North America: national exam dates and examination bodies

How examinations are organised across the region

North America is the region where the phrase "national exam" applies least. The United States has no national school-leaving examination at all. What exists instead is a layered mix: state-mandated accountability assessments in specific grades, state graduation requirements that differ by state, and university-entrance and credit-bearing tests run by private organisations — the SAT (College Board), the ACT, and Advanced Placement examinations, which are held over two weeks in May.

Canada, with no federal education department, is similar in structure but provincial rather than private. Alberta administers Diploma Examinations in Grade 12 subjects across several sittings a year; British Columbia runs Graduation Assessments in literacy and numeracy; Ontario administers the OSSLT literacy test and EQAO assessments. Several provinces have no external examinations at all. Mexico runs national assessments through its education ministry and university-entrance examinations set by individual universities.

What this means for planning

Because so much of the North American calendar is set by private testing organisations, registration deadlines matter as much as test dates. SAT, ACT and AP all require registration weeks or months in advance, and late registration carries a fee. Missing a registration deadline, not missing a test date, is the common failure.

The AP calendar is the most rigid: examinations are administered worldwide on set dates in May, with a limited late-testing window. Provincial examinations in Canada generally offer several sittings across the year, which gives more flexibility than most systems anywhere.

Using these dates

For US students, check three separate things: your state's graduation assessment requirements, your registration deadlines for any College Board or ACT tests, and your school's own internal calendar. They are set by different bodies and do not coordinate.

For Canadian students, your province is the authority. Alberta's Diploma Exams in particular are weighted into the final course grade, so their dates and past papers — both published by Alberta Education — are worth locating early.