Grade 5 Scholarship

Overview

The Grade 5 Scholarship Examination is a national examination run by Sri Lanka's Department of Examinations for students finishing Grade 5 of primary school, usually around age 10. It has been run since 1944 and serves two purposes at once: it awards scholarships and bursaries to high-scoring students from low-income families, and it lets any high-scoring student apply to transfer into a more popular or better-resourced school, regardless of whether they need financial help. Taking the exam is optional, but because a strong result is one of the few routes into sought-after national schools, it is sat by a large share of each Grade 5 cohort - close to 290,000 candidates sat the exam in 2026.

Who can apply

The exam is open to students currently studying in Grade 5 at a government school or a government-approved private school. Students apply through their own school rather than individually. The scholarship (bursary) award itself is reserved for students from low-income families who meet an age limit set each year (for 2026, under 11 years old as of 31 January 2027); any candidate, regardless of family income, can still use a high score to apply for a school transfer.

Exam pattern

Candidates sit two papers on the same day, each in the medium they are taught in at school (Sinhala, Tamil or English).

Both papers are set and marked centrally by the Department of Examinations. For 2026, Paper II was held from 9:30 to 10:45 am and Paper I from 11:15 am to 12:15 pm, with a break between them.

Marking and results

Each paper is marked out of 100, for a combined total of 200. A candidate must also reach a minimum qualifying mark on each paper to be considered at all.

Rather than one national pass mark, the Department publishes a separate cut-off mark for each of Sri Lanka's districts, by medium (Sinhala and Tamil). Candidates who score at or above their own district's cut-off are eligible for a scholarship or a transfer place; for 2026, Sinhala-medium district cut-offs ranged from 139 marks (out of 200) in the most competitive districts - including Colombo, Gampaha and Kandy - down to 125 marks in less competitive districts. Clearing the district cut-off only makes a candidate eligible: an individual national school then sets its own, usually higher, admission mark for transfer applicants, depending on how many places it has free that year.

Important dates

For the 2026 cycle, the Department opened online applications on 30 March 2026 and closed them at midnight on 30 April 2026, with no extensions. The exam itself was held island-wide on 9 August 2026, at over 2,700 centres, and results were released online in early September 2026. Exact months can shift slightly from year to year, so check the Department of Examinations' current notice rather than assuming the same dates will repeat.

How to apply

There is no individual application form for parents to fill in directly. The school registers each eligible Grade 5 student online through the Department of Examinations' application portal (onlineexams.gov.lk), using the login already issued to the school for that year's registration round. Parents confirm their child's details with the school, which submits the application on the student's behalf before the published closing date.

After the exam

Results are published online by index number, through doenets.lk and the Department's results portal, several weeks after the exam. A student who clears their district's cut-off mark can be awarded a scholarship (if they also meet the income and age criteria) or can apply to transfer into a national or other popular school using that score, subject to the receiving school's own admission mark and seat availability. A student who does not clear the cut-off, or who chooses not to transfer, simply continues at their current school; sitting the exam carries no penalty either way.

Preparation tips

• Practise past papers for both papers separately: Paper I's reasoning questions and Paper II's mathematics word problems reward familiarity with question style as much as raw content knowledge.

• Build speed on the multiple-choice reasoning questions (number sequences, classification, analogies), since Paper I covers 40 questions in a tightly timed sitting.

• Practise mathematics in scenario-based word-problem form rather than bare calculations, since that is how Paper II frames most of its questions.

• Treat a past year's district cut-off mark as a rough guide only - it moves every year with the strength of that year's cohort, so clearing an old cut-off is not a guarantee of clearing the current one.

• Check your own district's cut-off and your target school's admission mark separately before counting on a transfer; they are not the same figure, and the school's mark is usually higher.

FAQs