IB Diploma Programme and IB Career-related Programme

May 2026 examination schedule

FINAL VERSION
All exam zones (A, B, C)
An examination cannot be rescheduled without authorization from the Assessment Division, IB Global Centre,
Cardiff.

Legend of Subject Groups:

Interdisciplinary subjects Sciences

Studies in language and literature Mathematics

and Language acquisition

Individuals and societies The arts

Please note that for Studies in language and literature

and Language acquisition, English, French and Spanish are scheduled
individually from all other languages.

Examination Schedule

Friday 24 April
Morning session Afternoon session
--- No exams --- School-based syllabus SL paper 1
SBS

Language & culture SL paper 1 1h 30m

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 Week 1

Monday 27 April
Morning session Afternoon session
School-based syllabus SL paper 2 Language A Literature HL paper 1 2h 15m
SBS

Language A Literature SL paper 1 1h 15m

Language A Language & Literature HL paper 1 2h 15m
Language A Language & Literature SL paper 1 1h 15m
Language & culture SL paper 2 1h 30m
* Except: English, French & Spanish

Tuesday 28 April
Morning session Afternoon session
Language A Literature HL/SL paper 2 1h 45m Physics HL paper 1 (1a and 1b) 2h
Language A Language & Literature HL/SL paper 2 1h 45m Physics SL paper 1 (1a and 1b) 1h 30m

* Except: English, French & Spanish Sports, exercise & health science HL
paper 1 (1a and 1b) 1h 45m
Sports, exercise & health science SL
paper 1 (1a and 1b) 1h 30m

Wednesday 29 April
Morning session Afternoon session
Physics HL paper 2 2h 30m Business management HL/SL paper 1 1h 30m
Physics SL paper 2 1h 30m Business management HL paper 3 1h 15m

Sports, exercise & health science HL paper 2 2h 30m

Sports, exercise & health science SL paper 2 1h 30m

Thursday 30 April
Morning session Afternoon session
Business management HL paper 2 1h 45m Computer science HL paper 1 2h 10m
Business management SL paper 2 1h 30m Computer science SL paper 1 1h 30m

Environmental systems & societies HL paper 1 2h

Environmental systems & societies SL paper 1 1h

Friday 1 May
Morning session Afternoon session
--- No exams --- --- No exams ---

Week 2
Monday 4 May
Morning session Afternoon session
Computer science HL paper 2 1h 20m History HL/SL paper 1 1h
Computer science HL paper 3 1h History HL/SL paper 2 1h 30m
Computer science SL paper 2 1h

Environmental systems & societies HL paper 2 2h 30m

Environmental systems & societies SL paper 2 2h

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 Tuesday 5 May
Morning session Afternoon session
History HL paper 3 2h 30m Language B HL paper 1 1h 30m
Language B HL paper 2
- Reading comprehension 1h
Language B SL paper 1 1h 15m
Language B SL paper 2
- Reading comprehension 1h
Language ab initio SL paper 1 1h
Language ab initio SL paper 2
- Reading comprehension 1h

* Except: English, French & Spanish

Latin HL paper 1 2h
Latin SL paper 1 1h 30m

Wednesday 6 May
Morning session Afternoon session
Language B HL paper 2 Psychology HL paper 1 2h
- Listening comprehension 1h Psychology SL paper 1 2h
Language B SL paper 2
- Listening comprehension 45m
Language ab initio SL paper 2
- Listening comprehension 45m

* Except: English, French & Spanish

Latin HL paper 2 1h 30m

Latin SL paper 2 1h 30m

Thursday 7 May
Morning session Afternoon session
Psychology HL paper 2 2h English A Literature HL paper 1 2h 15m
Psychology HL paper 3 1h English A Literature SL paper 1 1h 15m
Psychology SL paper 2 1h English A Language & Literature HL paper 1 2h 15m
English A Language & Literature SL paper 1 1h 15m

English B HL paper 1 1h 30m

English B HL paper 2
- Reading comprehension 1h
English B SL paper 1 1h 15m
English B SL paper 2
- Reading comprehension 1h
English ab initio SL paper 1 1h
English ab initio SL paper 2
- Reading comprehension 1h

Friday 8 May
Morning session Afternoon session
English A Literature HL/SL paper 2 1h 45m Geography HL paper 1 2h 15m
English A Language & Literature HL/SL paper 2 1h 45m Geography SL paper 1 1h 30m

English B HL paper 2 Philosophy HL paper 1 2h 30m

- Listening comprehension 1h Philosophy SL paper 1 1h 45m
English B SL paper 2
- Listening comprehension 45m Social & cultural anthropology HL paper 1 2h
English ab initio SL paper 2 Social & cultural anthropology SL paper 1 1h 30m
- Listening comprehension 45m

Literature & performance SL paper 1 1h 45m

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 Week 3

Monday 11 May
Morning session Afternoon session
Geography HL/SL paper 2 1h 15m Biology HL paper 1 (1a and 1b) 2h
Geography HL paper 3 1h Biology SL paper 1 (1a and 1b) 1h 30m

Philosophy HL/SL paper 2 1h

Philosophy HL paper 3 1h 15m

Social & cultural anthropology HL paper 2 2h 30m

Social & cultural anthropology SL paper 2 1h 30m

Tuesday 12 May
Morning session Afternoon session
Biology HL paper 2 2h 30m Economics HL/SL paper 2 1h 45m
Biology SL paper 2 1h 30m
World religions SL paper 1 1h 15m

