IB Diploma November 2026: Exam Schedule, Retakes & Results
Every row of the IB Diploma Programme and Career-related Programme November 2026 examination schedule, reproduced here: 126 rows over 16 exam days, from Friday 23 October 2026 to Friday 13 November 2026. Each row is a subject, a level and a paper, with the duration the schedule prints for it, sitting in the morning or the afternoon cell of one day. The document is marked FINAL VERSION and headed “All exam zones (A, B, C)”, so this one schedule is the schedule for every zone.
This schedule at a glance
Counted from the 126 rows reproduced on this page.
- Rows by session
- Morning 55, Afternoon 71
- Rows by level
- HL 55, SL 55, HL/SL 16
- Most rows on one day
- Thursday 5 November 2026 (14 rows)
- Durations listed
- 10 different values, from 45m to 2h 30m — 124 of the 126 rows carry a duration and 2 have that column left blank
- Weeks
- The schedule labels Week 1, Week 2 and Week 3. The day it bands without a week label: Friday 23 October 2026.
- Subject groups
- Studies in language and literature, and Language acquisition 49; Individuals and societies 35; Sciences 25; Mathematics 10; Interdisciplinary subjects 5; School-based syllabus 2
The schedule marks the morning of Friday 23 October 2026 “--- No Exams ---” rather than leaving the cell empty, so that session appears below with no rows.
Exam zones and what time each session starts
Every row of this schedule gives a session, Morning or Afternoon, and not a clock time. The document carries the local start times in a separate table headed “Local start times for the November 2026 examination session”, with 22 rows across zones A, B and C. It states that schools must ensure they are aware of their allocated exam zone, which does not change between examination sessions; that there is no variance in start times within morning or afternoon sessions; and that the local start times indicated are based on local time and do not need to be adjusted for daylight saving.
| Exam zone | Morning session start time | Afternoon session start time |
|---|---|---|
| A 12 | 10.00 | 14.00 |
| A 11 | 10.00 | 14.00 |
| A 10 | 10.00 | 14.00 |
| A 9 | 10.00 | 14.00 |
| A 8 | 09.30 | 13.30 |
| A 7 | 09.00 | 13.00 |
| A 6 | 09.00 | 13.00 |
| A 5 | 09.00 | 13.00 |
| A 4 | 09.00 | 13.00 |
| A 3 | 09.00 | 13.00 |
| B 3 | 10.00 | 14.00 |
| B 2 | 09.30 | 13.30 |
| B 1 | 09.00 | 13.00 |
| B 0 | 09.00 | 13.00 |
| C -3 | 10.00 | 14.00 |
| C -4 | 09.30 | 13.30 |
| C -5 | 08.30 | 12.30 |
| C -6 | 08.30 | 12.30 |
| C -7 | 08.30 | 12.30 |
| C -8 | 08.30 | 12.30 |
| C -9 | 08.30 | 12.30 |
| C -10 | 08.30 | 12.30 |
Your DP coordinator is the person to confirm which zone your centre is in.
Find your subject
Every subject name on this schedule, A to Z — 33 of them — with the levels and papers it carries, how many rows it has here and the first and last day those rows fall on. A count is of rows on this schedule. Select a subject to filter the day-by-day schedule below to it.
| Subject | Levels | Papers | Rows | Dates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Biology | HL, SL | 1 (1a and 1b), 2 | 4 | 27 Oct - 28 Oct |
| Business management | HL, SL, HL/SL | 1, 2, 3 | 4 | 28 Oct - 29 Oct |
| Chemistry | HL, SL | 1 (1a and 1b), 2 | 4 | 11 Nov - 12 Nov |
| Computer science | HL, SL | 1, 2, 3 | 5 | 30 Oct - 2 Nov |
| Design technology | HL, SL, HL/SL | 1, 2, 3 | 4 | 11 Nov - 12 Nov |
| Digital Society | HL, SL, HL/SL | 1, 2, 3 | 4 | 6 Nov - 9 Nov |
| Economics | HL, SL, HL/SL | 1, 2, 3 | 4 | 10 Nov - 11 Nov |
| English A Language & Literature | HL, SL, HL/SL | 1, 2 | 3 | 5 Nov - 6 Nov |
| English A Literature | HL, SL, HL/SL | 1, 2 | 3 | 5 Nov - 6 Nov |
| English ab initio | SL | 1, 2 | 3 | 5 Nov - 6 Nov |
| English B | HL, SL | 1, 2 | 6 | 5 Nov - 6 Nov |
| Environmental systems & societies | HL, SL | 1, 2 | 4 | 30 Oct - 2 Nov |
| Geography | HL, SL, HL/SL | 1, 2, 3 | 4 | 6 Nov - 9 Nov |
| Global politics | HL, HL/SL | 1, 2, 3 | 3 | 6 Nov - 10 Nov |
| History | HL, HL/SL | 1, 2, 3 | 3 | 2 Nov - 3 Nov |
| Language A Language & Literature | HL, SL, HL/SL | 1, 2 | 3 | 26 Oct - 27 Oct |
