There is no national A-Level mock timetable. No exam board publishes one, no regulator sets one, and if you are searching for “A-Level mock exam dates” expecting a JCQ-style grid, it does not exist.
Your school decides. That is the whole answer, and it is worth understanding why, because it changes what a mock result means.
Why mocks have no fixed date
Real A-Level exams are timetabled centrally because scripts go to external examiners and papers must be sat everywhere at the same time to stop them leaking. The summer 2027 series begins in the week beginning Monday 10 May 2027, and candidates must stay available until the contingency day of Wednesday 23 June 2027, per AQA’s provisional timetable (opens in a new tab).
Mocks carry none of that. The papers are usually past papers, they are marked in-house, and the results go nowhere outside the building. So schools schedule them around their own teaching, their own hall availability and their own reporting deadlines.
The practical consequence: two students taking the same subject at two schools a mile apart can sit mocks eleven weeks apart, on different papers, marked to different standards.
The windows most schools actually use
There are only really four, and most schools use two of them.
| Window | Who usually sits it | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Late Nov to mid Dec | Year 13 | The big one. Feeds predicted grades and UCAS references |
| Late Jan to Feb | Year 13, sometimes Year 12 | A second run, often full papers under real conditions |
| Mar to Apr | Year 13 | Final check before study leave, sometimes just one paper per subject |
| May to Jul | Year 12 | End-of-year exams, which decide Year 13 sets and initial predictions |
Year 13 mocks cluster in November and December. That is not an accident. UCAS references and predicted grades have to be written, and a school wants evidence in hand before it commits a number to a university.
Year 12 mocks usually land at the end of the summer term. If you are in Year 12 and searching for mock dates in the autumn, you are most likely looking at an internal assessment or a topic test rather than a full mock.
If your school has not told you yet, ask the head of sixth form rather than guessing. The date is not secret; it just has not been circulated.
What a mock result is actually worth
This is where students get the weighting wrong in both directions.
Mocks do not appear anywhere official. They are not on a certificate, not on your UCAS application, and no admissions tutor ever sees the grade itself.
But they set your predicted grades, and those are on your application. That is the real stake, and it is much more consequential than the mark itself. A poor November mock in Year 13 can produce a predicted grade that closes off an offer before you have sat a real paper.
And they are the only calibrated evidence in a grade appeal or a centre-assessed situation. In any year where exams are disrupted, mock scripts become the evidence base. That is not a prediction about 2027, it is a reason to sit them properly.
So: they do not count, and they matter. Both are true.
Two specific things worth knowing
Mocks are often harder than the real thing, on purpose. Teachers mark strictly, sometimes deliberately, and papers frequently include content not yet taught. A grade that drops two bands between a mock and a real exam result is unremarkable. The reverse is rarer.
The gap is bigger than it feels. A Year 13 mock in early December sits roughly twenty-two weeks before the summer series starts in May. That is most of a course still to come, plus every week of revision. Our guide on what to do if your mock results were disappointing covers how to use that time, and building a revision timetable is the practical next step.
If mocks have gone badly and you are already past this point
For students who have finished Year 13 and are looking at the summer results rather than a mock, the position is different and the options are real: a retake year, a private candidate entry, or a single subject resit alongside other commitments.
A-Level retakes sets out how that works, retake costs covers the money, and can you resit just one A-Level answers the question most people ask first.
Frequently asked questions
When are A-Level mocks in 2026 and 2027?
There is no national date. Most Year 13 cohorts sit their main mocks between late November and mid December, with a second set in late January or February. Year 12 mocks are usually end-of-year exams in the summer term. Your school sets its own dates and should publish them in advance.
Do A-Level mocks count towards your final grade?
No. Mock results do not contribute to your A-Level grade and do not appear on any certificate. They do inform the predicted grades that go on your UCAS application, which is where they have real consequences.
Are mock exams harder than real A-Levels?
Often, yes. Papers may cover content you have not been taught, they are marked by your teachers rather than trained examiners, and some departments mark harshly as a deliberate prompt. Real grades commonly come in above mock grades.
What happens if I miss my mock exams?
Nothing formal, because there is no external entry. In practice your school will have less evidence when it sets your predicted grade, which usually works against you. Most schools will let you sit the papers late; ask rather than leave it.
Can mock results be used as evidence for a grade appeal?
Mock scripts are part of the evidence a centre holds, and in disrupted years they have been central to how grades were determined. They are not a route to appeal a summer grade on their own, but they are the strongest calibrated record a school has of your work.
Do universities see my mock results?
Not directly. They see the predicted grades your school submits, which are informed by mocks, and the reference. The mock grade itself is never sent.
The short version
Stop looking for a national mock timetable. There isn’t one.
What there is: a November and December window for most Year 13s, a set of predicted grades that come out of it, and roughly twenty-two weeks between that mock and the first real paper in May 2027. The mock does not count. What your school writes on your UCAS form because of it does.