When do exams start in summer 2027?

Monday 10 May 2027, on the timetable shared across the UK awarding bodies. The last GCSE paper is Friday 18 June and the last A Level paper Tuesday 22 June, with a contingency day on Wednesday 23 June.

Is summer the only series?

No. The made-for-Wales GCSEs are unitised and units are also available in November, which is why some pupils sit real papers in Year 10. Ask the school which units it enters in which series.

Do the AS exams in Year 12 count?

On the WJEC qualifications approved for Wales, yes: the AS is worth 40% of the final A Level. If the school enters pupils with AQA, OCR or Eduqas instead, the AS there is a standalone qualification and contributes nothing.

Key dates

Exam dates, summer 2027.

Wales sits its written papers inside the same UK-wide summer window, but the made-for-Wales GCSEs are unitised, so summer is not the only series that counts.

WJEC and the shared timetableUnits also sit in November

The exam window

Monday 10 May 2027
A Level written exams begin (JCQ common timetable)Source
Monday 10 May 2027
GCSE written exams begin (JCQ common timetable)Source
Friday 18 June 2027
Last GCSE exam (JCQ common timetable)Source
Tuesday 22 June 2027
Last A Level exam (JCQ common timetable)Source
Wednesday 23 June 2027
JCQ contingency day (keep free)Source

Applying to university

UCAS runs one cycle for the whole UK, so these dates are the same wherever you are reading from.

Thursday 15 October 202618:00 UK time
UCAS deadline: Oxford, Cambridge, medicine, dentistry, veterinarySource
Wednesday 13 January 202718:00 UK time
UCAS equal consideration deadline (all other courses)Source
Thursday 25 February 2027
UCAS Extra opensSource
Wednesday 30 June 202718:00 UK time
UCAS final application deadline (then Clearing)Source
Friday 2 July 2027
UCAS Clearing opensSource

The summer window below is the one shared across the UK awarding bodies, so the first and last days match what families elsewhere see. What differs in Wales is what sits inside it.

The new made-for-Wales qualifications are built from units rather than one set of papers at the end, and units are available in a November series as well as in summer. A paper sat in Year 10 can therefore be a real banked result rather than a mock. Which units a school enters, and when, is a school decision, so it is worth asking rather than assuming the exams all happen at the end.

Year 12 counts too. The AS units sat at the end of the first year are worth 40% of the final A Level on the WJEC qualifications approved for Wales, so the summer of Year 12 produces marks and not predictions.

Results land in August. Results day 2027, and what to do on it.

Common questions

When do exams start in summer 2027?: Monday 10 May 2027, on the timetable shared across the UK awarding bodies. The last GCSE paper is Friday 18 June and the last A Level paper Tuesday 22 June, with a contingency day on Wednesday 23 June.
Is summer the only series?: No. The made-for-Wales GCSEs are unitised and units are also available in November, which is why some pupils sit real papers in Year 10. Ask the school which units it enters in which series.
Do the AS exams in Year 12 count?: On the WJEC qualifications approved for Wales, yes: the AS is worth 40% of the final A Level. If the school enters pupils with AQA, OCR or Eduqas instead, the AS there is a standalone qualification and contributes nothing.

Where these dates come from

Dates change every year. We re-check them each September and January, and every row above links to the page it came from.

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