| Language A Literature | HL, SL, HL/SL | 1, 2 | 3 | 26 Oct - 27 Oct |
| Language ab initio | SL | 1, 2 | 3 | 3 Nov - 4 Nov |
| Language B | HL, SL | 1, 2 | 6 | 3 Nov - 4 Nov |
| Latin | HL, SL | 1, 2 | 4 | 3 Nov - 4 Nov |
| Literature & performance | SL | 1 | 1 | 6 Nov |
| Mathematics: analysis and approaches | HL, SL | 1, 2, 3 | 5 | 9 Nov - 13 Nov |
| Mathematics: applications and interpretation | HL, SL | 1, 2, 3 | 5 | 9 Nov - 13 Nov |
| Philosophy | HL, SL, HL/SL | 1, 2, 3 | 4 | 12 Nov - 13 Nov |
| Physics notes | HL, SL | 1 (1a and 1b), 2 | 4 | 4 Nov - 5 Nov |
| Psychology | HL, SL | 1, 2, 3 | 5 | 12 Nov - 13 Nov |
| School-based syllabus | SL | 1, 2 | 2 | 23 Oct - 26 Oct |
| Social & cultural anthropology | HL, SL | 1, 2 | 4 | 6 Nov - 9 Nov |
| Spanish A Language & Literature | HL, SL, HL/SL | 1, 2 | 3 | 29 Oct - 30 Oct |
| Spanish A Literature | HL, SL, HL/SL | 1, 2 | 3 | 29 Oct - 30 Oct |
| Spanish ab initio | SL | 1, 2 | 3 | 29 Oct - 30 Oct |
| Spanish B | HL, SL | 1, 2 | 6 | 29 Oct - 30 Oct |
| Sports, exercise & health science | HL, SL | 1 (1a and 1b), 2 | 4 | 4 Nov - 5 Nov |
The schedule's legend names 6 subject groups: Interdisciplinary subjects; Sciences; Studies in language and literature, and Language acquisition; Mathematics; Individuals and societies; The arts. The rows here fall in 5 of them (none falls in The arts), alongside 2 school-based syllabus rows, which the grid marks separately.
The calendar entries are all-day entries carrying the date, the session and the duration. That is the file's own choice: the schedule gives Morning and Afternoon and puts the local clock start in the exam-zone table above, so there is no one time to place an entry at.
Exam schedule, day by day
All 126 rows, in date order, from Friday 23 October 2026 to Friday 13 November 2026.
No rows match the subjects selected. Use “Show all” to bring the whole schedule back.
Friday 23 October 2026 · 1 row
Morning session
--- No Exams ---
Afternoon session · 1 row
- School-based syllabus SL paper 1 no duration listed
Monday 26 October 2026 · Week 1 · 5 rows
Morning session · 1 row
- School-based syllabus SL paper 2 no duration listed
Afternoon session · 4 rows
- Language A Literature HL paper 1 2h 15m
- Language A Literature SL paper 1 1h 15m
- Language A Language & Literature HL paper 1 2h 15m
- Language A Language & Literature SL paper 1 1h 15m
- * Except: English & Spanish
Tuesday 27 October 2026 · Week 1 · 4 rows
Morning session · 2 rows
- Language A Literature HL/SL paper 2 1h 45m
- Language A Language & Literature HL/SL paper 2 1h 45m
- * Except: English & Spanish
Afternoon session · 2 rows
- Biology HL paper 1 (1a and 1b) 2h
- Biology SL paper 1 (1a and 1b) 1h 30m
Wednesday 28 October 2026 · Week 1 · 4 rows
Morning session · 2 rows
- Biology HL paper 2 2h 30m
- Biology SL paper 2 1h 30m
Afternoon session · 2 rows
- Business management HL/SL paper 1 1h 30m
- Business management HL paper 3 1h 15m
Thursday 29 October 2026 · Week 1 · 12 rows
Morning session · 2 rows
- Business management HL paper 2 1h 45m
- Business management SL paper 2 1h 30m
Afternoon session · 10 rows
- Spanish A Literature HL paper 1 2h 15m
- Spanish A Literature SL paper 1 1h 15m
- Spanish A Language & Literature HL paper 1 2h 15m
- Spanish A Language & Literature SL paper 1 1h 15m
- Spanish B HL paper 1 1h 30m
- Spanish B HL paper 2 - Reading comprehension 1h
- Spanish B SL paper 1 1h 15m
- Spanish B SL paper 2 - Reading comprehension 1h
- Spanish ab initio SL paper 1 1h
- Spanish ab initio SL paper 2 - Reading comprehension 1h
Friday 30 October 2026 · Week 1 · 9 rows
Morning session · 5 rows
- Spanish A Literature HL/SL paper 2 1h 45m
- Spanish A Language & Literature HL/SL paper 2 1h 45m
- Spanish B HL paper 2 - Listening comprehension 1h
- Spanish B SL paper 2 - Listening comprehension 45m
- Spanish ab initio SL paper 2 - Listening comprehension 45m
Afternoon session · 4 rows
- Computer science HL paper 1 2h 10m
- Computer science SL paper 1 1h 30m
- Environmental systems & societies HL paper 1 2h
- Environmental systems & societies SL paper 1 1h
Monday 2 November 2026 · Week 2 · 7 rows
