The three-term calendar moved every assessment date you used to know by heart. Four quarters became three terms, the periodical test became the term examination, and two summative tests now sit inside each term. Most teachers understand the new grading formula. Far fewer are sure when the tests are supposed to happen — and that timing decides what each test is allowed to cover.
This guide lays out the assessment calendar for one term under DepEd Order No. 15, s. 2026, counted in instructional days, so you can put real dates on your own plan. For the wider set of changes this year, start with what actually changed in the three-term school year.
The 10-second answer: Each term carries two summative tests and one term examination. ST1 covers roughly the first 15 instructional days and is given around day 16. ST2 covers the next 15 and is given around day 32. The term examination comes in the final instructional days and covers the whole term. Inside the Examinations component they weigh 30% ST1, 30% ST2, 40% term exam — each converted to its own percentage first.
Count instructional days, not calendar weeks
DO 15 describes the timing in instructional days, and that distinction matters in a country where a term reliably loses days to typhoons, suspensions, holidays, and school activities. Fifteen instructional days is three clean weeks only if all fifteen actually happen. Count the days you taught, not the days on the wall calendar.
Two practical consequences:
- A suspension week pushes ST1 later. It does not shrink what ST1 covers.
- If your section lost days another section did not, your test dates can legitimately differ from a co-teacher’s. Coordinate, but do not copy a date that does not match your own delivery.
The assessment map for one term
| Assessment | Covers | Given around | Weight inside Examinations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summative Test 1 (ST1) | Lessons from roughly the first 15 instructional days | About the 16th instructional day | 30% |
| Summative Test 2 (ST2) | Lessons from roughly the next 15 instructional days | About the 32nd instructional day | 30% |
| Term Examination (TE) | The whole term | The final instructional days of the term | 40% |
Read these as DepEd’s general timing rather than as fixed, non-negotiable dates. Your division and your school calendar govern the actual schedule, and a school-wide examination week will usually set the term exam date for you. What the order is firm about is the structure: two summative tests plus one term examination, each covering the lessons actually taught.
What ST2 should not do
ST2 covers the second block of lessons. It is not a second comprehensive exam. If your ST2 re-tests everything from day one, learners sit essentially the same exam twice within three weeks, and the term exam loses its purpose. Keep ST2 to its own block; let the term examination be the cumulative one.
How the three scores become one number
This is where most class records go wrong. The three assessments do not get added together as raw scores. Each is converted to its own percentage first, then weighted:
Examinations component = (ST1% × 0.30) + (ST2% × 0.30) + (TE% × 0.40)
Worked through with real numbers:
| Assessment | Raw score | Highest possible | Percentage | Weighted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ST1 | 34 | 40 | 85.00 | 25.50 |
| ST2 | 27 | 40 | 67.50 | 20.25 |
| Term Exam | 48 | 60 | 80.00 | 32.00 |
| Examinations component percentage | 77.75 | |||
Now compare that with the shortcut of adding raw scores: 34 + 27 + 48 = 109 out of 140, which is 77.86. Close, and that closeness is exactly why the error survives for years without anyone noticing. Change the item counts — a 60-item ST1 and a 30-item term exam — and the gap widens fast, because the longer test silently takes over the weighting. The rule is simple: item counts must never decide the weights. Convert each assessment to a percentage before weighting it.
If you want the full picture of how that component then combines with Written Works and Performance Tasks, our MATATAG grading system guide walks through a complete computation, and the Tagalog version is here: paano mag-compute ng grades sa MATATAG.
Planning backwards from the three dates
Once the three dates exist, most of the term’s preparation schedules itself.
- Mark the three dates in week one. Estimate them from your instructional-day count, then adjust as days are lost.
- Build the table of specifications before writing items, not after. The blueprint tells you how many items each competency deserves, based on the time you actually spent teaching it. Our table of specifications guide has a DepEd-format sample.
- Write items across cognitive levels. A test that is all recall will not show who can apply anything. Bloom’s taxonomy question stems is a fast way to lift the level of a draft.
- Prepare the answer sheets early. A consistent layout makes checking dramatically faster — see printable answer sheet templates.
- Record scores the same day you check them. Unrecorded papers become missing grades three weeks later.
- Run an item analysis on each summative test. An item nearly everyone missed is usually a teaching or item problem, not a learner problem, and you still have time in the term to do something about it. See item analysis formulas and interpretation.
The reason ST1’s date matters more than it looks
DO 15 sets remediation to begin as early as Week 5 — that is, right after the first summative test — for learners consistently performing below expectations. ST1 is therefore not only a grading event. It is the signal that starts intervention while there is still a term left to fix things. A late or skipped ST1 costs learners the window the order was designed to protect.
Five mistakes worth avoiding
- Adding raw scores across the three assessments. Covered above; it is the most common one.
- Testing what was not taught. Summative tests and term examinations are teacher-made and based on the lessons actually delivered. A downloaded exam covering a competency you postponed is a grading problem, not a shortcut.
- Making ST2 cumulative. It duplicates the term exam and over-tests the first block.
- Leaving the Examinations columns blank and computing anyway. A missing score is not a zero when nobody took the test — but it is when classmates have one. The distinction decides whether your week-four grades mean anything: see when blank columns count as zero.
- Scheduling all three tests in the same week as the performance task deadline. The calendar is yours to arrange; assessment overload is explicitly what the order asks teachers to avoid.
Frequently asked questions
Can I give more than two summative tests in a term?
The structure DO 15 describes is two summative tests plus the term examination inside the Examinations component. Additional short quizzes belong in Written Works, where they are recorded and weighted as written work — not as a third summative test. If your school directs otherwise, follow your school and keep the documentation.
What if a learner misses ST1 entirely?
Give a make-up assessment covering the same competencies and record it in the ST1 column. Leaving the column blank at computation time will either distort the component or count as zero, depending on your template — neither reflects what the learner knows.
Do all subjects have an Examinations component?
No. Some Strengthened SHS groups have no Examinations component at all, and others are assessed by the term examination alone with no summative tests. Our guide to SHS grade computation under DO 15 lists which group is which.
Does the term examination have to be school-wide?
Not by the order’s wording, but most schools run an examination week for logistics. Follow your school’s calendar; what you control is coverage and quality.
Where Skoolari fits
Skoolari’s DepEd mode keeps the three-term structure as the class record’s native shape: ST1, ST2, and the term examination each hold their own columns, each is converted to a percentage before weighting, and the 30/30/40 split is applied for you, so the raw-score shortcut is not available to make by accident. The assessment generator builds a table of specifications and a matching test paper with an answer key, and the Auto-Checker scores photographed answer sheets and runs the item analysis — including by sex, which your reports ask for anyway. You decide the dates, the coverage, and every grade that leaves your class record. See the plans, or read the wider comparison in choosing a class record app.
Check dates and requirements against your school’s calendar and the current DepEd issuances before acting on them. Policy moves, and your division memo outranks any blog post — including this one.