Karnataka SSLC Exam to Adopt CBSE Model, Passing Marks May Drop to 33%

Bengaluru, July 8, 2025: Karnataka’s School Examination Board (KSEAB) is seriously thinking about shaking things up for SSLC exams. They wanna do it CBSE-style, which might mean dropping the passing marks from 35% to 33%. Not a huge dip, but, every mark counts when you are sweating over that paper, right? Oh, and internal assessments are gonna be part of the deal now.

This whole move? Supposedly to help kids chill out a bit and get with the national program. Starting March/April 2026, even the first language exam (yep, Kannada too) will be bumped up to 100 marks, just like all the other subjects. So, total marks go up to 600. More MCQs coming your way, plus some wiggle room in how you answer stuff. Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa’s out here saying the changes are all about putting students first, and they’re not just rushing it—they’re actually talking to people about it.

Karnataka SSLC Exam Proposal Details

According to Prajavani, this whole thing kicked off after some committee, headed by retired prof Ganesh Bhat, tossed out their suggestions. Now, the KSEAB wants to ditch the whole grace marks setup—you know, the one where students could snag up to 10 extra marks per subject? Yeah, that one. Turns out, it helped a whopping 1.69 lakh students just this year. Wild, right? 

Anyway, the new plan: scrap grace marks, bring in 20 internal marks for each subject, and let written exams handle the other 80. Supposedly, this move is all about making things “fairer” and lining up with what CBSE and ICSE are doing. Sounds good on paper, but let’s see how it actually pans out for the kids.

Karnataka SSLC Exam Proposed Marking Structure

• First Language: 80 (Written) + 20 (Internal) = 100
• Second Language: 80 (Written) + 20 (Internal) = 100
• Third Language: 80 (Written) + 20 (Internal) = 100
• Mathematics: 80 (Written) + 20 (Internal) = 100
• Science: 80 (Written) + 20 (Internal) = 100
• Social Science: 80 (Written) + 20 (Internal) = 100
  Total: 600 Marks

Karnataka SSLC Exam Grace Marks Scrapped

That whole grace marks thing they rolled out during Covid? Yeah, it’s getting the boot. Before, if you scraped together at least 35%, you could snag up to 10 extra marks per subject—handy, right? Then, 2024 hits, and after everyone started watching exams like hawks (thanks, webcasting), they dropped the bar to 25% and threw in 20 grace marks. People freaked out, so they backpedaled to the old 10-mark setup. Now? CBSE’s swooping in with their “transparent” model, which basically means—poof—no more grace marks at all. 
Keywords: Karnataka SSLC, CBSE model, passing marks 33%, KSEAB, SSLC exam reforms, internal assessment, grace marks, Kannada exam, 2026 SSLC