Improvement exam

In CBSE Class 10, improvement now happens in the second board exam, held in May. A student who passed the main exam in February and March can sit up to three subjects again. The choice is from Science, Maths, Social Science and the languages.

Only the written paper is sat again. The school marks are given once, before February, and carried over. The better of the two scores counts, under the best of two rule.

A small example

Say your child scores 58 out of 80 in the Maths paper in February. In May the same paper gives 64. The 64 is used. If May had given 52, the 58 would stay. A lower second score does not pull the first one down.

Should your child sit the second board exam? sets out when a second try is likely to help.

The ICSE improvement exam

ICSE has its own improvement exam in the same year. The CISCE regulations for the ICSE exam allow up to three subjects. The student must sit the theory paper. Project marks from the main exam are carried forward. The higher of the two marks counts as final.

A student marked Absent in the ICSE main exam cannot sit the improvement exam. These rules are from CISCE's 2028 edition, so check the edition for your child's year.

About the author

Mohit Sardana

Chief Architect

An engineer (B.Tech, Computer Science) with over 20 years of preparing students for entrance exams, including as Dean at FIITJEE and Vice-President at Aakash. He is the chief architect of the TRUpreBoards evaluation engine.

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