CBSE Class 10 Board Exams to Be Held Twice a Year from Academic Year 2025

CBSE Class 10 Board Exams to Be Held Twice a Year from Academic Year 2025–26

Attention CBSE Students!

Do you wish you had more time to prepare for your Class 10 Board exams?

Well, starting 2026, the Central Board of Secondary Education is making that possible.

In a public notice dated 25 February, 2025, the CBSE Board announced that the Class 10 exams will be conducted twice a year.

This decision comes from a draft policy regarding CBSE Board examinations. It is available on the official CBSE website for stakeholders i.e schools, teachers, and parents to review and submit their feedback.

Why is CBSE Introducing Two Attempts a Year?

This decision is a major step towards making the examination system more student-friendly. It aligns with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which emphasises flexibility and reduced academic pressure.
With this new system, students will have an opportunity to improve their performance, ensuring that one exam day doesn’t determine their entire academic outcome. The goal is to ease exam stress while giving students a fair chance to showcase their true potential.
Additionally, students can choose to appear for both exams or opt for just one, depending on their confidence and preparation. This added flexibility allows them to plan better and aim for the best possible scores.

Other Highlights From the Draft Policy

Exams will cover the entire syllabus from current textbooks.
Filling of List of Candidates (LOC) will be compulsory for the first exam. You will get an option to select both examinations while filling the LOC for the first exam. No new name will be added to the LOC for the second exam.
For subjects like Science, Mathematics, Social Science, Hindi, and English, exams will be held on fixed days as per the current system.
Regional and Foreign Language exams will be conducted on the same day.
Other subject (e.g. Data Science) exams will be held 2 to 3 times based on student subject combinations.
Practical or internal assessment will be done only once.
Students cannot choose their own dates. CBSE will the assign exam dates.
The same exam centre will be allotted for both the exams.
Qualifying in all 5 subjects will be considered as pass.
Students failing in 1 to 5 subjects in the first examination will be placed under the ‘Improvement Category’. These students will be allowed to appear in the second examination.
If you are satisfied with the marks of a certain subject in the first exam, you have the option to skip that subject in the second exam.
If you appear only for the second exam in a year, no additional attempt will be available that year. However, you can take the first exam in the next year.
Marksheet and Passing Certificate will contain marks secured in both exams and also better of the two marks.

To download the CBSE Draft Scheme, click here.

Stakeholders can submit their feedback till 9 March, 2025 after which the policy will be finalised. You can find the feedback form on the official CBSE website or for quicker access, click here.