ICSE

(ICSE Board)

About ICSE Board


Popularly known as ICSE, the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education is an examination conducted by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE), which is a private board of school education in India for class 10. Headquartered in New Delhi, the CISCE board is considered one of the most popular boards of education in India and is responsible for organizing the ICSE Class 10 and ISC Class 12 board examinations every year.


CISCE or the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education has been designed to offer an examination in the course of general education, as per the New Education Policy 1986, through English medium. This examination council focuses on student’s comprehensive growth, offering a balanced and maintained curriculum to all its learners. Students can easily find all the information related to the ICSE board on this board. Read more to know everything about the ICSE board.


ICSE Exam Board Details


CISCE or the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education aims to serve its students through quality education and empower all the students to contribute towards humanity, a pluralistic society, simply by creating an exciting learning experience. Detailed information about the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations or CISCE is given below.


Name of Board Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE)
Established 1958
Medium of Instruction English
Address (Head Office) Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) P 35-36, Sector VI Pushp Vihar, Saket New Delhi – 110017
Telephone Number (011) 29564831/33/37
E-Mail council@cisce.org
Official Website cisce.org
Fax Number (011) 29564735

ICSE Syllabus


The syllabus for ICSE is well-structured and comprehensive and is focused on building the analytical skills and practical knowledge of its students. Widely and commonly known for its vast and detailed syllabus, which emphasizes to students to give importance to all the subjects and get their bases strong. The ICSE board focuses on an in-depth study of each and every subject which indeed helps students to have the flexibility of selecting certain subjects with higher standards.


The ICSE (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education) also considers various internal assessments to be essential for a student’s overall development. The practical exam results are aggregated with the overall score of the student. All the students who are studying under ICSE (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education) really need to be completely familiar with the syllabus of the exam to prepare for the examinations in the most efficient way possible.


ICSE Affiliations


We have provided the steps and Guidelines through which a school can get affiliated with the CISCE Board. Kindly read below:


Affiliation Guidelines to follow-


  • The school must obtain a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the state government for affiliation of the school to the council.
  • The school should be run by a registered society, trust, or company registered under Section 25 (1)(a) of the Companies Act, 1956, and one of the principal purposes of the society, trust, or company must be educational.
  • Each school must have a duly constituted governing body and managing committee.
  • The society, trust, or company must be financially stable.
  • The medium of instruction in the school must be English, and the scheme of studies must be in accordance with the scheme laid down by the council for secondary and higher secondary stages.
  • The staff must be qualified and trained in accordance with the qualifications prescribed by the council.
  • There should be a compulsory provident fund scheme.
  • The school infrastructure should be adequate for accommodating the numbers and gender of pupils attending the school.
  • The playing fields and/or other facilities for extra-curricular and co-curricular activities must be adequate.
  • The equipment should be adequate to enable all subjects to be taught efficiently and must include apparatus for practical work.
  • The number of working days and hours should conform to those prescribed by the council from time to time.
  • The Certificate of Land is a mandatory document to be submitted electronically in a prescribed format for provisional affiliation.

ICSE Exam Pattern


The pattern of the ICSE examination for all the compulsory subjects is mentioned in the table below so that students can easily overview the exact question paper pattern, the marks weightage for each section, and the number of questions for each section. By knowing the exam pattern, students can get to know all the important topics that they need to focus on more. It is always good for students to go through the exam pattern before they start preparing for the ICSE Class 10 Board exam as it will give them more confidence and also help them in completing all the subjects.


ICSE Exam Pattern English I (2 hours)


There will be 4 broad questions. A composition of 450 to 500 words, the second is a letter, the third is an unseen passage and related questions, and the fourth would be a question to test students’ grammar. In the essay and letter section, students are given a choice. They should choose only those topics which they know thoroughly.


ICSE Exam Pattern English – II Exam Pattern (2 Hours)


  • Section – A (2 questions)
  • Section – B (2 questions)
  • Section – C (2 questions) contains an essay-type question

ICSE Exam Pattern for Math’s (2 ½ hours)

  • Section – A (4 questions of 10 marks each = 40 marks)
  • Section – B (7 questions out of which 4 are to be solved for obtaining 40 marks)

ICSE Exam Pattern for Hindi (3 hours)- The first section deals with the Hindi Language.


It has 3 major parts – I) an Essay of around 250 words ii) a Letter iii) an Unseen passage The second section deals with Hindi Literature, in which students are supposed to answer any 4 questions from the two books they have read.


ICSE Exam Pattern for Physics (1.5 hrs.)


  • Section – A – Short compulsory questions worth 40 marks
  • Section – B – 6 questions, out of which any 4 are to be solved, worth 40 marks.

ICSE Exam Pattern for Chemistry (1.5 hrs.)


  • Section – A – Short compulsory questions worth 40 marks
  • Section – B – 6 questions, out of which any 4 are to be solved, worth 40 marks.

ICSE Exam Pattern for Biology (1.5 hrs.)


  • Section – A – Short compulsory questions worth 40 marks
  • Section – B – 6 questions out of which any 4 are to be solved worth 40 marks

ICSE Exam Pattern for History and Civics (2 hrs.)


  • Section – A First part deals with small answer-type questions from the civics part (10 marks)
    The second part deals with small answer-type questions from the history part (20 marks)
  • Section – B First part has 3 long answer type questions from civics, out of which any 2 are to be solved (20 marks)
    The second part has 5 long answer type questions from history, out of which any 3 are to be solved (30 marks)

ICSE Exam Pattern for Geography (2 hrs.)


  • First part has 2 questions – I) Map of India (10 marks) ii) Survey map and its interpretation (20 marks)
  • The second part has 9 questions, out of which 5 are to be solved (50 marks)

ICSE Exam Pattern For. E.V.S (2 hrs.)


The first part has 4 compulsory questions, and the second part has 5 long answer-type questions, out of which 4 are to be solved.


ICSE Compartmental Examinations


After the ICSE board examination is conducted, the results are declared within a few months. Once the results are out, the board then publishes the timetable for the ICSE compartment examination. Students who were not able to clear the examination were permitted to re-attempt or we say reappear for the compartmental examination in one subject in which they were not able to secure the passing marks. Well, students who are appearing for the ICSE board need to compulsorily score passing marks in the English subject and in the other three subjects in the ICSE board examination. The entries of all the students are submitted online to the Council by the Head of the concerned school.


ICSE Latest Updates


The latest updates from the ICSE board help students to be updated with the recent changes and notifications released by the CISCE on a timely basis. Staying updated with all the recent updates will help students to know all the changes initiated by the board and how it is going to benefit them in every possible way. All the latest updates are taken from the ICSE official website so that students are updated with the latest changes implemented by the board.


Students were advised to plan their studies as per the revised schedule. It helped them to ace the exam with good marks.