrong, and how to reach them in August.
- Your next-step details. If you have a conditional place at a sixth form or college, know what the conditions are and how the college wants to hear from you. Check with the college how it handles results.
- A plan for a surprise. If a result is far from what you expected, talk to your school first. Ofqual’s student guide for the 2026 exams says that most awarding organisations do not accept review requests directly from students, that your school needs your permission to request one, and that a review can lead to a mark or grade going up or down. Fees may apply, and are not charged if the grade changes. Check Ofqual’s guide for 2027 when it is published.
- English and maths. The Department for Education treats grade 4 as a standard pass. A grade 4 is the minimum level students need in English and maths, otherwise they continue to study these subjects after 16. Ofqual’s 2026 guide says November exams in English language and maths are open to students who were 16 or over on 31 August of that year, and that most other GCSEs are usually resat the following summer. If you are in this position, ask your school or college what it offers.
Common mistakes with exam dates
- Using a date from a website you cannot trace. Dates get copied around, and old ones survive. Use JCQ, the exam board or your school.
- Assuming one date for everyone. The common timetable gives the first and last days of the series, not the day of each of your papers.
- Treating the contingency day as a normal exam day. It is there only in case of significant disruption.
- Planning a holiday inside the exam window. The window runs from 10 May to 18 June, and your papers can fall on almost any weekday in it. The half-term week (31 May to 4 June on the Surrey calendar) has no papers on AQA’s timetable, so it is a week for revision, not for going away.
- Leaving the entries check until it is too late. A wrong tier or a missing entry is much easier to fix in February than in May.
If you would like help turning this calendar into a plan for your own subjects, a free intro call is a good place to start. You can also message Claudia on WhatsApp.