Starting in 2025, Class 10 students under the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will have the opportunity to appear for board exams twice in a single academic year, officials confirmed on Wednesday.
According to the updated guidelines, the first board exam session will be held in February and will be compulsory for all students. A second optional session will be conducted in May, offering students a chance to improve their scores in select subjects.
This major change aligns with the recommendations outlined in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which aims to ease exam-related pressure and reduce the “high-stakes” nature of board exams. The CBSE has now formally approved this dual-exam format for Class 10 students.
“The board will organize the first set of exams in February and the second in May. Results for the February session will be declared in April, while those for the May session will be out in June,” said CBSE Examination Controller Sanyam Bhardwaj.
He clarified that students must appear in the February session, while the May session remains optional and intended solely for those seeking to improve their marks. Improvement will be allowed in any three subjects, specifically from science, mathematics, social science, and languages.
Students enrolled in winter-bound schools will have the flexibility to choose either phase for their board exams, considering their unique academic calendar. However, internal assessments will be conducted only once during the academic year, regardless of how many board sessions a student attends.
This dual-exam format was first proposed in February 2024 as part of a draft policy released by CBSE. Stakeholders, including educators and parents, were invited to provide feedback before the norms were finalized.
The change is being welcomed as a step toward reducing academic stress and giving students more control over their performance, a vision central to the NEP’s broader educational reforms.
