When Is the Leaving Cert? Dates and Times

The Leaving Cert written exams run for three weeks in June. In 2026 they started on Wednesday 3 June and finished on Tuesday 23 June, according to the official SEC timetable. Morning exams begin at 9.30am and afternoon exams at 2pm. The State Examinations Commission had not published the 2027 written timetable as of Friday 7 August 2026, so the exact 2027 written exam dates are still unknown.

The SEC is the State Examinations Commission, the body that sets, runs and marks the state exams. Its timetables are published at examinations.ie, and that is the only place a date counts as confirmed.

When the written exams start

The written exams have started on the Wednesday after the June public holiday for the last three years.

• 2024: public holiday Monday 3 June, exams started Wednesday 5 June 2024 (2024 timetable)
• 2025: public holiday Monday 2 June, exams started Wednesday 4 June 2025 (2025 timetable)
• 2026: public holiday Monday 1 June, exams started Wednesday 3 June 2026 (2026 timetable)

The June public holiday is the first Monday in June, per Citizens Information.

The school year circular ties the two together. Circular 0018/2026 from the Department of Education and Youth recognises that post-primary schools will not be open for tuition beyond the Friday before the June public holiday, because the state exams begin. So sixth year classes finish before the exams open.

The SEC sets each year's timetable on its own and can move the dates. Until it publishes the 2027 timetable there is no 2027 date to write down.

What time Leaving Cert exams start

Every day on the 2026 timetable follows the same two-session shape.

• Morning session: 9.30am. Most morning papers run to 12.00 or 12.30.
• Afternoon session: 2pm. Most afternoon papers run to 4.30 or 5.00.

The first exam of 2026 was English Paper 1 at Higher and Ordinary Level, 9.30 to 12.20 on Wednesday 3 June, with Home Economics from 2.00 to 4.30 the same afternoon.

You are expected in the centre before the start time. The 2026 timetable says 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 means 9am for a 9.30 start on your first morning.

Paper lengths vary by subject and level, so take the finish times for your own subjects off the timetable. Physics ran 9.30 to 12.30 in 2026, three hours, and Economics ran 9.30 to 12.00, two and a half. Some sessions carry extra time. A note on the 2026 timetable says the sessions marked in red "include 20 minutes over and above the time traditionally allocated for the papers concerned", which covers English, Geography, Irish and History.

Language subjects have an aural section in the same sitting. French, German and Spanish each had a written paper from 9.30 to 12.00 and an aural from 12.10 to 12.50 in 2026.

How long is the Leaving Cert?

Fifteen exam days, spread across three calendar weeks. The 2026 exams ran from Wednesday 3 June to Tuesday 23 June, with no exams on Saturdays or Sundays. The 2025 exams ran Wednesday 4 June to Tuesday 24 June and the 2024 exams ran Wednesday 5 June to Tuesday 25 June, both the same length.

Your own run is shorter than the full three weeks, because you only sit your own subjects. The last week of the timetable holds Italian, Russian, Classical Studies, Latin, Technology, Japanese, Politics and Society, Arabic, Religious Education and Applied Maths. A student taking none of those was finished on Friday 19 June 2026.

The exams that happen before June

A large part of the Leaving Cert is decided in spring. The SEC publishes the oral, practical and coursework dates separately from the written timetable, in its provisional schedule of examination and completion dates for 2026/27. The SEC marks that schedule provisional and says the dates are subject to change, so check it again in the new year.

From that schedule, for the class of 2027:

• Oral examinations: Saturday 20 March to Thursday 25 March 2027, covering Irish, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Polish and Arabic
• Music practical examinations: Monday 5 April to Friday 16 April 2027
• Art practical examinations: Tuesday 20 to Thursday 22 April 2027
• Construction practical examinations: Tuesday 27 to Thursday 29 April 2027
• LCVP Link Modules written examination, 10.00 to 12.30: Wednesday 28 April 2027. LCVP is the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme, an optional extra subject
• Engineering Studies practical: Tuesday 4 to Thursday 6 May 2027
• Computer Science written examination: Wednesday 19 May 2027, Sections A and B from 9.30 to 11.00 and Section C from 11.30 to 12.30

The oral exams sit inside the Easter break, which runs from the close of school on Friday 19 March 2027 to reopening on Monday 5 April 2027 under Circular 0018/2026. The 2026 written timetable carries the same arrangement for Computer Science and LCVP, noting that both are held in April or May with dates announced separately.

When is the Leaving Cert 2027?

The SEC has not published the 2027 written timetable. As of Friday 7 August 2026 the published 2027 dates cover the orals, the practicals and the coursework deadlines only, all of them provisional.

When the written timetable appears it will be on examinations.ie under the Leaving Certificate material for that year, and the Department of Education publishes a state examinations page each year as well, State Examinations 2026 being the current one. Check both once the school year starts.

Until then, the fixed points for 2027 you can plan around are the spring dates above and the June public holiday, which falls on Monday 7 June 2027.

What to do with the dates

What matters about a subject's slot is where it sits relative to your other subjects. In 2026, Maths Paper 1 was on Friday 5 June and Maths Paper 2 on Monday 8 June, with a weekend between them. Irish Paper 1 was on the afternoon of Monday 8 June, a few hours after Maths Paper 2.

Sitting a real paper to time is the way to find out what that sequence feels like. The Maths past papers and English past papers pages have the papers and the marking schemes together, so you can mark what you sat.

For what to do in the months before the timetable matters, our post on when to start studying for the Leaving Cert works through the school year phase by phase.

FAQ

When is the Leaving Cert 2027? The SEC has not published the 2027 written timetable. It will appear on examinations.ie. The written exams have run in June every year, and the published provisional 2027 dates so far cover only the orals, practicals and coursework.

What time do Leaving Cert exams start? Morning exams start at 9.30am and afternoon exams at 2pm. Candidates are required to be present at least half an hour before their first exam begins.

How long is the Leaving Cert? Fifteen exam days across three weeks. The 2026 exams ran from Wednesday 3 June to Tuesday 23 June, and 2024 and 2025 were the same length.

When did the Leaving Cert start in 2026? Wednesday 3 June 2026, with English Paper 1 from 9.30 to 12.20.

Are there exams at the weekend? No written exams fall on a Saturday or Sunday. The oral exams are the exception, and the provisional 2027 schedule starts them on Saturday 20 March 2027.

When are the 2027 oral exams? The SEC's provisional schedule gives Saturday 20 March to Thursday 25 March 2027. Those dates can change.

How long is each exam? It varies by subject and level. Physics was three hours in 2026 and Economics was two and a half. Take the finish time for your own subjects off the timetable.

Every Leaving Cert past paper and marking scheme is free from the SEC. The ExamAI past paper finder gets you a specific paper in one search, and the subject pages group past questions by topic so you can work on one thing at a time.