CBSE 2026 board exams from Feb 17 to April 9; date sheets out 110 days in advance

Nearly 45 lakh students across 204 subjects from India and 26 countries abroad are expected to appear in the CBSE board examinations in 2026

New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Thursday announced the date sheet for the Class 10 and 12 board examinations, scheduled to be held from February 17 to April 9.

According to the schedule, the main board exams will run from February 17 to March 10 for Class 10 and from February 17 to April 9 for Class 12. (Representative photo)

For the first time, the date sheets have been issued nearly 110 days before the start of the examinations, CBSE officials said.

“Students will be able to start their examination preparations well in advance, which will help them overcome examination anxiety and improve their performance in the examinations,” CBSE’s controller of examinations, Sanyam Bhardwaj, said in a letter to CBSE-affiliated schools.

Nearly 45 lakh students across 204 subjects from India and 26 countries abroad are expected to appear in the CBSE board examinations in 2026.

According to the schedule, the main board exams will run from February 17 to March 10 for Class 10 and from February 17 to April 9 for Class 12. The examinations will begin at 10.30 am.

Bhardwaj said the date sheet has been designed to ensure a sufficient gap between two subjects commonly chosen by students in both classes. “It was prepared after analysing over 40,000 subject combinations to avoid any overlap of exams on the same day,” he said.

He added that the schedule also takes into account the dates of major entrance exams such as the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), with efforts made to complete board exams well in advance. “This will help students manage their time better for both board and entrance examinations,” he said.

According to an earlier tentative schedule issued by CBSE on September 24, the second round of exams for Class 10 is scheduled from May 15 to June 1. The results of all exams will be announced by July 15, 2026.

In June, CBSE announced the implementation of its policy to conduct Class 10 board exams biannually starting from 2026, with the first mandatory exam in mid-February and an optional second exam in May for students aiming to improve their results in three subjects out of four – science, mathematics, social science, and languages. This reform aligns with recommendations of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which emphasises reducing the ‘high-stakes’ nature of board exams.