CBSE Board Exams Explained: How The New Two-Exam System From 2026 Will Work

The Central Board of Secondary Education on Wednesday decided to implement the policy of two board exams in Class 10 from 2026.

The plan was floated in the National Education Policy-2020 that aimed to eliminate the 'high stakes' aspect of CBSE board exams by allowing students to take board exams on up to two occasions during any given school year — one main examination and one for improvement.

Here's a quick explainer on how the new CBSE Class 10 board exam system will work:

The main or first exam will begin from mid-February, as conducted now. The second exam will be organised in May. Internal assessment will be conducted only once before the main exam.

CBSE has made it mandatory for all Class 10 students to appear in the first board examination. All passed and eligible students will be allowed to improve their performance in any of the three subjects out of Science, Mathematics, Social Science and languages.

If a student has not appeared in three or more subjects in the first exam, he/she will not be allowed to appear in the second examination. Such students will be placed in the "Essential Repeat" category and can take the exam only in the main exams in February of the following year.

For students whose result in the first examination is 'compartment' category—a situation where a student has failed in one or two subjects in the main board exams—such students will be allowed to appear in the second exam under the same category.

Additional subjects will not be permitted after passing Class 10 and students will not be allowed in standalone subjects.

The eligibility to appear in the first/main exam will be:

• Fresh students of Class 10

• Second chance compartment

• 'Essential repeat' of the previous year

• Improvement examination.

The eligibility to appear in the second examination will be:

• Improvement category up to three main subjects

• First/third chance compartment

• Compartment plus improvement

• Improvement for the students passed by the replacement of the subject.

Both the CBSE Class 10 board exams will be conducted on the full syllabus meant for the year. The scheme of studies and scheme of examinations will remain the same.

CBSE will declare the result of the first exam in April and the second exam in June.

The student's performance in main exam will be made available in DigiLocker. This could be used for admission to class 11 if the student does not wish to appear in the second exam for improvement.

The passing document will be issued to all the students after the results of the second exams. The merit certificate will also be issued only after the second examination.

The facilities of photocopy, verification and re-evaluation will be available only after the results of the second exam for both the examinations i.e. main and second.

Students not qualified in the main examination will be allowed provisional admission in Class 11. Later, their admission will be confirmed based on the result of the second exam, CBSE said.