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Glossary

CCE

CCE (Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation) was CBSE's school-based assessment scheme. It began in 2004, was strengthened in 2009 and ended in 2017.[1, 2]

Quick facts

Full form
Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation
Also called
Continuous and Comprehensive School-based Evaluation
Run by
CBSE, for its affiliated schools
Began
2004 for primary classes. Strengthened in Class 9 from October 2009.[1]
Assessed
Scholastic areas through formative and summative assessment, and co-scholastic areas.[1]
Ended
Discontinued in 2017. The Class 10 board exam came back from 2017-18.[2, 3]
Today
Classes 9 and 10: an 80-mark exam plus 20 marks of internal assessment.[4]

What did CCE involve?

Under CBSE's 2009 scheme the year had two terms, April to September and October to March. Each term had two formative assessments and one summative assessment for scholastic areas.[1] Formative assessment could be quizzes, oral tests, projects, practicals and assignments, not only paper tests. The summative assessment was a pen-and-paper test conducted by the school, set from question banks the Board sent and marked by the school's teachers against the Board's marking scheme.[1]

TermAssessmentWeight of the year
Term 1 (April-September)Formative 1 and 210% each
Term 1Summative 120%
Term 2 (October-March)Formative 3 and 410% each
Term 2Summative 240%
Class IX weights from 2010-11, so formative work was 40% and summative 60% of the year.[1]

Co-scholastic areas were assessed too: life skills, attitudes and values, literary, scientific and aesthetic activities, performing arts and clubs, and health and physical education.[1] A circular of 29 September 2009 brought in a nine-point grading scale for Classes IX and X from 2009-10, with A1 for 91-100 and D for 33-40, then E1 for 21-32 and E2 for 20 and below.[5]

When did CCE start, and when did it end?

CBSE's history page calls the 1990 Comprehensive Certificate of Achievement the genesis of CCE. CCE itself reached primary classes in 2004 and Classes 6 to 8 after that.[1, 2] The same history page also says CCE was introduced in 2009, the year the circular says it was strengthened, so CBSE's own documents date its start differently.[1, 2] We found no single circular that ends it. CBSE says it was discontinued in 2017, and the two 2017 circulars below set out what replaced it.

DateWhat happened
2004CBSE introduces CCE in primary classes. It also recommended a five-point rating scale and no pass or fail system at that level.[1]
20 September 2009Circular 39 strengthens CCE in all affiliated schools from October 2009 in Class IX. From 2011 the Class X board exam was to be optional for senior secondary students staying in CBSE.[1]
29 September 2009Circular 40 introduces nine-point grading for Classes IX and X.[5]
2010Class X results are declared in grades for the first time.[2]
31 January 2017Circular Acad-05/2017 restores the Class X board exam from 2017-18 and ends the dual Scheme-I and Scheme-II system.[3]
21 March 2017Circular Acad-14/2017 sets a uniform assessment, exam pattern and report card for Classes VI to IX.[6]
2017CBSE's history page records that the ongoing CCE system was discontinued.[2]
Dates are the circulars' own.

What replaced CCE?

From 2017-18 Class 10 went back to a board exam of 80 marks, with 20 marks of internal assessment: a periodic test (10), notebook submission (5) and subject enrichment (5).[3] Classes 6 to 8 moved to two terms of 100 marks each, and the report card formats for Classes 6 to 9 were fixed by the March 2017 circular.[6]

Today Classes 9 and 10 still have 20 internal marks, now in four parts: periodic assessment, multiple assessment, a portfolio and subject enrichment.[4] NEP 2020 asks for regular, formative and competency-based assessment (para 4.34) and a holistic progress card (para 4.35).[7] Our guide to CBSE assessment and report cards has the current rules for each class.

Sources

Every fact on this page about rules, prices or other products comes from one of these. We read each one on the date shown and will update this page when they change.

  1. CBSE. Examination Reforms and Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) in the Central Board of Secondary Education (Circular No. 39/20-09-2009) (cbse.gov.in). Circular of 20 September 2009. Read 21 October 2026.
  2. CBSE. History of CBSE (cbse.gov.in). Read 21 October 2026.
  3. CBSE. Restoring of Class X Board examination with effect from the Academic Year 2017-18 (Circular Acad-05/2017) (cbseacademic.nic.in). Notification of 31 January 2017. Read 21 October 2026.
  4. CBSE, Academic Unit. Introduction to Secondary Curriculum: Part-1 (Classes IX-X), 2026-27 (cbseacademic.nic.in). Academic session 2026-27. Read 21 October 2026.
  5. CBSE. Introduction of Grading at Secondary School level for classes IX & X from current academic year 2009-10 (Circular No. 40/29-09-2009) (cbse.gov.in). Circular of 29 September 2009. Read 21 October 2026.
  6. CBSE. Uniform System of Assessment, Examination and Report Card for classes VI-IX from Academic Year 2017-18 onwards (Circular Acad-14/2017) (cbse.gov.in). Circular of 21 March 2017. Read 21 October 2026.
  7. Ministry of Education, Government of India. National Education Policy 2020 (ncert.nic.in). 2020. Read 21 October 2026.

FAQ

Questions about CCE

Short answers. The sections above have the detail and the sources.

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Is CCE still followed in CBSE schools?
No. CBSE's history page says the CCE system was discontinued in 2017. Classes 9 and 10 now use an 80-mark exam plus 20 marks of internal assessment.
Is CCE the same as the Holistic Progress Card?
No. CCE was CBSE's scheme of formative and summative assessments with grades. The Holistic Progress Card describes a learner's progress against competencies, with input from the teacher, the learner and parents. It comes from NEP 2020, para 4.35.
What was the CCE grading scale?
CBSE's nine-point scale of 29 September 2009 for Classes IX and X: A1 for 91-100, A2 for 81-90, B1 for 71-80, B2 for 61-70, C1 for 51-60, C2 for 41-50, D for 33-40, E1 for 21-32 and E2 for 20 and below.

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