KJSEA 2026: Dates, Scoring, and the 10-Week Revision Plan (Updated Weekly)

Last updated: 13 August 2026. This page is refreshed weekly through the assessment season; where a new KNEC circular differs from anything here, the circular wins.

The short answer: KJSEA (the Kenya Junior School Education Assessment) is the national Grade 9 assessment that closes Junior School. The 2026 written examinations run 26 October to 20 November. The final KJSEA outcome combines 60 percent from the written papers and 40 percent from school-based assessments your child completed across Grades 7, 8 and 9, covering nine learning areas at up to 8 points each (72 points maximum). The result drives Senior School placement and the pathway your child enters in Grade 10. Roughly ten weeks remain: enough for a full revision cycle if it starts now.

The 2026 KJSEA timeline

How KJSEA scoring actually works

Two components build the final outcome:

1. School-based assessment, 40 percent. The continuous assessment tasks your child completed in Grades 7, 8 and 9. These scores are already largely banked; they cannot be crammed for now, which is exactly why the written component deserves the remaining weeks.
2. Written examinations, 60 percent. Sat nationally, 26 October to 20 November, across the nine learning areas: English, Kiswahili (or KSL), Mathematics, Integrated Science, Social Studies, Religious Education, Agriculture and Nutrition, Pre-Technical Studies, and Creative Arts and Sports.

Each learning area carries up to 8 points, for a 72-point maximum. That structure rewards balance: a learner who is strong in five areas and absent in four caps their own ceiling. The revision plan below is built around that fact.

What KJSEA decides (and what it does not)

KJSEA results feed Senior School placement: which school and, together with your child's interests and school capacity, which pathway (STEM, Social Sciences, or Arts and Sports Science) they enter for Grades 10 to 12. It is not a pass-fail gate; every learner proceeds to Senior School. But the placement it produces shapes the next three years, and this is the first cohort whose parents cannot ask an older sibling how it went. If you are also thinking ahead to what Senior School itself looks like, our Grade 10 SBA explainer shows what this year's Grade 10s are experiencing right now.

The 10-week revision structure

Weeks 1-2: map the gaps. One untimed past-style paper per learning area, marked together against the marking scheme. You are not grading; you are finding which strands are solid, shaky, or missing, across all nine areas, not just the comfortable ones. Start tonight with our free KJSEA Mini-Mock: 27 questions across all 9 learning areas with the marking scheme included; it is built exactly for this step.

Weeks 3-6: rotate the gaps. One learning area per weekday, 40 minutes: 20 on notes for one shaky sub-strand, 20 on questions against it. Friday repeats the week's weakest area.

Weeks 7-8: timed papers. The clock enters. One timed paper per area per week, marked same-day with the scheme. Knowing what a complete answer looks like is worth marks in every learning area.

Weeks 9-10: light touch. Error-list review only, early nights, nothing new. Calm beats crammed.

The deeper week-by-week version is in our KJSEA mid-term revision plan, and the full parent walkthrough of format and preparation is the complete KJSEA parents' guide.

Materials matched to how KJSEA is marked

Every learning area has a complete revision course (notes, revision questions and marking guidance in one download, KSH 150): Mathematics, English, Kiswahili, Integrated Science, Social Studies, Religious Education, Agriculture and Nutrition, Pre-Technical Studies, and Creative Arts and Sports.

The KJSEA Complete Revision Course (KSH 400) bundles all nine, which is the sensible route for the full 10-week plan. For live teaching, online tutoring runs four evening classes a week for Grades 7-9 with downloadable notes after each session, and Somo, the CBC AI tutor, answers revision questions any hour at KSH 300 a month.

Frequently asked questions

Can my child still improve, with the SBA 40 percent already banked?

Yes, decisively. The written papers are 60 percent, the larger share, and they are entirely ahead. Ten focused weeks routinely move a learner one or two levels in their weaker areas.

Which subjects should revision prioritise?

The weak ones, because of the 8-point cap per area. Adding a point in a weak area is usually far easier than squeezing the last point out of a strong one. The combined areas parents most often overlook: Religious Education, Agriculture and Nutrition, and Creative Arts and Sports, which together carry as many points as Mathematics, English and Kiswahili.

Is there an official KNEC timetable for each paper?

KNEC publishes the detailed paper-by-paper timetable to schools; your school will share the exact sequence. The national window is 26 October to 20 November 2026. This page is updated when the detailed timetable circulates.

How is this different from what KCPE used to be?

Three ways: 40 percent of the outcome was earned across three years rather than one exam day; results place learners into pathways rather than ranking schools; and every learner transitions. The stakes are real but the design rewards steady work over exam-day heroics.

What about learners sitting IGCSE instead?

Cambridge learners follow a separate system entirely (the November session, graded A* to G). Our IGCSE live training and IGCSE materials cover that track; KJSEA does not apply to them.

Start with the free plan, then work the materials: the week-by-week revision plan · the complete parents' guide · the all-9-subjects revision course.