// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did the board examination say to the pencil? "You're graded on your marks.

For medical licensing exams in the United States, see United States Medical Licensing Examination.

Not to be confused with examination board.

In India, board examinations refer to the public exit standardised examinations conducted at the completion of secondary (class 10) and senior secondary education (class 12).

The Class 10 board examinations are conducted by the respective state boards (SSC/SSLC), the Central Board of Secondary Education (All India Secondary School Examination), and the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (ICSE). These examinations are considered important for progression to senior secondary education. After completing the Class 10 board examinations, students are required to choose a stream of study—such as science, commerce, or arts (humanities)—for senior secondary education.

Admit cards for regular candidates in the CBSE examinations are issued by their respective schools, which also inform students about the distribution of the cards. For private candidates, admit cards can be downloaded from the official CBSE website. The board usually releases admit cards for private candidates in early February.

The Class 12 board examinations are conducted by the respective state boards (HSC), the Central Board of Secondary Education (AISSCE), and the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (ISC). Performance in the Class 12 board examinations is considered important for admission to professional courses, training programmes, and institutions of national importance such as AIIMS, NIT, IIT, IIIT, and IIM, through competitive examinations including JEE, NEET, CLAT, CUET, and other entrance tests conducted by universities and colleges in India.

Under the National Education Policy 2020, board examinations are planned to be conducted twice a year, although this has not yet been fully implemented by the government. A 'multiple board' format was introduced on an experimental basis during the 2021–22 academic year for CBSE Classes 10 and 12. The CBSE has announced the implementation of the dual board examination system from the academic year 2025–26.

State Board Examinations

State board examinations, variously referred to as Madhyamik, Secondary School Certificate (SSC), and Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinations, are conducted and managed by the education boards of different states in India. These examinations do not take place simultaneously across states due to differences in syllabi and examination schedules. They are generally held in February and March, with results usually declared in April or May.

Students are required to apply for the examinations in November, providing personal details, subjects, and educational status. The examination timetable is released 40–60 days before the start of the examinations. Admit cards for regular candidates are distributed through schools or notified centres about 20–25 days before the commencement of the examination.

At the Class 10 level, students typically appear for five core subjects: English, Hindi or another regional language, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies. In state board examinations, the state language is usually compulsory. Students may also opt for an additional sixth subject, such as Computer Science, Information Technology, Music, Fine Arts, Physical Education, or a foreign language.

At the Class 12 level, students choose one of three streams—Science, Commerce, or Humanities.

• Science stream focuses on natural sciences and mathematics. Core subjects include English, Physics, and Chemistry, along with either Biology or Mathematics (or both). Schools may also offer vocational subjects such as Computer science, Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Food Nutrition and Dietetics, Biotechnology, and Web Application.
• Commerce stream is oriented towards business, management, administration, trade, and banking. Core subjects include English, Accountancy, Economics, and Business Studies. Vocational subjects offered by schools may include Marketing, Retail, Taxation, Banking, Entrepreneurship, Mathematics, and Computer Science.
• Humanities stream covers social sciences and liberal arts. Core subjects generally include English, History, Geography, Political Science, and Economics (any two or more depending on school policy). Vocational subjects may include Mass Media, Fashion Studies, Legal Studies, Psychology, Tourism, Beauty and Wellness, Home Science, Food Nutrition and Dietetics, Fine Arts, Sociology, and Philosophy.

In addition, Hindi may be offered either as a compulsory or optional subject, depending on the school. Certain subjects such as Business Administration, Economics, Music, Fine Arts, Physical Education, National Cadets Corps, Geography, Computer Science, Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence, and Foreign languages may be offered across all three streams.

Examinations are handwritten, and are conducted simultaneously across each state to prevent question paper leaks. Security at examination centres is usually high. The examinations typically begin in February and conclude in March or April. Exams usually start at 10:30 a.m. IST and last for two to three hours. Question papers are distributed by the state boards and are closely guarded until the start of the exam. Multiple sets of question papers may be used.

Admit cards (also known as hall tickets or exam passes) are generally issued 14–15 days before the examination. Private candidates are required to download their admit cards from the official website of the respective board. For the academic year 2024–25, CBSE released admit cards on 3 February 2025. Admit cards must be presented at the examination centre for verification, and candidates are checked for barred items. To ensure impartiality, examination centres are usually different from the student’s own school, and candidates must not reveal their identity on answer sheets except through the identity-masking roll number provided. Use of calculation aids other than logarithm tables, which are supplied by the examination centre, is prohibited.

In May 2017, the Delhi High Court directed CBSE to follow the moderation policy, which delayed the announcement of results that year.

Answer sheets are returned to the respective boards for evaluation. The CBSE has 18 regional offices across India that coordinate evaluation and revaluation processes. Answer sheets are anonymised using a false roll number before being sent for evaluation, which is conducted on the basis of pre-set marking schemes and example answers. Identity numbers are later matched to the actual roll numbers of candidates to prevent examiner bias. Foreign answer sheets are sent to the Delhi East regional office. The Government of India has also proposed establishing a regional office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates to cater to the needs of non-resident Indians (NRIs).

