- Regular students. You must be studying Class 10 in a CBSE-affiliated school and be registered by your school in the LOC for 2027. Your school also checks that you meet CBSE's attendance rule (normally 75%).
- Private candidates. You can apply privately only in set cases: you failed or were placed in essential repeat in an earlier year (2021 to 2026), you could not appear because of low attendance after finishing the course, you got a compartment in 2026, or you passed in 2026 and want to improve marks in the same subjects.
Private-candidate categories are from a news summary of CBSE's notice dated 7 October 2026, which we could not open as text. The attendance figure is CBSE's usual rule, not checked in a 2026-27 document.
Not yet confirmed on the official website. Check the official notice before you act on it.
Sources: news.careers360.com · cbse.gov.in