CBSE Board exams: Class 10th, 12th students allowed to take improvment test in same year

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has provided a huge breather for class 10 and 12 students as they will now get a chance to appear for improvement papers and upgrade their performance in the same academic year.

However, this will be restricted to only one subject, the CBSE stated in a notification. Earlier, students who wished to appear for improvement exams had to wait for one complete year to sit for the exams.

The CBSE circular states that "this permission will be made available to the candidates appearing in 2021 examination and if they wish to improve their performance in any one subject, they may again apply in the Compartment Examination for appearing to improve their performance."

The new rules will come into effect from the 2021 CBSE board exams, which are scheduled to begin in May.

The changes have been introduced under the National Education Policy (NEP) which aims to make exams low stake. The NEP had suggested that Class 10 and 12 board students be given more opportunities to score well.

CBSE students will now enjoy the following benefits in line with the NEP recommendations:

Class 10th and 12th board students will get the opportunity to upgrade their scores in one subject in the Compartment Exams, which will be conducted right after the main board examinations end.

The better of the two marks obtained by a CBSE student in a particular subject will be considered by the education board while preparing the final marksheet.

Candidates who will improve their performance will be issued combined mark sheet.

For students who wish to take a retest for more than one subject, previous rules would apply and they would have to wait for the exams with the next batch of students.

In addition to this, CBSE has reduced the syllabus for all subjects by 30 per cent for board exams 2021 amid the pandemic stress for the students.

Further, to make exams low-stake under NEP, the board has also decide to increase the number of Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) by about 10 per cent every year.

CBSE Class 10, 12 Board Exams 2021 are scheduled to begin from May 4, 2021. The exams for Class 10 would end on June 8 and for Class 12 on June 14. The CBSE Class 10, 12 Board Exams 2021 date sheet is available on cbse.nic.in.