Dubai: Thousands of Indian students in the UAE will on Monday join over 2.8 million pupils in India who are appearing for the CBSE Class 10 and 12 exams.

The exam season will last until April 4 for Class 10 and until April 14 for Class 12, with break days in between.

The standardised CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) exams are held by India’s main government-run education board.

Both private and public schools are affiliated with the CBSE in India and elsewhere (mostly in Gulf countries).

Results are typically announced after around a month’s time following the last exams, with scores expected to be out around mid-May.

There are an estimated 2,000-plus students taking the exams this year in the UAE, home to around 15 CBSE exam centres, mostly located in schools in Dubai.

This school year, the mandatory Class 10 CBSE “board” exam has resumed after several years of an optional school-based exam.

Last month, the CBSE announced a “one-time measure” to relax the pass mark criteria for Class 10 students appearing for the exams this year.

Under the one-off allowance for 2018, in order to pass the board exam, students must only secure a combined total of 33 per cent (taken together from internal assessment and board exam marks).

It means students will be exempted from the mandatory separate pass criteria in the subjects (divided as 20 marks in internal assessment and 80 marks in board exam).

However, the allowance does not apply to certain vocational subjects, for which the mandatory separate pass criteria — of securing 33 per cent in both internal and board exams — will apply.

Regarding the allowance, the CBSE said it took the decision considering that the current Class 10 batch “is coming from a different assessment background” when they were in Class 9 in 2017.

Meanwhile, the mandatory school-leaving Class 12 board exam will continue as usual. Results from this exam weigh heavily on students’ university admission and study prospects.

The CBSE exam season is generally stressful for students, who have access to exam stress counselling by trained professionals.