CBSE 12th re-evaluation 2026: Here is how marks are calculated for extra questions attempted

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has released a crucial clarification regarding how marks are tallied during the re-evaluation process. This statement comes after numerous Class 12 students noticed inconsistencies between the marks written on their scanned, evaluated answer sheets and the final scores published in their CBSE Class 12 Results 2026.

According to the board, these variations are primarily tied to sections featuring internal choices, where some students answered more questions than the instructions required.

The reason behind mark discrepancies

Upon receiving and reviewing the scanned copies of their answer scripts, a section of students expressed confusion over why their self-calculated page totals did not match their official final scorecard.

Addressing these concerns, CBSE pointed out that the issue stems from "over-attempted" questions. When an exam paper offers internal choices, students are directed to solve only a specific number of problems. If a student chooses to answer extra options, the board applies a strict rule to ensure fairness.

The evaluation system selects only the highest-scoring answers from the attempted choices to build the final score, while the lower-scoring extra answers are completely left out of the total tally.

How the CBSE "over-attempt" rule works

CBSE explained that answers discarded from the final calculation are officially designated as an "over attempt”. To make this clear to reviewers, evaluators mark these excluded scores with an asterisk symbol (*) directly on the answer sheet.

To illustrate, the board highlighted a scenario from a Class 12 Chemistry paper.

• If a student answers both parts of a section that offers an "either/or" choice, both are graded.
• If the student gets 3 marks on the first option and 2 marks on the second, the 3-mark score is added to the final total.
• The 2-mark score is tagged with an asterisk (*) and omitted from the final result.

The board has strongly advised students to meticulously check for these asterisk marks and read the accompanying footnotes on their answer sheets before attempting to recalculate their total scores, noting that doing so will clear up any confusion regarding their official grades.