Passing the internal assessment and project examination will now be mandatory for all Plus 2 final year students.

As per the new guidelines notified by the Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE), Class 12 students in higher secondary schools (HSSs) will be required to clear their internal assessment and project examination papers compulsorily in order to qualify the Annual Higher Secondary Examination (AHSE).

Exam schedule and minimum marks

The 20-mark internal assessment and 10-mark project examination will be held for the Class 12 students of all streams at HSS level from December 22 to 31, and a regular candidate needs to secure a minimum pass mark of 6 and 3 in the tests, respectively. “If a student remains absent in an internal assessment or the project examination paper, he/she will be declared as fail,” the Council stated.

Shift from previous policy

CHSE controller of exams (CoE) Prasanta Kumar Parida informed that till last year, students securing less than 30 pc marks in the internal and project papers were considered pass if they secured a pass mark in the same paper in the final exam.

However, the new step has been taken as part of the efforts of the Council to streamline the exams in line with the national standards in which clearing internal paper is mandatory for all.

Second chance opportunity

Parida, however, said students who fail to appear any internal assessment or project examination paper in the first chance in December for any reason, will be given a second chance to clear it, between January 10 and 15, next year.

Exam administration and confidentiality

The question papers for internal assessment and project work will be set at the school level by the subject teachers concerned. The marks awarded to the students in these papers will be kept confidential as they will be a part of the AHSE and instant examination.

The answer scripts will also be preserved for a minimum six months after publication of the results for the purpose of re-checking or re-addition.

Exemptions and practical exam schedule

The internal exam or project work, however, will not be conducted for the ex-regular students. Apart from the internal exams, the Council has also notified the schedule for the AHSE-2026 practical exams which will take place from January 2 to January 15.

The dates and schedule for the AHSE 2026 main exam is expected to be notified around November-end on the basis of 2026 calendar of the government, sources said.