When do the 2026 Leaving Cert exams start and finish?

The written examinations run from Wednesday 3 June to Tuesday 23 June 2026. English Paper 1 is first, at 9.30 on the third. Religious Education, Applied Mathematics and the afternoon languages close it on the twenty third.

Which papers run twenty minutes longer than usual?

Nine sessions: both English papers, Geography, History, all three Irish Paper 1 sittings and both Irish Paper 2 sittings. The State Examinations Commission marks these in red on its timetable and says they include twenty minutes over and above the time traditionally allocated for the papers concerned.

Is this the official timetable?

No. The official timetable is the document published by the State Examinations Commission, and the Commission states that it is not responsible for errors that appear when outside agencies reproduce it. This page is a transcription of that document, checked against it twice. If anything here disagrees with examinations.ie, the Commission is right and we are wrong, and we would like to be told.

When will the 2027 timetable be here?

As soon as the Commission publishes it. Timetables come from the Commission and nowhere else, so nothing provisional or reconstructed goes up in the meantime.

Leaving Cert timetable 2026

Every written examination in June 2026, with the date, the start and finish times, how long each paper runs and which sessions carry the extra twenty minutes.

Pick your subjects and the whole thing collapses to the six or seven exams that are actually yours. You can put those in your calendar or print them.

The 2026 examinations are over. They finished on Tuesday 23 June. The timetable stays here as a record. What matters now is the offer rounds, whether an appeal is worth the fee and what still has places.

Which subjects are you sitting?

Pick them and the timetable below becomes yours alone. Nothing is sent anywhere, and this browser remembers the choice for next time.

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Non curricular languages (16)

All sat together on Monday 15 June, from 9.30 to 12.30.

The full timetable

Fifteen examination days, from Wednesday 3 June to Tuesday 23 June 2026.

Wednesday3June
English, Paper 1
9.30–12.20
Higher and Ordinary2 hr 50 minMorning+20 min
Home Economics, Scientific and Social
14.00–16.30
Higher and Ordinary2 hr 30 minAfternoon
Thursday4June
Engineering
9.30–12.00
Ordinary2 hr 30 minMorning
Engineering
9.30–12.30
Higher3 hrMorning
English, Paper 2
14.00–17.20
Higher and Ordinary3 hr 20 minAfternoon+20 min
Friday5June
Geography
9.30–12.20
Higher and Ordinary2 hr 50 minMorning+20 min
Mathematics, Paper 1
14.00–16.30
Higher and Ordinary2 hr 30 minAfternoon
Mathematics
14.00–16.30
Foundation2 hr 30 minAfternoon
Monday8June
Mathematics, Paper 2
9.30–12.00
Higher and Ordinary2 hr 30 minMorning
Irish, Paper 1(incl aural)
14.00–16.20
Higher2 hr 20 minAfternoon+20 min
Irish, Paper 1(incl aural)
14.00–15.50
Ordinary1 hr 50 minAfternoon+20 min
Irish(incl aural)
14.00–16.20
Foundation2 hr 20 minAfternoon+20 min
Tuesday9June
Irish, Paper 2
9.30–11.50
Ordinary2 hr 20 minMorning+20 min
Irish, Paper 2
9.30–12.35
Higher3 hr 5 minMorning+20 min
Biology
14.00–17.00
Higher and Ordinary3 hrAfternoon
Wednesday10June
French
9.30–12.50
Higher and Ordinary3 hr 20 minMorning
- Written 9.30–12.00
- Aural 12.10–12.50
History
14.00–16.50
Higher and Ordinary2 hr 50 minAfternoon+20 min
Thursday11June
Business
9.30–12.00
Ordinary2 hr 30 minMorning
Business
9.30–12.30
Higher3 hrMorning
Construction Studies
14.00–16.30
Ordinary2 hr 30 minAfternoon
Construction Studies
14.00–17.00
Higher3 hrAfternoon
Friday12June
German
9.30–12.50
Higher and Ordinary3 hr 20 minMorning
- Written 9.30–12.00
- Aural 12.10–12.50
Art, Visual Studies
14.00–16.30
Higher and Ordinary2 hr 30 minAfternoon
Monday15June
Polish, Lithuanian, Portuguese and Mandarin Chinese
9.30–12.50
Higher and Ordinary3 hr 20 minMorning
- Written 9.30–12.00
- Aural 12.10–12.50
Hebrew Studies, Ancient Greek and Non Curricular Languages(see Note 2)
9.30–12.30
3 hrMorning
Agricultural Science
14.00–16.30
Higher and Ordinary2 hr 30 minAfternoon
Tuesday16June
Spanish
9.30–12.50
Higher and Ordinary3 hr 20 minMorning
- Written 9.30–12.00
- Aural 12.10–12.50
Chemistry
14.00–17.00
Higher and Ordinary3 hrAfternoon
Wednesday17June
Physics
9.30–12.30
Higher and Ordinary3 hrMorning
Physics and Chemistry
9.30–12.30
Higher and Ordinary3 hrMorning
Accounting
14.00–17.00
Higher and Ordinary3 hrAfternoon
Thursday18June
Design and Communication Graphics
9.30–12.30
Higher and Ordinary3 hrMorning
Music, Listening (Core)
13.30–15.00
Higher and Ordinary1 hr 30 minAfternoon
Music, Composing
15.15–16.45
Higher and Ordinary1 hr 30 minAfternoon
Music, Listening (Elective)
17.00–17.45
Higher45 minAfternoon
Friday19June
Economics
9.30–12.00
Higher and Ordinary2 hr 30 minMorning
Physical Education
14.00–16.30
Higher and Ordinary2 hr 30 minAfternoon
Monday22June
Italian
9.30–12.50
Higher and Ordinary3 hr 20 minMorning
- Written 9.30–12.00
- Aural 12.10–12.50
Russian
9.30–12.50
Higher and Ordinary3 hr 20 minMorning
- Written 9.30–12.00
- Aural 12.10–12.50
Classical Studies
14.00–16.30
Higher and Ordinary2 hr 30 minAfternoon
Latin
14.00–17.00
Higher and Ordinary3 hrAfternoon
Technology
14.00–16.00
Ordinary2 hrAfternoon
Technology
14.00–16.30
Higher2 hr 30 minAfternoon
Tuesday23June
Japanese
9.30–12.50
Higher and Ordinary3 hr 20 minMorning
- Written 9.30–12.00
- Aural 12.10–12.50
Politics & Society
9.30–12.00
Higher and Ordinary2 hr 30 minMorning
Arabic
9.30–12.30
Higher and Ordinary3 hrMorning
Religious Education
14.00–16.00
Ordinary2 hrAfternoon
Religious Education
14.00–16.30
Higher2 hr 30 minAfternoon
Applied Mathematics
14.00–16.30
Higher and Ordinary2 hr 30 minAfternoon

