NEW DELHI: Starting in 2026, students appearing for the Class X Board examinations under the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will have the flexibility to choose between two exam sessions — one in February 2026 and another in May 2026. Candidates will also have the option to appear for both examinations if they wish. Additionally, students will be allowed to skip specific subjects in the second attempt if they are already satisfied with the scores they have achieved in the first examination as well as particular subject(s) in the first attempt as well.
On Tuesday, CBSE approved draft norms for implementing the twice-a-year Board exam system. These draft norms have been made available for public review, allowing stakeholders to provide suggestions and feedback until March 9. Based on the received inputs, the final policy will be determined and officially implemented.
As previously reported by The Times of India, the first phase of the Class X Board examinations will be conducted from February 17 to March 6, 2026, while the second phase will take place from May 5 to May 20, 2026. Both examinations will follow the existing full syllabus and prescribed textbooks. The examination centres allotted to students will remain the same across both editions.
Regarding examination fees, CBSE has decided to increase the fees, which will be collected at the time of application filing for both attempts.
The Board has clarified that no separate supplementary exams will be conducted under this system. Instead, the second session of the Board examination (May 2026) will serve as the supplementary exam for those who wish to improve their scores. There will be no provision for special examinations in any circumstances.
The decision to conduct Class X Board exams twice a year aligns with the recommendations of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which suggested that the “high-stakes” nature of board exams should be reduced. To implement this, students are now being given the opportunity to appear for board exams on two occasions during a single academic year.
According to the newly proposed norms, the list of candidates (LOC) will be finalised in September of the preceding year. This means that for the February 2026 exam, the list will be finalised by September 2025. No new candidates will be allowed to register for the May 2026 exam if they were not part of the September 2025 list.
CBSE has further stated that once the LOC is finalised, candidates will not be permitted to change their subjects. However, there is some flexibility in subject selection. If a candidate wishes to modify their subject choices, they can skip a subject in the first examination (February-March) and opt for a different subject in the second examination (May). However, if a candidate completes all subjects in the first exam, they will have to take the same set of subjects in the second exam if they choose to reappear.
The new exam framework categorises subjects into seven groups: Language 1, Language 2, Elective 1, Elective 2, Elective 3, Regional and Foreign Languages, and Remaining Subjects.
For practical and internal assessments, the Board has decided that these evaluations will be conducted only once per academic year. No separate certificates will be issued after the completion of the first examination in February-March.
The final passing certificate and marksheet will be issued only after the May examination. This document will include the marks obtained in both exam sessions (if the candidate appeared in both) as well as the best of the two scores for each subject.
By offering students this flexibility, CBSE aims to reduce stress and pressure while ensuring that students have multiple opportunities to achieve their best possible scores.