Morning session · 5 rows
- Computer science HL paper 2 1h 20m
- Computer science HL paper 3 1h
- Computer science SL paper 2 1h
- Environmental systems & societies HL paper 2 2h 30m
- Environmental systems & societies SL paper 2 2h
Afternoon session · 2 rows
- History HL/SL paper 1 1h
- History HL/SL paper 2 1h 30m
Tuesday 3 November 2026 · Week 2 · 9 rows
Morning session · 1 row
- History HL paper 3 2h 30m
Afternoon session · 8 rows
- Language B HL paper 1 1h 30m
- Language B HL paper 2 - Reading comprehension 1h
- Language B SL paper 1 1h 15m
- Language B SL paper 2 - Reading comprehension 1h
- Language ab initio SL paper 1 1h
- Language ab initio SL paper 2 - Reading comprehension 1h
- * Except: English & Spanish
- Latin HL paper 1 2h
- Latin SL paper 1 1h 30m
Wednesday 4 November 2026 · Week 2 · 9 rows
Morning session · 5 rows
- Language B HL paper 2 - Listening comprehension 1h
- Language B SL paper 2 - Listening comprehension 45m
- Language ab initio SL paper 2 - Listening comprehension 45m
- * Except: English & Spanish
- Latin HL paper 2 1h 30m
- Latin SL paper 2 1h 30m
Afternoon session · 4 rows
- Physics HL paper 1 (1a and 1b) 2h
- Physics SL paper 1 (1a and 1b) 1h 30m
- Sports, exercise & health science HL paper 1 (1a and 1b) 1h 45m
- Sports, exercise & health science SL paper 1 (1a and 1b) 1h 30m
Thursday 5 November 2026 · Week 2 · 14 rows
Morning session · 4 rows
- Physics HL paper 2 2h 30m
- Physics SL paper 2 1h 30m
- Sports, exercise & health science HL paper 2 2h 30m
- Sports, exercise & health science SL paper 2 1h 30m
Afternoon session · 10 rows
- English A Literature HL paper 1 2h 15m
- English A Literature SL paper 1 1h 15m
- English A Language & Literature HL paper 1 2h 15m
- English A Language & Literature SL paper 1 1h 15m
- English B HL paper 1 1h 30m
- English B HL paper 2 - Reading comprehension 1h
- English B SL paper 1 1h 15m
- English B SL paper 2 - Reading comprehension 1h
- English ab initio SL paper 1 1h
- English ab initio SL paper 2 - Reading comprehension 1h
Friday 6 November 2026 · Week 2 · 13 rows
Morning session · 6 rows
- English A Literature HL/SL paper 2 1h 45m
- English A Language & Literature HL/SL paper 2 1h 45m
- English B HL paper 2 - Listening comprehension 1h
- English B SL paper 2 - Listening comprehension 45m
- English ab initio SL paper 2 - Listening comprehension 45m
- Literature & performance SL paper 1 1h 45m
Afternoon session · 7 rows
- Digital Society HL paper 1 2h 15m
- Digital Society SL paper 1 1h 30m
- Geography HL paper 1 2h 15m
- Geography SL paper 1 1h 30m
- Global politics HL/SL paper 1 1h 15m
- Social & cultural anthropology HL paper 1 2h
- Social & cultural anthropology SL paper 1 1h 30m
Monday 9 November 2026 · Week 3 · 11 rows
Morning session · 7 rows
- Digital Society HL/SL paper 2 1h 15m
- Digital Society HL paper 3 1h 15m
- Geography HL/SL paper 2 1h 15m
- Geography HL paper 3 1h
- Global politics HL/SL paper 2 1h 45m
- Social & cultural anthropology HL paper 2 2h 30m
- Social & cultural anthropology SL paper 2 1h 30m
Afternoon session · 4 rows
- Mathematics: analysis and approaches HL paper 1 2h
- Mathematics: analysis and approaches SL paper 1 1h 30m
- Mathematics: applications and interpretation HL paper 1 2h
- Mathematics: applications and interpretation SL paper 1 1h 30m
Tuesday 10 November 2026 · Week 3 · 6 rows
Morning session · 4 rows
- Mathematics: analysis and approaches HL paper 2 2h
- Mathematics: analysis and approaches SL paper 2 1h 30m
- Mathematics: applications and interpretation HL paper 2 2h
- Mathematics: applications and interpretation SL paper 2 1h 30m
Afternoon session · 2 rows
- Economics HL/SL paper 2 1h 45m
- Global politics HL paper 3 1h 30m
Wednesday 11 November 2026 · Week 3 · 8 rows
Morning session · 3 rows
- Economics HL paper 1 1h 15m
- Economics HL paper 3 1h 45m
- Economics SL paper 1 1h 15m
Afternoon session · 5 rows
- Chemistry HL paper 1 (1a and 1b) 2h
- Chemistry SL paper 1 (1a and 1b) 1h 30m
- Design technology HL paper 1 1h
- Design technology SL paper 1 45m
- Design technology HL/SL paper 2 1h 30m
Thursday 12 November 2026 · Week 3 · 7 rows
