CBSE Practical Exam Guidelines 2026 (Class 10 & 12) – SOPs, Dates & PDF Download

CBSE Practical Exam Guidelines and SOPs 2026

The CBSE practical examination carries a weightage of 20%, and the students must qualify in it. For the CBSE Class 10 practical exam, the board will not assign any external examiners. But for Class 12, an external examination will be conducted to evaluate the students. The marks of the practical examinations and the internal assessment will be uploaded from January 1 to February 2, 2026, by the respective schools.

The CBSE practical exam guidelines are established by the board for all the affiliated schools, which are mandatory for the candidates to follow. These guidelines ensure conducting the practical examinations fairly and accurately. The theory examination will be conducted after the practical exams are over, and the students must qualify in both separately.

CBSE Class 10 Practical Exam Guidelines 2026

• Appointment of external examiner: No external examiner will be appointed by the CBSE for class 10.

• Answer book for practicals: Practical answer books will not be provided by the board, and the school is responsible for this arrangement.

• Evaluation of practical exam: Once the practical/project/internal assessment is completed, the answer books will not be sent to the regional office. Instead, the external examiner will evaluate the students.

CBSE Class 12 Practical Exam Guidelines 2026

• Appointment of an external examiner: The board will appoint an external examiner for CBSE Class 12 in each school to conduct the practical examination and project assessment. The school authorities are not allowed to make alternative arrangements for the external examiner to conduct the CBSE Class 12 practical examination or the project assessment.

• Appointment of observers by the board: The board may appoint observers in the schools to oversee the conduct of the practical examinations to ensure fair conduct.

• Ensuring presence/availability of external examiners: The presence and availability of the external examiners will be ensured by the schools on all days to conduct the practical examinations as per the provision of appointment of external examiners by the board.

• Appointment of internal examiner: According to the CBSE practical guidelines, there will be an internal examiner as well in all the required subjects. The principal of the school will appoint the internal examination.

• Inspection of the laboratory and equipment: The school is responsible for getting the laboratory ready for the practical examination.

• Batch and group size: For every subject, the school must create batches of 30 students for the practicals for better management of the students.

• Sessions of the examination: For a fair and partial assessment, the practicals must be conducted in two or three sessions in a day.

• Uploading photographs: The schools must upload the photographs of the conduct of the practical sessions online via the app link provided by the board.

• Attendance sheets: The attendance sheet must be filled out carefully with the names and roll numbers of the students who are going to appear in the practical examination.

• Rescheduling of the practical for absent students: The students who missed the practical examination for any reason will have a chance to reappear in the examination. Once the rescheduled practical exams are done, no further requests will be entertained by the board.

• Answer books for practical: The answer books for class 12 will be provided by the Regional Offices and must be used in the practical examination.

CBSE Practical Exam Day Guidelines for Students

• The students must reach the exam centre 30 to 40 minutes before the reporting time.

• Make sure to bring all the necessary documents and items, like a practical notebook, stationery items, a lab coat if required, and any other items.

• Focus on the words of the examiner and listen to the instructions carefully.

• During the practical examination, if there is any confusion, the candidates can ask their lab assistant or their examiner.

Also check,

• CBSE Class 12 Date Sheet

• CBSE Class 10 Date Sheet