This is the first time that the Board is offering a second set of exams for students to improve their performance.(Representative Image/AI)
Around 6.69 lakh students, or 27% of those who appeared in the CBSE’s first round of Class 10 board exam have registered for the second set of exams scheduled to be conducted in May. This is the first time that the Board is offering a second set of exams for students to improve their performance.
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Of the 6.69 lakh students, 5.26 lakh have opted to improve their performance, while 85,285 have registered in the ‘compartment’ category after they did not clear one or two subjects in the main exam. The remaining 57,914 students have registered for both improvement and compartment categories. This means that besides re-appearing for the exams in the subjects they have not cleared, they will also write the papers of subjects they have passed but want to better their scores in.
This time, students were given the option of improving their performance in a maximum of three subjects out of science, social science, math, and languages. Around 1.93 lakh students have registered to write the exam in one subject, 2.79 lakh students for two subjects, and 1.97 lakh students for three subjects.
The highest number of registrations for the second exam is for science with around 4.74 lakh students registering for it. This is followed by the math (standard) paper for which around 3.69 lakh students have registered, the math (basic) paper for which 1.79 lakh students have registered, social science for which 1.55 lakh students have registered, and English language and literature, which has recorded 98,536 registrations.
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The CBSE offers math at two levels in Class 10 – standard and basic. Both are based on the same syllabus, but the exam for the basic level is easier than that for the standard one.
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A total of around 24.72 lakh students, 13.85 lakh boys and 10.87 lakh girls, appeared for the main exam which was held in February and March. The Board recorded a pass percentage of 93.7% in the results announced last week. The second set of exams will be held from May 15 to 21.
An official in the Board said that the second set of exams will be conducted in fewer centres compared to the main one, adding the details are being worked out.
More boys than girls, as was the case in the first set of exams, have registered to improve their performance. Of the 5.26 lakh students who have registered for the second exam, 3.10 lakh are boys.
The Board’s decision to offer two exams is in the line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which states that to “eliminate” the high stakes aspect of board exams, all students will be allowed to write these exams on up to two occasions during any given school year — one main exam and another for improvement.
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To be able to accommodate two exams, the Board conducted the Class 10 exams over 23 days this year, compared to 34 in 2025. Results were declared on April 15, close to a month earlier than last year’s result announcement.
Results for the second exam are likely in June. For students who are writing a paper for improvement, the best score out of the two exams will be considered.
