Updated – June 28, 2025 02:08 am IST – NEW DELHI The Central Board of Secondary Education has approved the norms for conducting board exams twice a year for Class 10. File. | Photo Credit: The Hindu In a bid to reduce the stress of critical board exams, Class 10 students will be given the option of taking their exams twice from 2026 onwards, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) said on Wednesday (June 25, 2025). This option to improve performance in up to three academic subjects will only be provided to students who pass the first examination, officials said. “The policy will be implemented for students studying in academic year 2025-26, who will sit for their board exams in 2026,” said Dr. Sanyam Bhardwaj, Controller of Exams, CBSE. The CBSE’s decision is in line with the 2020 National Education Policy’s recommendation to remove the ‘high stakes’ aspect of board exams by allowing all students to attempt the exams on up to two occasions during any given school year if they wish. This would include one main exam and one for improvement. “While it is mandatory for students to appear in the first board examination which will be conducted in mid-February, all students who pass the first board examination and are eligible will be allowed to improve their performance in any of the three subjects out of Science, Mathematics, Social Science and two language papers,” said CBSE chairman Rahul Singh. “The second exam is purely optional and additional in nature,” he added. The better of the two scores will be considered in the final mark sheets of students who appear in both exams. Almost 23.72 lakh students appeared for the CBSE’s Class 10 board exams in 2025, of which 93.66% passed. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan welcomed the move with a post on X. “Laudable and a much-needed step. This will reduce exam stress, provide more flexibility and foster joyful learning environment. A key recommendation of NEP 2020, twice-a-year exams is a student-centric approach and also aligns with global education practices,” he said. Officials explained that the results of the mandatory first examination will be declared in April. “The second exam (which will be the improvement exam) will be conducted in the month of May and its results will be declared in June. Students can choose to sit for the improvement exam in one, two or a maximum of three subjects, after reviewing their scores in the first exam,” said Sanyam Bhardwaj, the CBSE’s Controller of Examinations. Laudable and a much-needed step. This will reduce exam stress, provide more flexibility and foster joyful learning environment. A key recommendation of NEP 2020, twice-a-year exams is a student-centric approach and also aligns with global education practices. https://t.co/RGFbR9Wr0m Since 2019, the CBSE has been offering students the chance to write an improvement exam for any two subjects, including vocational subjects. Under the new scheme, students can sit for an improvement exam only in three of the aforementioned academic subjects. “When we analysed the results database, we realised that students were already scoring decent marks in vocational subjects, and a need was felt for offering improvement exams in academic subjects. Offering an improvement exam in up to three subjects will offer students a 60% opportunity to enhance their scores,” Dr. Bhardwaj said. Officials added that if a student did not appear in three or more subjects in the first mandatory board exam, then she will not be allowed to appear in the second improvement examination.
“This is to ensure that students do not go opportunity shopping, and take the first mandatory board exam seriously,” Mr. Singh emphasised. Dr. Bhardwaj told The Hindu that students who do not appear for at least three subjects, or who fail in three or more subjects, will be placed in the ‘Essential Repeat’ category and can take the main exam only in the next academic year. “Whereas, students who do not appear or fail in one or two subjects will be placed in ‘Compartment’ category and will be allowed to appear in the second (improvement) examination,” he said. Schedules will also change for students in the ‘Compartment’ category, who get three attempts to clear the board exams. “For the academic year of 2024-25, compartment exams will happen as usual in July and results will be declared in August. However, from 2025-26 onwards, the first compartment attempt exam will be merged with the newly proposed second exam (improvement exam) and will occur earlier in June. There will be no more exams in July,” Mr. Singh explained. For Compartment students, their second attempt will coincide with the following year’s main board exam, and their third attempt will coincide with that year’s improvement exam schedule. Mr. Bhardwaj also said that students who have passed by replacement of subject, but want to improve their performance in a subject in which they did not pass will be given an opportunity to sit for the second improvement exam. “For instance, if a student did not pass in Maths, and passed by appearing for a replacement subject, s/he will get an opportunity to pass in Maths too, if it is mandatory for the student to show passing marks in Maths for pursuing higher studies,” he explained. Sports quota students who may have events coinciding with their examinations will also be allowed to appear in the second round of examinations in subjects whose dates clashing with their event, officials said, adding that they would fall into the ‘Special’ category. Students in snow-bound areas such as Ladakh, where students may be unable to commute due to bad weather, may also choose to appear for either the first or second examinations in offered subjects. The results of the first examination will be made available via Digilocker, and can be immediately used for admission to Class 11 if the student does not wish to appear in the second examinations for improvement. “Conducting second examination (improvement exam) early in May will help students streamline their admission processes. Earlier delay until July and August was an issue for students sitting for improvement exams,” Mr. Singh said. “Also, students not qualified in the main examination (compartment students) will be allowed provisional admission in Class 11, and based on the result of the second examination, their admission will be confirmed,” Dr. Bhardwaj added. Published – June 25, 2025 04:23 pm IST test/examination / education / school Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.
Source: Education News Today | The Hindu