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Original poster

To think some GCSE exam timetables should be more spread out??

59 replies

ChocolateAddictAlways · 06/05/2026 23:54

My 16 year old has 2 exams on Friday, 2 on Monday, 2 on Tuesday and 2 on Wednesday. After the half term it slows down. The last exam and penultimate exam have a 6 day gap. The penultimate and the one before that have a 4 day gap. All his friends seem to be in a similar boat. A huge flurry of exams this week and next and then things go very quiet!

I understand the logistics of planning these exams must be insane given the number of exam boards and modules and other variables and I am not actually suggesting the system be overhauled (because I suspect it can't be) rather that it seems a shame to have 2 exams a day for so many consecutive days. I can imagine some teenagers feeling really bamboozled the night before such a day. And then that feeling repeats for several days!

He did joke that probably he would be most prepared for those last 3! 😁

OP posts:
BigYellowBus · 07/05/2026 02:33

Hasn't it always been like that? I did 9 O-level papers in a week back in the day..

MrsAvocet · 07/05/2026 01:22

It's not great if they are too spread out either. My youngest did his GCSEs the first year they restarted exams at the tail end of the pandemic and if I recall rightly there had to be a 10 day gap between papers in the same subject. The idea was that if a pupil missed one paper because they had Covid then they'd be able to do the next one and the grade would be based on that. Makes sense I guess but crikey that exam period went on for a long time and it was very hard to keep the momentum going. I think DS would have preferred to have got it all done in a shorter time period as it just felt like it went on forever and he started to find it difficult to focus by the end. Plus they didn't get that lovely long post GCSE holiday as the exams went on much closer to the end of the school year. (Then to add insult to injury poor DS got Covid just as the exams finished and whilst all his mates were finally celebrating, going to prom etc he was ill in bed!)
In an ideal world it would be steady with all the exams evenly spaced but unfortunately that's just not possible given the multitude of possible exam combinations. To give decent gaps between most exams you'd end up with a much extended exam period and from comparing DS's experience to that of his siblings I'd say that whilst it is without doubt hard going there are some plus points to getting it all done relatively quickly.

Original poster
ChocolateAddictAlways · 07/05/2026 01:10

Some are shorter than others that is true.

Both his Friday exams are just under 2 hours and although he has finished his revision for both of the modules I think he's not thrilled to be going over 2 lots of flashcards/notes for them tomorrow evening (there's an exam tomorrow as well 🤣)

OP posts:
HeddaGarbled · 07/05/2026 00:58

But they’re so short these days - an hour and a half, typically - two in one day is hardly that arduous.

Original poster
ChocolateAddictAlways · 07/05/2026 00:55

Eccle80 · 07/05/2026 00:31

I found with my DS last year there are just so many exams, it’s relentless. I think he had 22, almost all in the 2 weeks before and 2 weeks after half term.

i think yours must have a particularly unlucky subject combination that’s given him so many double days early on. How are his later ones so spread out though? There’s still a lot of compulsory subject ones near the end - in the week of 8th June there are two sciences and a maths

That is so intense! It's almost setting up them up for a hiccup! How did he feel at the end?

Mine has a few at the start of June which are better spread out, there is one week when I think he just has 3 long written papers and that feels much more reasonable. He has a few academically strong friends who are doing 11/12 GCSEs and the extra modules of those additional exams have resulted in them having just one or two days when there is nothing (except for half term) otherwise every day thet have either a spoken, listening or written module.

I have no clue how mine ended up with such long gaps between the last 3 papers. It's so odd. I think it's to do with his options all being squished before half term whereas his core science ones are after half term. The silver lining for my son is that his least favourite subjects are the ones at the end and they have many days between each module so he's feeling happy to have solid chunks of time between each of those to re-revise. But I expect some stress next week!

OP posts:
mamansloth · 07/05/2026 00:33

But they have to get through all the exams in a set time. It sounds very unfortunate that your child has them like this, but exam boards can’t know what every combination of subjects every child has chosen and therefore what will be when. The core exams are spread out, and then it’s just luck as to what is when depending on their choices. Don’t forget there are also loads of exams that your school don’t even do that will be going on on those days yours aren’t doing any.

I agree with a PP when one of mine did theirs half term really messed up the swing of things. I thought it would be a time to regroup, revise but also mean that the slog of exams would be interrupted for a week. In fact it was a great disruptor and they would have rather just cracked on!

Eccle80 · 07/05/2026 00:31

I found with my DS last year there are just so many exams, it’s relentless. I think he had 22, almost all in the 2 weeks before and 2 weeks after half term.

i think yours must have a particularly unlucky subject combination that’s given him so many double days early on. How are his later ones so spread out though? There’s still a lot of compulsory subject ones near the end - in the week of 8th June there are two sciences and a maths

Original poster
ChocolateAddictAlways · 07/05/2026 00:14

Stopsnowing · 06/05/2026 23:58

Similar for
my DC- it turns into an endurance test- also I had hoped the half term break would be a break but ds just collapsed and never really got back into the swing of
it.

Sorry to hear that 🫂

It just doesn't seem reasonable to have them sit so many exams in such a short space of time. There will inevitably be more exhaustion, mental overload and anxiety when the written papers are condensed in this way.

OP posts:
Stopsnowing · 06/05/2026 23:58

Similar for
my DC- it turns into an endurance test- also I had hoped the half term break would be a break but ds just collapsed and never really got back into the swing of
it.