The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has released the tentative exam schedule for students of Class 10 and Class 12 for the year 2026.

This early announcement helps students, teachers, and schools start preparing in advance.

Every year, lakhs of students appear for these important board exams, which play a major role in shaping their academic future.

According to the tentative plan, the CBSE board exams 2026 will begin from 17 February 2026 and continue till around July 2026, covering the main exams, practicals, and supplementary papers.

The board has also introduced a second chance exam for Class 10 students, giving them another opportunity to improve their performance without waiting for an entire year.

These dates are not final yet, but they provide a useful idea of when the exams are likely to be held so that students can manage their time, complete their syllabus, and plan revision properly.

Key dates and windows

• The overall exam window for both classes is from 17 February 2026 onward.
• For Class 10:
  • Phase 1 (main exams) is tentatively from 17 February to 9 March 2026.
  • Phase 2 (for improvement/second chance) is planned around 15 May to 1 June 2026.
• For Class 12:
  • The main exams are tentatively from 17 February to early April 2026.
• The full window (including supplementary/second chance exams) appears to stretch until around 15 July 2026.

Timing of exams

• Most theory exams for both classes are scheduled in the morning shift, tentatively from 10:30 AM to 1:30 PM.
• Some papers (for example practical work or skill-based) may have slightly different timings.

Other details

• Practical examinations, internal assessments, project work: For many schools, these are scheduled to begin from 1 January 2026, and for “winter-bound schools” they may start as early as 6 November to 6 December 2025.
• CBSE says it will start marking the answer sheets about 10 days after each exam, and finish evaluation within about 12 days — to speed up result declaration.
• The tentative schedule covers all the main exams, as well as exams for sports-students, second board exams (Class 10) and supplementary exams.

Why this is important

• Students and teachers now have a clearer road-map for preparing: knowing when exams begin helps plan revision.
• The introduction of a Phase 2/second chance for Class 10 is a significant change, giving students who miss or want to improve a chance within the same year.
• Early scheduling of practicals/internal assessments means schools and students can organise logistics (rooms, external examiners) ahead of time.

Important note

Since this is a tentative date sheet, the final schedule may change. Schools will receive the final date sheet after submitting the list of candidates, and CBSE will publish the official version on its website. 

Therefore, keep an eye on updates from your school and from CBSE (website: cbse.gov.in) and don’t rely solely on this tentative version.