Some students appearing for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main 2025 Session 2 may have to manage their schedules carefully, as certain Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class XII Board exams coincide with the engineering entrance test.
According to The Indian Express, the National Testing Agency (NTA) has scheduled JEE Main Session 2 on April 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9. While core science subjects are not affected, students appearing for certain language papers, home science, and psychology will see an overlap.
On April 2, CBSE will conduct examinations in multiple languages, including Punjabi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati, Malayalam, Odia, Assamese, and Kannada. The home science and psychology exams are set for April 3 and 4, respectively, from 10.30 am to 1.30 pm.
CBSE has stated that entrance exam dates were considered while finalising the schedule for Class X and XII board exams.
"The date of conduct of entrance examinations meant for the students of Class XII have been taken into consideration and efforts have been made to complete the examinations much before the entrance examinations," CBSE said in its official announcement.
JEE Main is held in two sessions — January and April — and serves as the gateway for admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs), and other engineering colleges.
In the January session, 13,11,544 candidates registered for Paper 1 (BE/BTech), as per The Indian Express. Meanwhile, over 17.88 lakh students are appearing for CBSE Class XII board exams this year, which will conclude on April 4.
In a separate development, CBSE is considering a two-tier system for science and social science subjects in Classes IX and X, similar to the current Standard and Advanced levels in mathematics.
The revised curriculum aims to offer deeper conceptual learning at the Advanced level while keeping a common core syllabus.
Officials from CBSE and the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) have indicated that updated textbooks incorporating this system could be introduced by the 2026-27 academic year.
