Cambridge International Education has today announced that it will be running digital exams from June 2026.
The digital exams will begin in six subjects, before a planned global rollout across the full range of Cambridge curricula, covering IGCSE, AS and A level.
By 2033, Cambridge says that 85 per cent of its high-stakes qualifications will have a digital option.
Students at schools in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and the US will be the first to take exams on laptops, including the AS English general paper and multiple-choice questions in IGCSE accounting; economics; biology; chemistry; and physics.
Schools invited to be ‘early adopters’
Cambridge says that feedback from schools will be a key factor in how the new digital exams are shaped.
Schools can now enrol for the first phase of the digital rollout through the Cambridge early-adopter programme, which will include access to digital mock exams, support materials and the testing of new platforms.
Cambridge aims to “use technology to improve accessibility, relevance and - ultimately - learning”.
Its move to digital exams will take two forms: “migratory” and “transformational”.
The migratory aspect covers the digital exams scheduled for June 2026, with existing paper-based exams converted into digital formats and “minimal change to curricula, type of assessment or teaching methods”.
‘Assessment that has not been possible on paper’
The transformational side of the process aims for “assessment in a way that has not been possible on paper”. Assessments will, for example, be “aligned to higher-education and workplace skills”, and based on a “competency-based curriculum that harnesses collaboration, online research, data and communication skills”.
Cambridge provides qualifications to nearly one million students annually.
Rod Smith, managing director for international education, said: “Drawing on insights from this community, we have an unrivalled depth of research that will allow us to deliver the optimal form of digital exams to support and assess learning.”
Beyond the early-adopter programme, schools can also take part in Cambridge’s digital mocks service, for exams run between January and March 2025.
Cambridge said that this service would not only help schools prepare for digital exams of the future but. more immediately, would also help teachers see where each student should focus their revision.
Since the launch of the service in 2023, students in 31 countries have taken digital mock exams in 16 subjects across Cambridge IGCSE and Cambridge International AS and A Level.
In January, Pearson Edexcel announced that it would accelerate its era of digital exams with GCSE English language and literature in summer 2025, with all GCSEs to have an online option by 2030.
This year, 14,000-plus onscreen Pearson exams have been taken by over 11,000 students in eight subjects. Internationally, Pearson has run digital exams since 2022; this year, nearly 1,200 students took 5,900 exams across seven subjects, and by 2026 it will offer 14 subjects.
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