Morning session · 3 rows
- Chemistry HL paper 2 2h 30m
- Chemistry SL paper 2 1h 30m
- Design technology HL paper 3 1h 30m
Afternoon session · 4 rows
- Philosophy HL paper 1 2h 30m
- Philosophy SL paper 1 1h 45m
- Psychology HL paper 1 2h
- Psychology SL paper 1 2h
Friday 13 November 2026 · Week 3 · 7 rows
Morning session · 5 rows
- Philosophy HL/SL paper 2 1h
- Philosophy HL paper 3 1h 15m
- Psychology HL paper 2 2h
- Psychology HL paper 3 1h
- Psychology SL paper 2 1h
Afternoon session · 2 rows
- Mathematics: analysis and approaches HL paper 3 1h 15m
- Mathematics: applications and interpretation HL paper 3 1h 15m
18 rows carry a second line under them on the schedule — Listening comprehension and Reading comprehension — and the duration printed beside that line is the one shown here.
Please note that for Studies in language and literature and Language acquisition, English and Spanish are scheduled individually from all other languages.
Official source document
- • IB Diploma Programme and IB Career-related Programme November 2026 examination schedule — the 7-page PDF marked FINAL VERSION, headed “All exam zones (A, B, C)”, that every row on this page came from
- • IB's exam schedule page — where IB publishes it
That document also states: “An examination cannot be rescheduled without authorization from the Assessment Division, IB Global Centre, Cardiff”. This page reproduces the dated rows of the schedule and counts them; open the IB page above for the document in full.
Retaking IB Subjects in November 2026
If your May 2026 total wasn't what you hoped, the November session is the next chance to improve it. You don't have to redo the whole Diploma — you retake individual subjects.
How retaking works
- - Retake one or more subjects to raise your points total
- - Your best grade in each subject counts toward the Diploma, so a retake can only help
- - You can re-use coursework marks (like the Internal Assessment) or resubmit — check the rules for each subject with your coordinator
- - The Diploma must be completed within a limited number of exam sessions, so don't leave retakes indefinitely
Registering
- - You register through a school — usually your own, as a coordinator-supported candidate
- - Registration closes well before the November session, so speak to your coordinator as soon as you're considering it
- - There are entry fees per subject; your school will confirm the amounts and deadlines
Retake and completion rules follow the IB's assessment and exams guidance; exact registration deadlines are set through your school — confirm them with your IB coordinator.
Enquiry Upon Results, or Retake?
Before committing to a November retake, it's worth checking whether a grade was simply marked lower than expected. Through an Enquiry Upon Results (EUR), your coordinator can request a re-mark of exam papers or re-moderation of coursework — a grade can go up, down, or stay the same, and the deadlines fall in the weeks just after results day.
- - A borderline grade (a mark or two short of the next boundary) is often worth an EUR first
- - A clear gap to your target is usually better closed with a retake and more preparation
The IB May 2026 results page explains the EUR options in full, and our grade thresholds guide covers how close a mark has to be to move a grade.
Results
Results for the IB Diploma November 2026 session are expected to be released in January 2027. The exact date will be confirmed by IB closer to the time. No results date appears in the examination schedule this page is built from, so none is printed here.
About the IB November Session
The November session is the main examination period for IB schools in the Southern Hemisphere, where the academic year runs from February to November/December.
- Southern Hemisphere: Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, parts of South America
- HL and SL: the rows above are marked HL, SL and HL/SL — HL 55, SL 55, HL/SL 16
- Exam zones A, B and C: one schedule covers all three. The published schedule carries its own start-times information, which is reproduced above as printed