After evaluation, the boards issue official mark sheets and certificates of completion. While students usually only receive their final results, they can apply to obtain copies of their evaluated answer sheets or request revaluation upon payment of a fee.

Results are declared both online and offline, although heavy traffic on result days often causes websites to slow down or crash.

The CBSE Class 10 (AISSE) and Class 12 (AISSCE) results for the 2023–24 batch were declared on 13 May 2024. For the academic year 2024–25, the results were announced on 13 May 2025.

Academic dishonesty and malpractice

Methods of academic dishonesty during Indian board exams have evolved from simple classroom infractions into highly sophisticated, technology-driven operations managed by organized gangs (commonly referred to as "exam mafias").

Methods of cheating

• Conventional malpractice: This involves candidates smuggling hidden paper notes ("chits"in South Asia) or textbooks into examination halls, writing formulas on clothes or desks, and copying from peers. In some rural centers, massive outer-wall scale cheating has occurred, where parents and friends climb school walls to pass answers through windows.
• Digital and electronic cheating: Candidates utilize micro-electronic hardware, including customized Bluetooth earpieces that are virtually invisible to the naked eye, smart clothing with stitched micro-cameras to record question sheets, hidden electronic transmitters to receive real-time answers from external solvers, and pens with notes
• Proxy candidates and impersonation: Syndicates are hired to plant dummy candidates or academic professionals ("scholars") to sit the exam in place of the registered student using forged admit cards and altered biometric records.

Institutional collusion

In several jurisdictions, systemic institutional collusion occurs when entire examination centers compromise integrity for financial gain. School administrators, assigned invigilators, and local security details actively assist candidates. This includes invigilators manually writing answers on blackboards, delaying collection times, or leaking papers locally to favored candidates minutes before the official start time.

Paper leaks and digital dissemination

Paper leaks pose the greatest systemic threat to Indian education boards, often resulting in nationwide or statewide cancellations of exams.

• Theft at secure nodes: Question papers are compromised during printing, storage in secure bank vaults, or transit to local school centers.
• Instant distribution: Once a physical paper is breached, high-resolution photographs are captured and distributed across encrypted social networks, primarily Telegram channels and WhatsApp groups, within minutes. Because these papers can reach hundreds of thousands of students instantaneously across multiple states, boards are regularly forced to nullify examinations and reschedule them, impacting millions of candidates.

Penalties and legal frameworks

Due to public outrage over repeated leaks disrupting academic calendars, the legal consequences for exam malpractice have shifted from institutional disciplinary actions to strict criminal prosecution.

Student-level administrative penalties

If a student is caught using unfair means (UFM) by an invigilator or a visiting board flying squad, standard procedures outline immediate penalties:

• Cancellation of result: The candidate’s exam paper for the day is immediately confiscated. Depending on the severity, the board will cancel the results for all other subjects taken during that examination cycle.
• Debarment (Rustication): The student is formally debarred from appearing in any board examination for a period ranging from one to five years, preventing them from finishing schooling or applying to universities.
• Permanent academic blacklisting: The board prints a permanent "UFM" remark on the student’s migration certificate or official marksheet, severely damaging future higher education or employment opportunities.

Criminal and federal legislation

Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024

To eliminate the influence of cheating gangs, the Government of India enacted the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024. This landmark federal statute targets systemic leaks, digital infrastructure breaches, and institutional collusion with severe criminal penalties:

• Non-Bailable Offenses: All offenses classified under this federal act are designated as cognizable, non-bailable, and non-compoundable, meaning suspects can be arrested immediately without a warrant and cannot easily obtain bail.
• Punishment for Syndicates and Leakers: Individuals, solvers, or members of organized groups orchestrating paper leaks face a mandatory minimum prison sentence of five years, which can scale up to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. They are also subject to a minimum fine of ₹1 crore (US$100,000)
• Punishment for Institutional Complicity: If a school, private test center management, or printing vendor is found complicit in facilitating cheating, the entire management faces criminal charges. The institution's properties and assets are attached and seized. Additionally, the complicit firm is forced to pay the entire proportionate cost of conducting the rescheduled examination.

State-specific anti-cheating laws

Prior to the federal act, individual states passed hyper-stringent state laws to protect their boards:

• Uttar Pradesh: The UP Board utilizes the stringent National Security Act (NSA) against paper leakers, allowing authorities to detain suspects for up to a year without formal charges, alongside the Gangsters Act to seize illegal properties owned by exam racketeers.

See also

• Central board of secondary education
• All India Secondary School Examination
• All India Senior Secondary School Examination
• Secondary School Certificate
• Higher Secondary School Certificate
• State Board Of School Examinations (Sec.) & Board Of Higher Secondary Examinations, Tamil Nadu (SBSEBHSE)
• CISCE
• ICSE
• ISC

External links

• CBSE - Examination
• CBSE Academic Website