SCHEME OF EXAMINATIONS AND PASS CRITERIA

General Conditions

• Class XI examination shall be conducted by the schools themselves.
• The Board will conduct the external examinations at the end of Class XII.
• Class XII examination will be based on the syllabi as prescribed by the Board for Class XII 
• Number of papers, duration of examination and marks for each subject/paper will be as per the curriculum for the year.
• The examination would be conducted in theory as well as in practical examination, depending upon the nature of the subject(s) and the marks/grades allotted .
• Marks/grades shall be awarded for individual subjects and the aggregate marks shall not be given.

Grading

(i) Assessment of theory/practical papers in external subjects shall be in numerical scores. In addition to numerical scores, the Board shall indicate grades in the mark sheets issued to the candidates in case of subjects of external examinations. In case of internal assessment subjects, only grades shall be shown.
(ii) Letter grades on a nine-point scale shall be used.
(iii) The grades shall be derived from scores in case of subjects of external examination. In case of subjects of internal assessment, the schools shall award these grades.
(iv) The qualifying marks in each subject of external examination shall be 33%. However, in a subject involving practical work, a candidate must obtain 33% marks in the theory and 33% marks in the practical separately in addition to 33% marks in aggregate, in order to qualify in that subject.
(v) For awarding the grades, the Board shall put all the passed students in a rank order and will award grades as follows:  

Grade Sheet  (9point scale)

Merit Certificates

• The Board will award Merit Certificates in each subject to the top 0.1% of candidates passing that subject.
• The number of merit certificates in a subject will be determined by rounding off the number of candidates passing the subject to the nearest multiple of thousand. If the number of candidates passing a subject is less than 500, no merit certificate will be issued.
• In the matter of a tie, all candidates getting that score will get the merit certificate.

Scheme of Examination

• The Board shall conduct examination in all subjects except General Studies, Work Experience, Physical and Health Education, which will be assessed internally by the schools.
• In all subjects examined by the Board, a student will be given one paper each carrying 100 marks for 3 hours. However, in subjects requiring practical examination, there will be a theory paper and practical examinations.
• In Work Experience, General Studies, and Physical and Health Education, the Schools will maintain cumulative records of student's periodical achievements and progress during the year. 
• A candidate from a recognised school who has some physical deformity or is otherwise unable to take part in Work Experience and Physical and Health Education, may be granted exemption by the Board on the recommendation of the Head of the School, supported by the medical certificate from a Medical Officer of the rank not below an Assistant Surgeon.
•Private/Patrachar Vidyalaya and candidates sponsored by Adult School shall be exempted from Work Experience, General Studies and Physical and Health Education.
• A candidate may offer an additional subject which can be either a language at elective level or another elective subject .

Pass Criteria

• A candidate will be eligible to get the pass certificate of the Board, if she gets a grade higher than 'E' in all subjects of internal assessment unless she is exempted. 
• In order to be declared as having passed the examination, a candidate shall obtain a grade higher than E (i.e., at least 33% marks) in all the five subjects of external examination in the main or at the end of the compartmental examination. The pass marks in each subject of external examination shall be 33%. In case of a subject involving practical work a candidate must obtain 33% marks in theory and 33% marks in practical separately in addition to 33% marks in aggregate in order to qualify in that subject.
• In respect of a candidate offering an additional subject, the following norms shall be applied:
(i) A language offered as an additional subject may replace a language in the event of a candidate failing in the same provided after replacement the candidate has English/ Hindi as one of the languages.
(ii) An elective subject offered as an additional subject may replace one of the elective subjects offered by the candidate. It may also replace a language provided after replacement the candidate has English/Hindi as one of the languages.
(iii) Additional language offered at elective level may replace an elective subject provided after replacement,the number of languages offered shall not exceed two.
• Candidates exempted from one or more subjects of internal examination shall be eligible for appearing in external examination and result shall be declared subject to fulfilment of other conditions laid down in the Pass Criteria.
• In order to be declared as having passed the Class XI Examination, a candidate shall obtain 33% marks in all the subjects. The pass marks in each subject of examination shall be 33%. In case of subject involving practical work a candidate must obtain 33% marks in theory and 33% in practical separately in addition to 33% marks in aggregate in order to qualify in that subject.

