UAE first-semester exams: Ministry of Education sets November 25 to December 11 for grades 3 to 12

Dubai: The Ministry of Education has approved the timetable for the end-of-first-semester exams for the current academic year 2026-2027, for students from grades three to twelve in government and private schools that apply the Ministry’s curriculum, during the period from November 25 to December 11. The approved guidelines reveal that third- and fourth-grade students will take their exams in person at school, while exams for grades five through twelve will be administered either in paper format or electronically, depending on the subject and grade, with students required to attend school. Grade 12 students are required to bring their own laptops to take the exams. The guidelines clarified that 12th-grade students in private schools enrolled in the Ministry's curriculum will take all their exams in public schools, under the supervision and joint coordination of the school operations coordinators. Teachers are not permitted to read aloud the questions on the central exams, except for exams for third-grade students, where the teacher's role is limited to reading the questions aloud without guiding students to the answers. The Ministry explained that the tests will be conducted in paper form for the third and fourth grades through actual attendance at the school, and in paper and electronic form for the fifth through 12th grades according to the subject and grade, also through actual attendance at the school, in addition to applying an electronic written test for the English language subject for the 12th grade. The regulations allow the use of scientific calculators for 12th-grade students in mathematics and science subjects, while schools must complete the monitoring of school assessment grades for subjects in Groups A and B, upload them, and approve them by November 20th. According to the approved schedules, 12th-grade students in both the general and advanced tracks will begin their exams with mathematics on Wednesday, November 25, followed by English on November 26, and then chemistry on November 27. Exams will resume after the UAE National Day holiday on Monday, December 7, with physics, followed by Arabic on December 8, Islamic studies on December 9, social studies on December 10, and concluding with biology on Friday, December 11. As for the 12th-grade students in the applied track, they will begin their exams with applied mathematics on November 25, then English on November 26, applied sciences on Monday, December 7, followed by Arabic on December 8, Islamic education on December 9, and social studies on December 10.