January 2027 ministry exams: who writes them and how to prepare

Most parents think of ministry exams as an end-of-year thing, in May and June. Every year, though, some students write theirs in January, and for them the exam lands right after the holiday break. If your child’s school has told you they are registered for the January 2027 session, you have about ten weeks left, holidays included.

Here is who writes in January, what is on the schedule, and how to plan around the holidays.

Who writes ministry exams in January?

The Ministère de l’Éducation runs three exam sessions a year: the January session, the May and June session, and the August session. The January session does not apply to everyone.

In elementary school, it is for one specific group. According to the ministry’s information document, the January exam is only for Grade 6 students who have completed the program and are about to receive intensive English instruction. These are intensive English classes in French-sector schools, which fit French and math into the first half of the year. Every other Grade 6 student writes in the May and June session, and the English sector has no elementary exam in January.

In high school, it is mostly students whose exam course ends in January, for example in a school on a semester schedule or in some special programs, along with students retaking an exam.

Either way, the school registers the student. If you have not heard from the school, your child almost certainly writes in the May and June session, and our guide to the May and June exams will serve you better.

How much do January exams count?

As much as in the May and June session. The weighting depends on the level, not the session:

• in Elementary 6, the exam counts for 20% of the final mark for the competency evaluated;
• in Secondary 4 and 5, it counts for 50% of the final mark. The other half comes from the teacher’s evaluation.

So in Secondary 4, a student with 78% in class who gets 62% on the exam ends up around 70%. A January exam deserves the same preparation as a spring one, even though it comes earlier in the year.

The January 2027 schedule

These dates come from the ministry’s official schedule. The full table, with times and exam codes for both sectors, is on our ministry exam dates page.

English-sector schools, Secondary 4

• January 15: History of Québec and Canada
• January 20: Science (Science and Technology, or Applied Science and Technology)
• January 21: Mathematics (CST, TS or SN)

English-sector schools, Secondary 5

• January 13 and 14: English Language Arts (Reading and Production Preparation on the 13th, Production Writing on the 14th)
• January 6 to 19: French Second Language, basic or enriched program, with the written production on January 19

French-sector schools

Many English-speaking families have a child in a French-language school. In that sector:

• Grade 6: French from January 12 to 15, math from January 19 to 21
• Secondary 4: the same history, science and math dates as above
• Secondary 5: French writing on December 3, 2026, with the preparatory file handed out on November 26, and English as a Second Language from January 6 to 19

One thing not to miss: in a French-sector school, the Secondary 5 French writing exam for the January session takes place in December, before the holidays. For a student who is concerned, that leaves barely five weeks.

The real challenge: the holiday break

A May or June exam is prepared over a full winter and spring. A January exam is prepared over a fall cut in two by a two-week break, and the break falls right before the exam. A student who closes their books in mid-December and opens them again in early January walks into the exam after two weeks without practice.

The plan that works best is to do most of the work before the break.

Between now and the end of November: take stock. Look at the first report card and recent class tests. In math, is it the theory or the word problems that cause trouble? In history, the content or the document analysis? This is the time to target, not to review everything.

In December, before the break: focused work on the gaps, then one full practice exam, timed, under real conditions. Our free practice exams come with answer keys, and the ministry publishes official preparatory documents.

During the break: no cramming. Short, regular sessions are enough to stay sharp: a page of problems, a text to read and summarize, a few history questions. As Alloprof points out, no single length suits every child, so set it in advance with yours, based on how tired they are. The rest of the time is a holiday, and that is fine.

First week of January: go back over the mistakes from the December practice exam and redo the question types that went wrong. No new material at this point. The night before the exam, no review; sleep.

Where to put the effort, by level

In Secondary 4, all three exams fall within seven days, January 15 to 21. That is the puzzle of this session: the student has to split their preparation between three subjects arriving almost at once. Start with the one where the gap between the class mark and what the exam demands is widest. In math, word problems carry a large share of the mark, and the student must show all their work. In history, the exam tests the ability to interpret documents and connect periods, not just memorize dates.

In Secondary 5, the English Language Arts exam is spread over two days, with the production preparation on the afternoon of January 13 and the writing on the morning of the 14th. The preparation time is for planning, so the student should arrive already comfortable with the structure of the expected text. Our Secondary 5 study guide covers the evaluation criteria. For French Second Language, a student who is nervous speaking French gains a lot from a few practice conversations in December, before the oral interaction.

In Grade 6 at a French-sector school, this is often a child’s first real standardized test. In reading, the hard part is justifying the answer with evidence from the text. In math, the problem-solving situation requires showing every step, and that is where points get lost. A child in intensive English has also covered the program in a few months, so the last topics seen are often the least solid.

When a tutor makes a difference

Not every student needs one. A student who is comfortable in the subject and studies independently can prepare alone with the ministry documents and practice exams.

A tutor helps in specific cases: a Secondary 4 student facing three exams in a week who does not know where to start, a Grade 6 intensive English student who went through the program too fast to absorb it, or a student retaking an exam who needs to understand what went wrong the first time. A tutor can also keep the work going over the holidays, when the school cannot.

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Is your child writing a ministry exam in January? Start with a timed run through our free practice exams. If you want support right up to exam day, at home or online, plans and hourly rates are on the pricing page.