How the UAE Is Shifting from Exams to Continuous Assessment

UAE Assessment Reform Explained

Continuous assessment is replacing some high-stakes exams in the UAE, not all exams. In 2024, the Ministry of Education replaced the Cycle 2 second-term central exam with a project-based assessment. In 2025, it went further by removing centralised tests at the end of the second semester and replacing them with school-based summative assessments, with centralised tests remaining only in the first and third semesters. The direction is clear: students are being judged less by a single exam sitting and more by the quality of their learning over time.

1. This Shift Did Not Start Overnight

The UAE’s move away from exam-heavy evaluation has deeper roots than many headlines suggest. As far back as 2017, several subjects, including Islamic Education, Social Studies, Physical and Health Education, and Creative Design, were already assessed through continuous assessment rather than final exams. What changed in 2024 and 2025 was the scale and speed of reform.

In August 2024, the Ministry announced comprehensive updates to student assessment policy. For Cycles 2 and 3, term weightings were restructured to 35% for the first term, 30% for the second, and 35% for the third. The formative assessment percentage was modified to 40% and centralised assessment to 60%. The second-term central exam for Cycle 2 was replaced with a project-based assessment focused on skill measurement and practical application.

By August 2025, the reform had moved a further step forward. Cycle 3 term weightings were updated to 40% for the first and third terms and 20% for the second term. At the same time, centralised tests at the end of the second semester were removed and replaced with school-based summative assessments, with centralised tests remaining only in the first and third semesters. The Ministry also expanded the second phase of Project-Based Learning and Assessment (PBLA) to all Cycle 2 students in public and private schools applying the MoE curriculum. Phase one had already reached 127,500 students across 350 schools.

Assessment Weight Breakdown

2. What Continuous Assessment Actually Means

Continuous assessment is not simply “more homework.” In UAE policy and practice, it means collecting evidence of learning throughout the term instead of waiting for one exam window. That can include projects, assignments, oral work, teacher observation, presentations, practical tasks, and school-based summative checks.

This reform should be understood as a move from a single-event measurement culture to a portfolio-of-evidence culture. A student’s progress is no longer supposed to hinge mainly on how they perform on one paper under pressure. Instead, the system increasingly values whether students can apply knowledge, sustain effort, respond to feedback, and demonstrate understanding across different tasks and contexts.

3. How KHDA and ADEK Apply the Framework

While the federal Ministry sets the national baseline, the KHDA in Dubai and ADEK in Abu Dhabi operate their own frameworks for private and public schools alike. KHDA’s current guide to the MoE curriculum divides subjects into three assessment groups:

This grouping applies primarily to Grades 5 to 12. KHDA’s Grades 1 to 4 structure differs, with subjects such as Social Studies and Moral Education appearing within core assessment at that stage.

In Abu Dhabi, ADEK’s School Assessment Policy v1.2 mandates a “culture of evidence,” requiring schools to run external benchmarks (ACER-IBT, NWEA-MAP, GL-PTs) alongside internal continuous assessment, and participate in PISA, TIMSS, and PIRLS. This is not less measurement: it is different measurement, with more rigour placed on internal assessment design, moderation, and rubric quality.

4. Why the UAE Is Moving in This Direction

5. Where Exams Still Remain

The headline “continuous assessment is replacing exams in the UAE” is directionally right, but not universally true across every school, subject, and curriculum. Centralised tests remain in the first and third semesters for MoE schools. Group A core subjects (Arabic, English, Maths, Science, and Islamic Education) still combine formative and summative assessment for Grades 5 to 12. External benchmark assessments remain compulsory in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Private schools operating under British, American, IB, or Indian curricula also continue to use their own approved assessment frameworks, which typically include a mixture of internal assessment, benchmark testing, and external board exams, particularly relevant for GCSE, A-Level, AP, and IB students.

6. What This Means for Students, Parents, and Schools

7. How the UAE Compares Globally

The UAE is not alone in this direction. Singapore abolished exams for Primary Years 1 and 2 in 2019, removed class rankings from report books, and shifted toward qualitative feedback under the “Joy of Learning” initiative. Finland has operated near-total continuous and phenomenon-based learning since the 1990s, with almost no standardised testing before late secondary school.

The UAE’s reform draws on both models. The cancellation of Term 2 exams mirrors Singapore’s trajectory. The expansion of project-based assessment echoes Finland’s Phenomenon-Based Learning approach, which has been piloted in Abu Dhabi through the Abu Dhabi School Model collaboration.

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