Poland Sets 2026 Matura Exam Dates and Rules

The news in Polish

1. formuła  (f.)
   sposób zorganizowania lub przeprowadzenia czegoś, np. egzaminu, zawodów ↩︎
2. ustny
   taki, który odbywa się w formie mówienia, a nie pisania ↩︎
3. obowiązkowy
   taki, który trzeba zrobić, nie można go pominąć ↩︎
4. wybierać
   zdecydować się na jedną lub kilka rzeczy spośród różnych możliwości ↩︎
5. przedmiot  (m.)
   w szkole: dziedzina nauki, której się uczymy, np. matematyka, historia ↩︎
6. rozszerzony
   taki, który ma większy zakres materiału niż podstawowy ↩︎

Translation

Text comprehension

Question 1: Which three subjects are compulsory for the matura exam in Poland in 2026?

Question 2: When will students receive their matura exam results in 2026?

Vocabulary

Polish	English
formuła  (f.)	format
ustny	oral
obowiązkowy	compulsory
wybierać	to choose
przedmiot  (m.)	school subject
rozszerzony	extended

Read the full story

The Polish authorities have announced the full schedule and rules for the 2026 Matura, the nationwide school-leaving and university entrance exam taken by secondary-school graduates. The Central Examination Board (Centralna Komisja Egzaminacyjna – CKE) has also confirmed the dates for extra and retake sessions, and explained which groups of students will follow which exam format.

In 2026 the Matura will again be held in two parallel formats: Formula 2023 and Formula 2015. Most current students in four-year general secondary schools (licea), five-year technical schools (technika) and second-level vocational schools will sit the exam in Formula 2023. Graduates from earlier types of schools – such as the former three-year liceum or four-year technikum, and those who finished vocational school after lower-secondary school (gimnazjum) – will use Formula 2015 if they decide to take or retake the exam.

CKE estimates that in 2026 it will administer around 711,000 oral exams and about 1.85 million written exams. To help schools and candidates tell the versions apart, Formula 2023 papers are marked with purple graphic elements, while Formula 2015 papers use orange.

The 2026 written exam session will begin on Monday 4 May at 9:00 with Polish language at basic level. On 5 May candidates will take basic-level mathematics in the morning, followed by extended exams in Kashubian, Lemko and Latin with ancient culture in the afternoon. On 6 May there will be basic-level written exams in major modern foreign languages (including English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian and Ukrainian), as well as subject papers in mathematics and geography prepared in foreign languages for graduates of bilingual schools.

Over the following days, students will sit extended-level exams in a wide range of subjects. These include English (7 May), biology and philosophy (8 May), extended mathematics (11 May), Russian (11 May), civics / social studies – wiedza o społeczeństwie (12 May), German (12 May), chemistry (13 May), history of art (13 May), informatics (14 May), and Ukrainian as a foreign language (14 May). Later in the month come geography (15 May), history (18 May), French (18 May), physics (19 May), Spanish (19 May), extended Polish (20 May) and Italian (20 May). Special sessions are also planned for national minority languages and for science subjects taken in a foreign language by graduates of bilingual schools.

The oral exams will be organised locally in schools, within national time windows. Polish oral exams are scheduled to run on school premises between 8 and 30 May, on specific days set by school examination boards. Between 7 and 30 May (excluding 10, 17 and 24 May), schools will also hold orals in modern foreign languages, national minority languages, Lemko and Kashubian. Individual dates for each student are decided by the local exam committee.

As in recent years, every candidate must complete a set of compulsory exams. These include three written exams at basic level: Polish language, mathematics and one modern foreign language. There are also two obligatory oral exams: Polish and a modern foreign language. Students learning in the language of a national minority must additionally take both written and oral exams in that language.

Beyond the mandatory subjects, each student must choose at least one additional written exam at extended level. This may be any available subject, including mathematics, Polish or a foreign language at a higher level, or other fields such as biology, chemistry, physics, geography, history, history of art, history of music, informatics, philosophy, Latin with ancient culture, social studies or minority and regional languages. Students may take up to six extended-level subjects in total: the one compulsory additional exam plus up to five more by choice.

The list of modern foreign languages available includes English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Russian. According to CKE, the most popular extended subject among current graduates is English, followed by mathematics and then geography. In recent sessions, Ukrainian has been added both as a modern foreign language and, separately, as a language of a national minority.

Certain groups of candidates can receive specific exemptions. A graduate of a technical school who already holds a vocational diploma at technician level may be released from the obligation to take an additional extended subject, provided they submitted a written resignation by the deadline set in April. Another special rule applies to winners and finalists of subject Olympiads: if they declared that Olympiad subject as part of their Matura, they are automatically awarded 100 per cent of the points for that exam and do not need to sit it, once the school formally confirms the exemption.

In recent years the content of the exam has also changed. The current cohorts of graduates are examined on the basis of an adjusted national curriculum. After the COVID‑19 pandemic, Poland moved from temporary “exam requirements” to a revised core curriculum reduced by about 20 per cent. The 2026 graduates belong to the group taking exams according to this slimmer curriculum, rather than the emergency rules in place at the height of the pandemic.

For candidates who cannot attend in the main period for documented health or personal reasons, CKE has planned a additional Matura session from 1 to 16 June. Written exams will be held throughout that period, while the additional window for oral exams is set for 8–10 June.

The results of the 2026 Matura will be published on 8 July 2026. On that day, CKE will announce national statistics, and individual candidates will be able to check their own results online. To pass the Matura, students must obtain at least 30 per cent of the possible points in each compulsory basic-level subject. There is no minimum pass mark for extended-level subjects; they are mainly used for university admissions rather than for formally passing the exam as a whole.

Candidates who fail one compulsory exam may use the official August retake session. In 2026 the retake written exams are planned for Monday 24 August at 9:00, and the retake oral exams for Tuesday 25 August. Details of exam locations will appear on the websites of the regional examination boards by 10 August. Students who do not pass more than one compulsory subject will have to repeat those parts of the exam in a later year.

The 2026 session comes at a time when the number of Matura candidates is noticeably higher than in previous years, a trend linked to earlier reforms that temporarily lowered the school starting age to six. Although that policy was later reversed, its effects are now visible in the size of graduating cohorts. Alongside current-year graduates, the exam will again be open to former students returning to pass missed exams, improve past results or add new subjects to strengthen their chances in higher education.

Info: ‘Polish Learner News’ is a service from ‘Let’s Learn Polish’, a language school dedicated to teaching Polish, where you can join a Polish language course and study online in a structured way.