The sessions that run long

Nine sittings include twenty minutes over and above the time traditionally allocated for the papers concerned. They are marked in red on the Commission’s own timetable, which is a thing that disappears the moment anybody copies it into plain text, so they are written out here.

English, Paper 19.30–12.20
English, Paper 214.00–17.20
Geography9.30–12.20
Irish, Paper 1 (Higher)14.00–16.20
Irish, Paper 1 (Ordinary)14.00–15.50
Irish (Foundation)14.00–16.20
Irish, Paper 2 (Ordinary)9.30–11.50
Irish, Paper 2 (Higher)9.30–12.35
History14.00–16.50

Being there on time

The Commission’s wording is that candidates are required to be in attendance at least half an hour before the examination begins in the subject in which they first present themselves. That is the first exam you sit rather than every one of them, though most schools ask for the same half hour every day, and there is nothing to be gained by arriving on the hour.

What is not on this timetable

Two subjects have their final examination outside the June run, in April or May, with dates announced separately by the Commission:

Computer Science
Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme, Link Modules

Oral examinations, practicals and coursework are not on this document either. They are scheduled on their own, and the Commission publishes those arrangements separately.

Languages sat on Monday 15 June

Polish, Lithuanian, Portuguese and Mandarin Chinese are examined against their own curricular specifications that morning, written from 9.30 to 12.00 and aural from 12.10 to 12.50.

Hebrew Studies, Ancient Greek and the non curricular languages are sat the same morning, from 9.30 to 12.30. The non curricular list is:

Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian, Latvian, Maltese, Modern Greek, Romanian, Slovakian, Slovenian, Swedish, Ukrainian.

Questions people ask

When do the 2026 Leaving Cert exams start and finish?: The written examinations run from Wednesday 3 June to Tuesday 23 June 2026. English Paper 1 is first, at 9.30 on the third. Religious Education, Applied Mathematics and the afternoon languages close it on the twenty third.
Which papers run twenty minutes longer than usual?: Nine sessions: both English papers, Geography, History, all three Irish Paper 1 sittings and both Irish Paper 2 sittings. The State Examinations Commission marks these in red on its timetable and says they include twenty minutes over and above the time traditionally allocated for the papers concerned.
How early do I have to be there?: The Commission asks candidates to be in attendance at least half an hour before the examination begins in the subject in which they first present themselves. That is the first exam you sit, not every one of them, but schools usually ask for the same half hour every morning.
Why is Computer Science not on the timetable?: Computer Science and the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme Link Modules have final examinations in April or May, with dates announced separately by the Commission. They are not part of the June run. Oral and practical examinations are not on this timetable either.
Is this the official timetable?: No. The official timetable is the document published by the State Examinations Commission, and the Commission states that it is not responsible for errors that appear when outside agencies reproduce it. This page is a transcription of that document, checked against it twice. If anything here disagrees with examinations.ie, the Commission is right and we are wrong, and we would like to be told.
When will the 2027 timetable be here?: As soon as the Commission publishes it. Timetables come from the Commission and nowhere else, so nothing provisional or reconstructed goes up in the meantime.

Where this comes from

Transcribed from Leaving Certificate Examination Timetable 2026, published by the State Examinations Commission at examinations.ie. The Commission states that it is not responsible for errors introduced when outside agencies reproduce its timetable, so treat the published document as the authority and this page as a convenience. If the two disagree, tell us and it will be corrected the same day.

Last verified 4 August 2026.