May 10, 2026
Photo: Indian Express
The CBSE Class 12 results have witnessed a dramatic change over the last decade. In these years that have gone by, the rate of top scorers is rising much faster than the number of students appearing for exams.
Photo: Indian Express
Tracing back to the year 2015, only a total of 7,162 students scored above 95%. But if you observe the last year's data, the total number of students achieving 95% in 2025 jumped to 24,867, which rounds off to a massive 247% increase.
Photo: Indian Express
In the last ten years, the total number of Class 12 students rose rapidly from 9.6 lakh in 2015 to nearly 16.9 lakh in 2025. Though the number of students appearing in the exam almost doubled, the growth in high scorers was much steeper.
Photo: Indian Express
The graph of this trend spiked the highest during the board examination for the session 2020 - 2021. Due to the disruption in the examination system during COVID-19, an alternative evaluation method was used by all the affiliated schools. That year, over 70,000 students scored above 95%.
Photo: Indian Express
As per the opinions of experts, moderation policies and easier evaluation system may have contributed to this trend of “marks inflation,”. Due to the lenient marking system followed by examiners, high scorers have become increasingly common.
Photo: Indian Express
As more students began scoring above 95% year by year, top colleges like SRCC and Hindu College saw cut-off percentages touching the maximum 100% in several courses. The growing “saturation of excellence” made admissions based only on board marks difficult. This led to the launch of CUET UG in 2022 for centralized university admissions.
Photo: Indian Express
Even students who scored 95%+ found it difficult to secure seats in top colleges because too many students had similar marks. CUET was designed to create a common and fair evaluation system across boards. The introduction of the entrance exam also reduced the pressure created by inflated Class 12 scores.
Photo: Indian Express
With the CBSE Class 12 Result 2026 around the corner, the main question arises whether the board percentage still plays a major role. Board marks still matter, but entrance exams like CUET UG are now playing a bigger role in college admissions. The focus is shifting from percentages alone to standardised testing.
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