IT Failures in Electronic Marking Delay Portugal's Secondary-Exam Results to July 17 and Push the Second Phase to July 20

A breakdown in the software used to mark this year’s national secondary-school exams has forced Portugal’s Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (Ministério da Educação, Ciência e Inovação) to push back its calendar, delaying first-phase results and postponing the second round of exams. The results, or pautas, that were due on 14 July will now be posted on 17 July, and the second phase that was to begin on 16 July will instead start on the afternoon of 20 July and run until 24 July.

The ministry blamed “computer difficulties in the electronic classification process,” the first year that grading has been handled digitally at this scale. Teachers describe a chaotic rollout: a marking portal that failed repeatedly and answer sheets that went missing, leaving examiners unable to score papers on schedule.

Teachers describe a marking “chaos”

The complaints go well beyond software glitches. Educators report that markers were drafted in from unrelated subjects to clear the backlog, and that call-up lists included teachers who had already retired — and, in some cases, teachers who had died. Others describe answer sheets attributed to a single candidate but written in different handwriting, and scripts arriving with pages missing or answers incomplete. A protest website, titled “Exams 2026: the chaos documented,” has compiled dozens of accounts and template complaints addressed to the National Exam Board (Júri Nacional de Exames, JNE), the ministry and the Ombudsman (Provedoria de Justiça).

The opposition has seized on the disruption, calling it “chaos” and questioning the education minister’s handling; the Socialist Party (PS) stopped short of demanding a resignation, saying instead that the minister should “solve the problems” students now face.

Why the dates matter

The stakes are practical. First-phase exam grades feed directly into the national competition for university places (concurso nacional de acesso ao ensino superior), whose applications open on 20 July for the 2026/27 year and its roughly 56,790 public-sector places. Any slippage in results tightens the window in which finishing students must lock in course choices, and every delayed script risks knock-on effects for placements and for the second-phase candidates — including those retaking a subject to lift a grade. The ministry has insisted that “no student will be harmed” by the delay.

What this means for families

• Parents of finishing students: mark 17 July for first-phase grades and 20–24 July for second-phase exams; university applications still open on 20 July, so plan course choices around the compressed timetable.
• Second-phase candidates: the four-day slip gives a little more revision time but shortens the gap before results and appeals (reclamações) must be filed with the JNE.
• Foreign-resident families: children in Portuguese state or private schools sitting national exams are affected identically; keep an eye on JNE notices for any further calendar changes.

With the electronic-marking system now on trial in real time, the coming fortnight will show whether the ministry can clear the backlog cleanly — or whether the appeals season becomes as contested as the marking itself.