Compartment Examination

A candidate failing in one of the five subjects of external examination shall be placed in compartment in that subject provided she qualifies in all the subjects of internal assessment.
(a)A candidate placed in compartment examination may reappear at the compartmental examination to be held in July the same year, may avail herself of second chance in March/April and third chance in July of next year. The candidate will be declared 'PASS' provided she qualifies the compartmental subjects in which she had failed. Syllabi and Courses shall be the same as applicable for the candidates of full subjects appearing at the examination in the year concerned.
(b)A candidate who fails to appear or fails at one or all the chances of compartment examination shall be treated to have failed in the examination and shall be required to reappear in all the subjects at the subsequent annual examination of the Board as per syllabi and courses laid down for the examination concerned in order to pass the examination. The candidates' practical marks/internal assessment marks obtained in the Main examination will be carried over till the third chance compartmental examination. The candidate shall have the option to appear at the practical examination in the subjects involving practical or retain their previous marks in one more annual examination after the third chance compartment.
(c)A candidate placed in compartment shall be allowed to appear at the subsequent three chances of Compartment only in those subjects in which she has been placed in compartment.
(d)For subjects involving practical work, in case the candidate has passed in practical at the main examination she shall appear only in theory part and previous practical marks will be carried forward and accounted for. In case a candidate has not qualified/failed in practical/internal assessment she shall have to appear in theory and practical/internal assessment both irrespective of the fact that she has already qualified/cleared the theory examination.

Retention of Practical Marks in Respect of Failure Candidates

A candidate who has failed at the Senior School Certificate Examination in the first attempt shall be required to re-appear in all the subjects at the subsequent annual examination of the Board. She shall appear only in theory part and her previous practical marks will be carried forward and accounted for if she has passed in practical. In case a candidate has failed in practical she shall have to appear in theory and practical both. If she fails to pass the examination in two consecutive years, after the first attempt, she shall have to reappear in all the subjects including practical.

Additional Subject(s)

(a) A candidate who has passed the Senior School Certificate Examination of the Board may offer an additional subject as a private candidate provided the additional subject is provided in the Scheme of Studies and is offered within six years of passing the examination of the Board. No exemption from time limit will be given after six years. Facility to appear in additional subject will be available at the annual examination only.
(b) However, candidates appearing in six subjects at the Senior School Certificate Examination having been declared 'Pass' by virtue of securing pass marks in five subjects, without replacement, may reappear in the failing sixth additional subject at the Compartment Examination to be held in July the same year,provided she had appeared at the examination held in March in the said additional subject.

Improvement of Performance

(a) A candidate who has passed an examination of the Board may reappear for improvement of performance in one or more subjects in the succeeding year only; however, a candidate who has passed an examination of the Board under Vocational Scheme may reappear for improvement of performance in the main
examination in the succeeding year or the following year provided they have not pursued higher studies in the mean time. They will appear as private candidates. Those reappearing for the whole examination may, however, appear as regular candidates also if admitted by the school as regular students. The candidate (s) appearing for improvement of performance can appear in the subject (s) only in which they have appeared for the Examination.
(b) For subjects involving practical work, in case the candidate has passed in practical at the main examination, she shall be allowed to appear in theory part only and marks in practical obtained at the main examination shall be carried forward and accounted for. In case a candidate has failed in practical,she shall have to appear in theory and practical both irrespective of the fact that she has already cleared
the theory examination.
(c) Candidates who appear for Improvement of Performance will be issued only Statement of Marks reflecting the marks of the improvement examination.
(d) A candidate appearing for Improvement of Performance in one or more subjects cannot appear for additional subject simultaneously.
(e) Candidates appearing in six subjects at the Senior School Certificate Examination having been declared 'Pass' by virtue of securing pass marks in five subjects as per Rule 2.2 (iv) may appear in the failing main subject at the Compartment Examination to be held in July the same year provided she had appeared at the Examination held in March in the said subject.

NOTE: The information taken from Central Board of Secondary Education(CBSE) at cbse.nic.in, is represented here in a user-friendly way for convenience of students. User must refer CBSE for current status of information.