CBSE Class 10 Total Marks – 500 or 600? Explained

CBSE Class 10 Total Marks – 500 or 600? Explained

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CBSE Class 10th Exam Date:17 Feb' 26 - 17 Feb' 26

Mangane PriyankaUpdated on 08 Sep 2025, 03:40 PM IST

The Central Board of Secondary Education prescribes CBSE 10th Class total marks as 500, with candidates opting for five core academic subjects like Hindi, English, Mathematics, Science, and Social Science. Each subject is worth 100 marks, which is divided into 80 for theory and 20 for internal assessment. However, students can also take a skill-based or an additional subject as a sixth subject in the CBSE Class 10 board exam, which will increase their total marks to 600. But the board considers the best five subjects, which makes it a total of 500 marks. Read the article to learn more about the CBSE Class 10 total marks of 500 or 600.

CBSE Class 10 Total Marks – 500 or 600? Explained
CBSE Class 10 Total Marks 500 or 600

CBSE Total Marks are 500

The CBSE Board uses the “Best of 5 Rule” when calculating the student’s final grade. This means the lowest-scoring subject will be dropped if students opt for the sixth subject and the total marks are considered as 500.

Students scoring out of 500 marks in the CBSE 10th result means that the candidate has not opted for any additional subject. Their marks will be calculated and graded in the CBSE marksheet based on the core subjects. Each core subject consists of a maximum of 100 marks, which will lead to a total of 500 marks for five subjects.

CBSE Best of Five Rule

The Central Board introduced an evaluation system of the “Best of Five Rule”, which will benefit students in considering their top-performing subjects when calculating the final aggregate marks in the CBSE results for Class 10. The Best of Five rule aims to provide candidates with an opportunity to score better marks based on their highest-scoring marks. When a student takes an additional subject, the overall calculation of marks will be from the best five-scoring subjects. The CBSE Best of Five Rule effectively calculates the maximum total marks of 500, which will allow for the highest possible score.

How to Consider Total Marks if you have 6 Subjects?

Students can use the best of five rule to consider the CBSE 10th Class total marks for 6 subjects. They can add marks from the best-scoring subjects and use the same for CBSE Class 10 percentage calculation. The CBSE skill-based subject marks are considered only if the student scores higher than the marks in any of the core subjects. This will replace the lowest score subject in the marks calculation. CBSE skill-based subjects have a good scope in the 10th Class in evolving students' careers.

CBSE Subject-Wise Total Marks

Subjects

Theory marks

Practical marks

Total marks

Hindi Course- A

80

20

100

Hindi Course-B

80

20

100

Science

80

20

100

Social Science

80

20

100

English (Communicative)

80

20

100

Mathematics Basic

80

20

100

Mathematics Advance

80

20

100

Other Regional & Foreign Languages

80

20

100

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: How will my marks be calculated in the CBSE 10th if I opt for the sixth subject?
A:

The CBSE board calculates the marks with the best of five rule, considering the highest-scoring subjects in the total marks. 

Q: Can I opt for an additional subject in the CBSE 10th board exam?
A:

Yes, students can opt for additional subjects or skills-based subjects in the CBSE Class 10 board exam.

Q: What are the core subjects in the CBSE Class 10 board examination?
A:

The CBSE 10th Class exam consists of 5 core subjects. They are - Hindi, English, Mathematics, Science, and Social Science. 

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Questions related to CBSE Class 10th

On Question asked by student community

Have a question related to CBSE Class 10th ?

Hello,

You can find the Class 10 Half-Yearly Exam Question Papers for all subjects on the Careers360 website. It provides PDFs of all subject-wise question papers along with answer keys. It also gives you a detailed idea of the exam overview and is very useful for your preparation.

Follow the Link:

https://school.careers360.com/boards/cbse/cbse-class-10-mid-term-exam-question-paper-answer-key-2025-26




Hello,

The CBSE exam fee for Class 10 students is as follows:

  • For up to 5 subjects: Rs. 1,600 per student

  • For each additional subject: Rs. 320

  • Late fee (after the due date): Rs. 2,000

These fees are applicable for students studying in India as per the latest CBSE notification.

The school fee depends upon the particular school.

Hope it helps !

Hello aspirant,

The Sample Question Paper (SQP) and marking guidelines have been made available by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).  Although the board does not formally provide distinct half-yearly sample papers, many of the final CBSE sample papers' questions address subjects that are covered in the exams.

To get the sample papers, you can visit our site through following link:

https://school.careers360.com/boards/cbse/cbse-class-12-half-yearly-sample-papers-2025-26

Thank you

You can get CBSE half yearly english question papers on the Careers360 website by searching for your class and subject. You can view or download the papers in PDF format and use them to prepare well for your exams.

https://school.careers360.com/download/ebooks/cbse-class-10-english-literature-previous-year-question-papers



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https://school.careers360.com/articles/cm-shri-school-admission-test-2025
https://school.careers360.com/articles/cm-shri-school-admission-test-result-2025