Anyone else still waiting for their child’s GCSE summer exam timetable? Or is our exam officer being slow?

[joshingaround]

Still waiting for my child’s secondary school to send out timetables for the summer exams. I believe they start in six weeks but right now I’m getting all my info off the exam boards own websites - and I know it might be wrong as there are loads of different papers, plus possible clashes to resolve.

I emailed the school’s exam officer several weeks ago but no response.

Has everyone got individual timetables or am I being impatient?

We are Scotland so a little different but our exams are May & getting timetables next week. That being said, sqa put all exam days/times on their website so it's worth having a look to see if your provider does the same 🙂

I am an invigilator and was in a training seminar last week. Our Exams officer said she has not yet sent out the timetable because they are trying to resolve some clashes. Apparently there is a big clash with one subject with a huge cohort from one exam board and Maths (I think) with another with clearly a huge cohort and one board in particular is not being cooperative about scheduling.

She's tearing her hair out. She was aiming to send it out by the start of the easter Holidays.

Just what I heard about it anyway.

Each exam board has had the dates/times published for quite a while. You can Google each one and put your own timetable together.

The only occasion where there might be a difference between the published timetable and what your child ends up doing is if they have a clash. So 2 exams at the same time. Then the exams officer will move one of the exams to either the morning or afternoon session of the same day, where possible.

I would be surprised if you are finding loads of clashes. One or two at most would be more normal. The school website or your child should be able to tell you which papers they are sitting where there is a choice within the subject

Ours has been out a few weeks including a couple of exam clashes which mea a long afternoon sessions. Can't believe that maths would clash with anything as everyone does it.

You can find it online if you look up your exam board. We had the A level timetable last week.

I can't recall exactly what the main clash ( as opposed to the little ones) it was only that the EO was both scornful and furious that it did because it was obvious that everyone would be doing it.

The school I invigilate for do AQA, Cambridge and Pearson. 3 exam boards to negotiate through.

I think our school sent out a list of all the exams our children were being entered for so that we could query anything that seemed amiss and I think that would have been end of February time (a couple of years ago) so it had the paper numbers on too and the whole foundation/higher for maths and sciences.

The only one I ever struggled to know which paper my child was sitting was A level further maths due to all the variants. History GCSE is also a bit more difficult as you have to find each topic the school chose to study.

I just did a timetable in excel with dates, printed it and put it up on the noticeboard so DC could see how it was laid out and with half term clearly labelled. Then when the real thing came through cross referenced it to check mine was right. My timetable also included a summary of what papers for each week and what papers before half term and what papers after half term so they could plan their revision effectively. I do love an excel sheet.

Yeh @joshingaround as others say, you can find it online. All boards will have the same subjects at the same time with the exception IME of IGCSEs which are sometimes earlier. But a state school won’t offer these.

Maths and English and science etc will all be the same. Have you really got clashes? They are less common IME at GCSE than A level bc the timetable is spread out to avoid them. Really only with less commonly say subjects like more unusual MFL for example.

We got sent ours by school back in January.

You can get the details from the exam board websites.

It depends on how much detail the school send out with the timetables.
If the school are adding room and seat numbers etc. then that takes longer than just a list of days and times.

Our school just finished the last mock and I think teacher may have final adjustment in tier. Therefore, the timetable (with tier info) may not be ready right now.

Had ours a couple of months now. AQA and Edexcel mainly.

https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/Support/Examination-timetables-for-UK-Edexcel-GCSE/gcse-summer-2025-final.pdf

https://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/files_ccc/nq-2025-exam-timetable.pdf

Schools and colleges will add rooms/halls etc but the dates and times are nationwide.

DS is doing AS levels this year - he got his timetable this week.

It's incredibly unlikely that it's the EO's fault - they're probably still waiting for HoDs to confirm if there are any paper changes (data drop deadlines may only have passed last week, following a second set of mocks), still getting some Access Arrangements through from the SENDCO, trying to resolve clashes, confirm more invigilators as a result of last minute changes - that kind of thing.

Thanks for your help all. I’ve got them all off the exam boards’ websites again so we have a general plan.

I've only just got a draft. Because I insisted by emailing and phoning. I'm the only one who had it, it hasn't been released to other parents yet. Friends of mine from other schools have had theirs for months. 😡 Our school is good but they release everything really late, including timetables, details of when study leave starts etc.

We got it for GCSE Friday last week - later than previous years.

It comes with seat number and rooms - and apparently that was bit that was taking the time this year - sorting out the rooms at least that what the kids were told not sure why this year that's been a harder issue to solve. They has last mocks about two weeks befor so perhaps there was some level shuffling as well.

College - got date of practical but rest I don't think they've been given yet - though can get dates from exam board.

exam clashes won’t mean moving they will just mean sitting the exam separately to others before or after the other starts and being kept in isolation.

not strict exam conditions - there will be breaks and food and revision but under constant invigilator supervision no phones and no contact with anyone other than those on the clash with you.

the year I did it there was a triple afternoon clash of media studies sociology and German listening with a morning of an English exam. They did 4 exams in one day with short breaks in between and under supervision.

But you should have seen paperwork for what they have been entered into to check?

We got DS’s end of last week. We’d actually researched it ourselves the week before, and apart from one exam, we’d got them all right

Just came in this week. Prior to that we were just working with an 8 week window. Thankfully, it's less.

Yes, but it can still be changed. Just.

Our EO is pulling their hair out trying to get HoDs nailed down to confirm any changes in paper levels. It's as if the repeated emails telling them that the deadline was last week all evaporated once they clicked Send, never mind the SENDCO still getting emails from parents asking about new access arrangements for the first time.