Wednesday 13 May
Morning session Afternoon session
Economics HL paper 1 1h 15m Classical Greek HL paper 1 2h
Economics HL paper 3 1h 45m Classical Greek SL paper 1 1h 30m
Economics SL paper 1 1h 15m
Spanish A Literature HL paper 1 2h 15m
World religions SL paper 2 1h 30m Spanish A Literature SL paper 1 1h 15m
Spanish A Language & Literature HL paper 1 2h 15m
Spanish A Language & Literature SL paper 1 1h 15m

Spanish B HL paper 1 1h 30m

Spanish B HL paper 2
- Reading comprehension 1h
Spanish B SL paper 1 1h 15m
Spanish B SL paper 2
- Reading comprehension 1h
Spanish ab initio SL paper 1 1h
Spanish ab initio SL paper 2
- Reading comprehension 1h

Thursday 14 May
Morning session Afternoon session
Classical Greek HL paper 2 1h 30m Mathematics:
Classical Greek SL paper 2 1h 30m analysis and approaches HL paper 1 2h
analysis and approaches SL paper 1 1h 30m
Spanish A Literature HL/SL paper 2 1h 45m
Spanish A Language & Literature HL/SL paper 2 1h 45m Mathematics:
applications and interpretation HL paper 1 2h
Spanish B HL paper 2 applications and interpretation SL paper 1 1h 30m
- Listening comprehension 1h
Spanish B SL paper 2
- Listening comprehension 45m
Spanish ab initio SL paper 2
- Listening comprehension 45m

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 Friday 15 May
Morning session Afternoon session
Mathematics: Chemistry HL paper 1 (1a and 1b) 2h
analysis and approaches HL paper 2 2h Chemistry SL paper 1 (1a and 1b) 1h 30m
analysis and approaches SL paper 2 1h 30m
Design technology HL paper 1 1h
Mathematics: Design technology SL paper 1 45m
applications and interpretation HL paper 2 2h Design technology HL/SL paper 2 1h 30m
applications and interpretation SL paper 2 1h 30m

Week 4

Monday 18 May
Morning session Afternoon session
Chemistry HL paper 2 2h 30m Digital Society HL paper 1 2h 15m
Chemistry SL paper 2 1h 30m Digital Society SL paper 1 1h 30m

Design technology HL paper 3 1h 30m Global politics HL/SL paper 1 1h 15m

Global politics HL/SL paper 2 1h 45m

Tuesday 19 May
Morning session Afternoon session
Digital Society HL/SL paper 2 1h 15m French A Literature HL paper 1 2h 15m
Digital Society HL paper 3 1h 15m French A Literature SL paper 1 1h 15m
French A Language & Literature HL paper 1 2h 15m
Global politics HL paper 3 1h 30m French A Language & Literature SL paper 1 1h 15m

French B HL paper 1 1h 30m

French B HL paper 2
- Reading comprehension 1h
French B SL paper 1 1h 15m
French B SL paper 2
- Reading comprehension 1h
French ab initio SL paper 1 1h
French ab initio SL paper 2
- Reading comprehension 1h

Wednesday 20 May
Morning session Afternoon session
French A Literature HL/SL paper 2 1h 45m Mathematics:
French A Language & Literature HL/SL paper 2 1h 45m analysis and approaches HL paper 3 1h 15m

French B HL paper 2 Mathematics:

- Listening comprehension 1h applications and interpretation HL paper 3 1h 15m
French B SL paper 2
- Listening comprehension 45m
French ab initio SL paper 2
- Listening comprehension 45m

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Local start times for the examination session
• Schools must ensure that they are aware of their allocated exam zone, which does not change between
examination sessions.
• The local start times for all zones are detailed in the table below. There is no variance in start times within
morning or afternoon sessions.
• The local start times indicated are based on the local time and do not need to be adjusted for daylight
saving.
Exam zone Morning session start time Afternoon session start time
A 12 10.00 14.00
A 11 10.00 14.00
A 10 10.00 14.00
A 9 10.00 14.00
A 8 09.30 13.30
A 7 09.00 13.00
A 6 09.00 13.00
A 5 09.00 13.00
A 4 09.00 13.00
A 3 09.00 13.00

B 3 10.00 14.00
B 2 09.30 13.30
B 1 09.00 13.00
B 0 09.00 13.00

C -3 10.00 14.00
C -4 09.30 13.30
C -5 08.30 12.30
C -6 08.30 12.30
C -7 08.30 12.30
C -8 08.30 12.30
C -9 08.30 12.30
C -10 08.30 12.30

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Principles used in creating the IB Examination Schedule:
• It is not possible to take into account public, national or school holidays (apart from 01 May) because of
the number of countries in which the IB Diploma Programme is offered.
• Registration data has been used to ensure that the minimum number of students globally are impacted
by subject timetable clashes.
• Where there are subjects with particular regional or cultural links the IB will endeavour to take these into
account, for example Arabic literature/language examinations will not be scheduled on a Friday.
• Almost all subjects are scheduled on consecutive days. This is to minimise the impact of absence on any
given day, whilst maintaining continuity for students.
• Subjects with the highest candidature are not scheduled consecutively and are spread as evenly as possible
over 4 weeks to try and distribute the workload for students. Language examinations and science
examinations are scheduled on each of the 4 weeks for the same reason.
• The examination schedule is as short as possible to maintain an acceptable balance between the number
of conflicts in the schedule.

Rescheduling Policy
• Rescheduling of an exam for a student requires approval from IB.
• The criteria and the process for applying for a reschedule can be found in the Diploma Programme/Career-
related Programme Assessment procedures.

2027 examination Schedule

• The examination schedule in 2027 will start on Friday 23 April 2027, and end on Wednesday 19 May 2027
(with no exams on 1 May), subject to confirmation in 2025.

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