CBSE to Conduct Board Exam Twice a Year in 2026, First Exam in February, Second in May

CBSE will Conduct Board Exam Twice a Year in 2026 for Class 10. The Central Board of Secondary Education has adopted draft guidelines for holding Class 10 board exams twice a year beginning in 2026. The first round of the board exams will take place in February/ March 2026, with the second phase scheduled for May 2026. According to the officials referenced in the news, the class 10 students would take both exams at the same exam center two times. Read the full Official Notice published by the authority in this article.

CBSE to Conduct Board Exam Twice a Year in 2026

The draft rules for conducting the exam twice will now be made public, and stakeholders will have until March 9, 2025, to provide feedback. After that, the policy will be completed and later implemented. The new National Education Policy (NEP) proposed reducing the “high stakes” feature of CBSE board exams. The regulation allows all students to take the exams up to twice every school year.

CBSE Board Exam 2026 Exam Dates

According to the official notice of CBSE, the first phase of the exams will take place from February 17 to March 6, followed by the second phase from May 5 to 20.

Download Official CBSE BOARD EXAMS POLICY 2026 Notice

CBSE Board Exam 2026 Syllabus

A senior board official stated that both phase 2 and 1 examinations will cover the entire syllabus, and candidates will be assigned to the same examination centres for both editions. Exam registration fees will be raised and collected for both exams at the time of application submission.

CBSE Supplementary Exam 2026

The first and second editions of the board exams will also act as CBSE 2026 supplementary exams, and no special exams will be conducted under any circumstances,  stated an official quoted in the PTI story.

CBSE Board Exam 2026 Key Changes

1. Class X and XII exams will start on the first Tuesday after February 15.
2. It is predicted that in Class X, by 2026, roughly 26.60 lakh, Approximately 20 lakh students will take the Class XII examinations.
3. Both exams will cover the current syllabus and textbooks.
4. Except for Science, Maths, Social Science, Hindi, and English, the remaining subjects are organised as follows: –
(i) Combine regional and foreign languages in one group.
(ii) The remaining subjects are in one group.
5. Examinations for Science, Maths, Social Science, Hindi, and English shall be held on a set day, as they are today.
6. Exams for regional and foreign languages will be conducted simultaneously.
6. Exams for Regional and Foreign Languages will be conducted in one day.
7. Examinations for remaining topics will be conducted twice to three times, depending on student preferences, across two or three days.
(i)The Data Science examination will be conducted across two or three days. The CBSE’s formula and the student’s chosen subject combination will determine the examination day.
(ii) Students will not be able to select their exam dates. Question papers for these topics will be returned to students following the exam.

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