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GCSE English exam dates for 2027
All four of AQA’s GCSE English exams in 2027 are in the morning, between Wednesday 12 May and Tuesday 8 June. These are the dates, checked against AQA’s final timetable and JCQ’s calendar for the year.
AQA’s final timetable for summer 2027 puts the two English Literature papers first and the two English Language papers after them. Every paper is in the morning session.
The four papers
- English Literature Paper 1, Shakespeare and the 19th-century novel: Wednesday 12 May 2027, morning, 1 hour 45 minutes.
- English Literature Paper 2, Modern texts and poetry: Wednesday 19 May 2027, morning, 2 hours 15 minutes.
- English Language Paper 1, Explorations in creative reading and writing: Monday 24 May 2027, morning, 1 hour 45 minutes.
- English Language Paper 2, Writers’ viewpoints and perspectives: Tuesday 8 June 2027, morning, 1 hour 45 minutes.
These are the dates in our free guide for parents and carers. They apply to AQA only. If your child’s school uses another exam board, check that board’s timetable. GCSE English explained describes what each paper asks.
Start times
AQA’s timetable says: “The published starting time of all exams is either 9.00am or 1.30pm.” The English papers are all in the 9.00am slot. Schools may start an exam up to 30 minutes earlier or later without telling AQA, so ask the school what time your child needs to arrive.
The contingency day
The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), through which the exam boards agree a shared timetable, keeps Wednesday 23 June 2027 free as a contingency day “in the event of national or significant local disruption to examinations in the United Kingdom”. AQA asks schools to remind students that they “must remain available until Wednesday 23 June 2027”. In practice, avoid booking a holiday that starts before Thursday 24 June.
Your child may have exams in other subjects after English finishes on 8 June. The last GCSE exam on JCQ’s shared timetable is on Friday 18 June 2027.
Results day
GCSE results for these exams come out on Thursday 19 August 2027. Schools receive them the day before, and your child gets them from the school. Results day, and asking for a review of marking explains the results slip and what to do if a grade looks wrong.
Dates before the exams
- Access arrangements: the school must apply for arrangements such as 25% extra time by 21 March 2027, and order any modified papers, such as braille or modified enlarged papers, by 31 January 2027. The evidence takes much longer to gather than that, so raise any need now: Extra time and other access arrangements.
- Spoken language endorsement: this is assessed in school, and AQA’s deadline for schools to submit it is 7 May 2027. The spoken language endorsement, explained has the detail.
- Revision: the free Year 11 countdown is a twelve-week plan that starts twelve weeks before the first English exam. For 2027 that means starting on Wednesday 17 February.
- Mocks: the school sets its own dates, so check its calendar. What mock exam results tell you explains how to read the results.
Sources
- AQA, Exam timetable May/June 2027: GCSE (final, version 1.1)
- AQA, GCSE English Language 8700: exam dates and GCSE English Literature 8702: exam dates
- JCQ, Key dates in the examination cycle: June 2027 (final)
- AQA, Results days