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A low practical score hurts in a particular way: you never saw it coming. Here is what CBSE's rules say about those marks, what is worth checking and whom to ask. State board or CISCE students should check their own board's latest circular.
Can practical marks be re-evaluated in CBSE boards?
In practice, no. CBSE's August 2026 notice on post-result facilities, issued for the Class 12 supplementary exam, says a request for re-evaluation “shall be accepted only for the theory portion.” Its scanned copy, verification and re-evaluation steps are built around your written answer book.
Practical marks are locked much earlier. Under CBSE's 2025-26 guidelines for practical exams, schools upload marks on the same day the assessment is held, and no correction is allowed once they are uploaded. The same document says the Board will not accept requests to change uploaded marks “in any manner”.
It also explains why you never saw your score: practical and internal assessment marks have “the same sanctity” as theory marks and must not be disclosed to students before the result.
How are practical marks awarded in Class 12?
The CBSE practical exam guidelines set out the process:
In Class 12, a CBSE-appointed external examiner assesses alongside an internal examiner from your school. Class 10 has no external examiner.
Both examiners ask viva questions about your experiment or project, not general questions.
Marks for the lab record, viva, project and the experiment are written separately in the answer book, along with the total.
If the two examiners still differ by one or two marks after discussion, you get the average. Fractions are rounded up, so 25.5 becomes 26.
The signed award list stays sealed in the school's strong room for one year after the result, so there is a paper record to compare with your marksheet.
Whom should you ask at school, and what should you say?
Start with your subject teacher, usually the internal examiner, then the exam in-charge or principal. You are not asking for re-marking. You are asking for a record check.
The CBSE guidelines themselves name the clerical mistakes that can happen: marks carried wrongly to the award list, marks that differ in words and figures, or marks posted against the wrong roll number.
A script you can use:
“Good morning Ma'am. My marksheet shows 14 out of 30 in the Physics practical. I am not asking for re-marking. Could you please check whether the award list for my batch shows the same mark against my roll number? If it does not match, what would the school's next step with the CBSE Regional Office be?”
If the record matches, the mark stands. If it does not, the school, which holds the record, should take it up with its Regional Office; CBSE's June 2026 press release also tells candidates they can contact their Regional Offices with queries.
How much do practical marks affect your overall result?
In the CBSE 2025-26 marks table, Class 12 Physics, Chemistry and Biology are 70 theory plus 30 practical, Mathematics is 80 theory plus 20 internal assessment, and Class 10 Science is 80 theory plus 20 internal assessment.
To pass a Class 12 subject with practical work, you need 33% in theory and 33% in practical separately, plus 33% overall, according to CBSE's examination bye-laws.
A worked example: you score 54 out of 70 in Physics theory and 18 out of 30 in the practical, so 72. A friend with the same theory score got 27 in the practical, so 81. In a best-five percentage calculation, that 9-mark gap moves your percentage by 9 ÷ 500, or 1.8 points: real, but not your whole result.
If you failed the practical itself, the same bye-laws say you appear in both theory and practical at the compartment exam, even if you cleared theory. If you passed the practical, those marks are carried forward. Our compartment exam preparation plan covers the next steps.
What can you do this week?
Note where the low marks are on your marksheet: theory, practical or internal.
Ask for the award-list check at school, using the script above.
If theory also looks wrong, use the theory route: request the scanned answer book first, then verification or re-evaluation within the dates on CBSE's post-result page.
If you face a practical again, practise the viva aloud: for each experiment, say the aim, the principle behind it and two sources of error. If the principle is where you stall, the Fermi Concept Library has a lesson for every concept in physics, chemistry and biology, and Fermi's AI tutor can work out what you already know and build a plan for the session.
Tell your parents what you found, with numbers; here is how to tell parents about low marks.
Bring your roll number and marksheet to school this week and ask for the record check.
