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Entrance exams rarely fall on school holidays. JEE Main 2027 Session 1, for example, runs from 20 to 28 January, mostly on school days, and your exam city may be far from home. Getting leave is simple if you start early: send a written request, add a copy of your admit card and give your teachers a plan for the classes you will miss.
Why does a written leave request matter?
For CBSE students, a written request is a rule. A CBSE circular dated 4 August 2025, issued for the 2025-26 session, says that leave without a written request "will be considered unauthorized absence from the school".
The same circular repeats that a minimum of 75% attendance is needed to sit the Class 10 and 12 Board exams. CBSE allows a 25% relaxation only for exigencies such as medical emergencies, national or international sports events and other serious reasons, and only when they are backed by documents.
For absences other than illness, the circular says students must tell the school "only in writing". It also warns that students found absent without proper leave records during a CBSE inspection may be treated as non-attending candidates.
State boards and CISCE may have different rules, so ask your school office which form it wants.
When should you ask for leave for JEE Main or NEET?
Ask as soon as you know the exam window, not the week before. The NTA public notice of 24 October 2026 gives this timeline for JEE Main 2027 Session 1:
Exam city announced: 30 December 2026
Admit cards available to download: 13 January 2027
Exam dates: 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 and 28 January 2027
Paper 1 shifts: 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, or 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Send the letter when your city is announced, naming the exam window, then confirm the exact dates with your admit card. For NEET-UG, JEE Main Session 2 and state entrance tests, do the same with the dates on the official JEE Main or other exam website once they are published.
For example, say you live in Nagpur and your city slip on 30 December shows Pune. On 13 January your admit card gives Friday 22 January, morning shift. A 9 a.m. paper in another city usually means travelling the day before, so you need:
Thursday 21 January: travel
Friday 22 January: exam
Saturday 23 January: return journey, if your school is open on Saturdays
Your letter goes in within the first few school days after 30 December and asks for up to three days between 20 and 28 January. On 13 January you hand in the admit card copy and confirm 21 to 23 January. Our guide to an exam centre in another city covers the travel and documents for that trip.
What should the leave letter say?
Keep it to one page, addressed to the principal and signed by you and a parent. Include:
Your name, class, section and roll number.
The exam, the body that conducts it (for JEE Main, the National Testing Agency) and the session.
Your exam city and the dates you need, with travel days stated separately from exam days.
What you are attaching now (the city slip) and what you will add later (the admit card copy).
How you will catch up, and the name of the classmate who will share notes.
A sample to adapt: "I am registered for JEE Main 2027 Session 1, conducted by the National Testing Agency, and my exam city is Pune. I request leave for up to three days between 20 and 28 January 2027 for travel and the exam. I will submit my admit card on 13 January to confirm the dates, and a classmate will share notes while I am away."
Give the school a photocopy of the admit card and keep the original for the exam. Before you copy it, check every detail on the card using our admit card checklist.
How do you catch up on missed classes after the exam?
A short plan makes it easier for teachers to say yes:
Before you leave, ask each subject teacher what they will cover and whether a test or assignment falls in those days.
Ask one classmate to photograph their notes each evening.
On your first day back, list the missed topics, one line each.
Book two or three short study slots that week for those topics, and take your doubts to the teacher within a week.
Our plan for catching up after missing classes goes into more detail. If a missed topic is in physics, chemistry, biology or maths, the Fermi Concept Library has a lesson for each concept. Fermi's AI tutor can work out what you already know and build a plan for the session, so you come back to a clear next step.
Send the leave letter the week your exam city is announced. Everything else follows from that.
