Issued on 6 October 2026 and signed by the Commissioner General of Examinations. Check the Department's own site too: if it is ever reissued, the official copy wins.
When is the O/L 2026 exam?
The Department of Examinations has released the time table for the 2026 G.C.E. Ordinary Level examination. It runs from Tuesday 8 December to Thursday 17 December 2026, starting with the religion papers and ending with the category subjects and languages. The official PDF is above; the same table is below as text.
How many days are left for the O/L exam?
The count updates by itself, from the day you open this page.
The full O/L 2026 time table
Highlighted rows are the four subjects Wizder has past-paper practice for. Times are as printed on the official table.
Tuesday 8 December
- 11 Buddhism
- 12 Saivaneri
- 14 Catholicism
- 15 Christianity
- 16 Islam
Wednesday 9 December
- 21 Sinhala Language & Literature
- 22 Tamil Language & Literature
- 21 Sinhala Language & Literature
- 22 Tamil Language & Literature
Thursday 10 December
- 33 History
- 33 History
Friday 11 December
- 31 English Language
Saturday 12 December
- 40 Music (Oriental)
- 41 Music (Western)
- 42 Carnatic Music
- 44 Dancing (Indigenous)
- 45 Bharatha Dance
- 43 Art
- 46 Appreciation of English Literary Texts
- 47 Appreciation of Sinhala Literary Texts
- 48 Appreciation of Tamil Literary Texts
- 49 Appreciation of Arabic Literary Texts
- 50 Drama & Theatre (Sinhala)
- 51 Drama & Theatre (Tamil)
- 52 Drama & Theatre (English)
- 43 Art
Monday 14 December
- 32 Mathematics
- 32 Mathematics
Tuesday 15 December
- 80 Information & Communication Technology
- 81 Agriculture & Food Technology
- 82 Aquatic Bioresources Technology
- 84 Arts & Crafts
- 85 Home Economics
- 86 Health & Physical Education
- 87 Communication & Media Studies
- 88 Design & Construction Technology
- 89 Design & Mechanical Technology
- 90 Design, Electrical & Electronic Technology
- 92 Electronic Writing & Shorthand (Sinhala)
- 93 Electronic Writing & Shorthand (Tamil)
- 94 Electronic Writing & Shorthand (English)
Wednesday 16 December
- 34 Science
- 34 Science
Thursday 17 December
- 60 Business & Accounting Studies
- 61 Geography
- 62 Civic Education
- 63 Entrepreneurship Studies
- 64 Second Language (Sinhala)
- 65 Second Language (Tamil)
- 66 Pali
- 67 Sanskrit
- 68 French
- 69 German
- 70 Hindi
- 71 Japanese
- 72 Arabic
- 73 Korean
- 74 Chinese
- 75 Russian
Science, History, Sinhala and Buddhism: date and time of each paper
- Papers I and II together, 08:30 – 11:40
- Papers I and II together, 08:30 – 11:40
- Paper III, 13:00 – 15:00
- Paper II, 08:30 – 11:40
- Paper I (MCQ), 13:00 – 14:00
- Paper II, 08:30 – 11:40
- Paper I (MCQ), 13:00 – 14:00
Three things this table tells you
- History and Science put the MCQ paper in the afternoon. Paper II runs 08:30 to 11:40, and the one-hour Paper I follows at 13:00. You sit a 40-question multiple-choice paper after three hours of writing, so practise MCQs when you are already a little tired, not only when you are fresh.
- Buddhism and Sinhala are one long morning. Papers I and II are a single 08:30 to 11:40 sitting, and Sinhala adds Paper III at 13:00.
- There is no gap after the first three days. Buddhism, Sinhala and History fall on 8, 9 and 10 December, back to back. Finish revising those three before the exam starts; there will not be an evening to catch up.
What is not allowed in the hall
The table's own footnote: calculators and correcting fluid are not allowed in any subject, and bringing a mobile phone or any other electronic device into the hall is an offence that can be punished.
The full exam-day list is in the O/L 2026 exam day checklist.
A plan for the weeks that are left
Whatever the count above says, the order of work is the same. Each subject has its own week-by-week plan built from the topics that repeat in its past papers:
- O/L Science: last 8 weeks plan
- O/L History: last 8 weeks plan
- O/L Sinhala: last 8 weeks plan
- O/L Buddhism: last 8 weeks plan
The short version
- Now to mid-November: one old Paper I a week per subject, untimed. Keep a list of every question you could not do. That list is your real syllabus.
- Mid-November to the end of November: work the list topic by topic, doing each topic's questions from several different years together.
- December: timed papers (40 questions, one hour, no phone), then only the questions you got wrong. No new topics in the last week.
Paper I is the part you can practise alone: the questions are short, the marking is binary, and the 500 Science questions we have curated from 13 papers are enough to meet the same ideas several times over.
A real Paper I question, to start today
කොපුල් සෛල ආලෝක අණ්වීක්ෂය යටතේ නිරීක්ෂණය කළ විට දැකිය හැකි ඉන්ද්රියිකාවක් වන්නේ
- Aගොල්ගි සංකීර්ණය ය.
- Bමයිටොකොන්ඩ්රියම ය.
- Cන්යෂ්ටිය ය.
- Dරයිබොසෝම ය.
Common questions
When does the O/L 2026 exam start?
Tuesday 8 December 2026, with the religion papers (Buddhism, Saivaneri, Catholicism, Christianity, Islam) at 08:30. The last papers are on Thursday 17 December 2026.
How many days are left for the O/L 2026 exam?
Count to 8 December 2026: the live number is at the top of this page and updates every day. The exam runs for ten days, to 17 December.
When is the O/L Science paper in 2026?
Wednesday 16 December 2026: Paper II from 08:30 to 11:40, and Paper I (MCQ) from 13:00 to 14:00. Maths is on Monday 14 December and English on Friday 11 December.
Is there a Sinhala and an English version of the time table?
Yes. The Department of Examinations publishes Sinhala, Tamil and English versions with the same dates. The Sinhala one is reproduced on this page, and the table here gives every subject in English.