KP Second Annual Exams Start 7 October, Forms Close 2 September

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's boards have started issuing schedules for the SSC second annual examinations 2026, for Class 9 and Class 10.

Exams begin on 7 October 2026. The normal fee deadline is 2 September.

BISE Malakand and BISE Kohat have both issued notifications. They agree on those two dates and then diverge, which is the part worth reading carefully.

The dates, board by board

Malakand runs a four step ladder. Kohat runs three, and its double fee closes five days earlier than Malakand's.

Do not use another board's schedule

This is the practical warning. Two boards in the same province, same exam date, same normal fee deadline, and completely different late fee dates.

A Kohat student who reads Malakand's schedule and assumes they have until 15 September for the double fee is five days out. That is a real way to lose a sitting.

Only 2 September is safe to plan around, because it is the one date both boards share and the only one where you pay the ordinary fee. Everything after it costs more, and how much more depends on which board you are registered with.

Other KP boards were still issuing their notifications when this was published, so if yours is not Malakand or Kohat, check your own board's notice rather than assuming these dates carry across.

Who can sit the second annual

It is not only for students who failed, which surprises people.

1. Students who failed one or more subjects in the first annual examination.
2. Candidates applying for reappearance under their board's rules.
3. Students seeking improvement of marks, where they passed but want a better grade.
4. Those adding additional subjects.
5. Qualifying subject candidates, per each board's rules.

The improvement route is the one most often overlooked. If a grade is standing between you and a college place, sitting the paper again in October is an option rather than a last resort.

Punjab and KP are two weeks apart

If you have family across provinces, or a student who moved, the schedules are close enough to confuse and far enough apart to matter.

Punjab's second annual begins 6 October, with forms closing 19 August at the single fee. KP's begins 7 October, with forms closing 2 September.

One day apart on the exam. Two weeks apart on the deadline that actually costs you money. The Punjab schedule and its fee ladder are in our guide to the Punjab matric second annual exam.

Why the second annual exists at all

Worth understanding, because it changes how families treat a failed paper.

Pakistan's board system runs two sittings a year for exactly this reason. The first annual is the main examination. The second annual, held a few months later, exists so that failing one subject does not cost a student a whole academic year.

Before that arrangement, a single failed paper meant repeating everything twelve months later. The second annual reduced that to a few months and one exam, which is the difference between a delay and a derailment.

The certificate you receive afterwards is the same certificate. There is no separate category of pass, and employers do not ask which sitting you cleared in. What differs is timing, because most colleges admit on the first annual result, so a second annual candidate is usually looking at the next admission cycle rather than this one.

What we are not telling you

No fee amounts in rupees. Each board sets its own and we did not read a fee schedule at source. On something you pay at a counter, a wrong figure is worse than none.

No date sheet either. The admission schedule and the date sheet are issued separately, and the paper by paper timetable comes later.

And no list of the other KP boards, because only Malakand and Kohat had notified when we published. The rest will follow their own notices.

Between now and October

There is roughly seven weeks between the normal fee deadline and the exam, which is enough time to fix one or two subjects and tight for more.

Two practical things. Confirm from your result statement exactly which papers you are repeating rather than going by memory. And if you think a grade is wrong rather than deserved, rechecking is a separate process with its own short window running from the result date, so do not let it lapse while you plan the resit.

How to pull your result up again, for every board, is in checking board results online.

If the result hit hard, and in some households it does, we wrote about what actually helps in the first 48 hours in what to do when a child fails an exam. It carries two counselling helplines we read at source.

Questions readers are asking

When do KP second annual exams start in 2026?

7 October 2026 for SSC, per notifications issued by BISE Malakand and BISE Kohat.

What is the last date to submit the form?

2 September 2026 at the normal fee for both boards. After that the fee rises, and the ladder differs by board.

Are the late fee dates the same for every board?

No. Malakand accepts late fee to 7 September, double to 15 September and triple to 21 September. Kohat accepts double to 10 September and triple to 18 September.

Can I sit it to improve my marks?

Yes. The examination covers improvement of marks, reappearance, additional subjects and qualifying subjects, not only failed papers.

How much does it cost?

Each board sets its own fee. We are not quoting figures we did not read at source, so check your board's notification.

What about the other KP boards?

Only Malakand and Kohat had issued notifications when this was published. Check your own board's notice for its dates.

How does this compare with Punjab?

Punjab begins 6 October with forms closing 19 August at single fee. KP begins 7 October with forms closing 2 September.