CBSE announces class 10 second board examination dates, starts May 15

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Thursday announced the schedule for the Class 10 second examination, which will begin on May 15 with the Mathematics (Basic and Standard) paper and conclude on May 21 with the Social Science exam, according to the date sheet.

“The details on the number of students sitting for these examinations will be announced on Friday. Admit cards for Class 10 second board exams will be uploaded on the official website soon,” a CBSE official said.

According to CBSE’s two-board examination policy, only students who appeared in the first main board exam are eligible to sit for the second exam to improve their performance in any three subjects out of science, mathematics, social science and languages.

The main board examination results were announced on April 15. The board recorded a marginal improvement of 0.04 percentage points in overall Class 10 performance, with 93.70% of students passing this year compared to 93.66% in 2025. This year, the pass percentage for girls stood at 94.99% (95.00% in 2025), while boys recorded 92.69% (92.63% in 2025). The performance of transgender candidates, however, dropped to 87.50% this year compared to 95% last year.

Class 10 students who appeared in the 2026 board examinations are among the first batch to be assessed under CBSE’s new two-board-exam system for Class 10, aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP) aimed at reducing the “high-stakes” nature of board examinations. The main board examination for Class 10 in 2026 was conducted between February 17 and March 11. Final results will be declared after the second board examinations are conducted, and grading will be calculated by combining the results of both the main and second board examinations.