CBSE Class 10 Board Exam 2026: Two-Term Format Announced

CBSE Class 10 board exam 2026: In a monumental adjustment designed to lower student stress and improve educational outcomes, The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has established a dual-exam system beginning in 2025-26 for the Class 10 board students. This new format is one element of a larger initiative to give opportunities for flexibility and growth in the current assessment structure.

What Will Change?

Class 10 students will take two board exams in the same academic school year starting in 2026. The first board exam will be in mid-February and will be called the primary board examination and the second board exam will occur in May.

CBSE wants to announce the results for the first exam by April so that students can move forward in their admissions process into Class 11. The results for the second exam will be available in the first week of June.

This dual-exam structure was finalized after public consultation earlier this year and is meant to provide students with more opportunities to improve their performance without waiting an entire academic year.

What are the Objectives of the New Framework?

It is expected that this two-term system will:

• Lessened academic stress with the second chance within the same year.
• Strengthen the assessment quality with more focused opportunities for improvement.
• This will help to allow quick Class 11 admissions by bringing forward the date of the first batch of results.
• CBSE have also said that a similar approach may be adopted for Class 12 students as well.

Who can sit the exams?

First Board Examination (February)

The first examination will require all new Class 10 students to sit as well as being open to the following:

• Compartment Candidates (2nd attempt)
• Essential Repeat Students from previous years
• Any candidates in the improvement category who just want to improve their marks
• This will count as the first exam for Class 10.

Second Board Examination (May)

The second exam will be an optional opportunity for:

• Students wishing to improve their grade in a maximum of three subjects.
• All compartment (1st or 3rd attempt)
• Students who are sitting a combination of compartment and improvement assignments.
• Students wishing to improve in a previously substituted subject.

Those who will receive 1 or 2 fail grades in the February examination will be able to re-sit those subjects in May. Any Students that receive an essential repeat for three or more must be given an ‘Essential repeat’, and will not be permitted to sit the second examination in the same academic year.

Structure for the Exam and Subjects

The CBSE has confirmed that the published mode, syllabus and question pattern will remain the same in the new system. The CBSE has also confirmed:

• No new or additional subjects may be introduced after you complete Class 10.
• There will not be standalone subject examinations after the announcement of final results.

Outcome Schedule and Admission Consequences

The new daily schedule allows for April’s first exam and results to be used for provisional admission to Class 11, so that students do not miss key opportunities with avoidable delays. But, final certificates, including marksheets and merit certificates, will only be provided after the June results from the second exam.

All result-related documentation will be available digitally through DigiLocker.

Consequences for Students and Schools

The two-exam structure allows the students have more flexibility in the set examination structure of boards. Students will benefit from:

• Greater chance to succeed in the most important subjects.
• Faster access to results for educational planning
• Clearer pathway into improvement and separation options.

Schools will have less logistical difficulty in conducting audits when they have completed Class 10 exams earlier than Class 12, making a student transition less problematic when moving into higher secondary education.

Final Reflections

The CBSE’s fresh two-term board examination approach represents an innovative movement in line with the vision of the National Education Policy (NEP). It demonstrates continuous assessment, fairness and academic improvement and represents a template for further change in education in India.

For those concerned about or keeping track of recent news updates in education, this action from CBSE represents one of the largest shifts in the examination system in the country for years .