Board exams12 min read

CBSE advanced maths and science in Class 9: your 2026-27 report card

Q: What are the two levels of maths and science in CBSE Class 9?

From 2026 27, every Class 9 student studies Mathematics and Science at the standard level: an 80-mark, three-hour exam plus 20 marks of internal assessment in each. Students may add an optional advanced level, with separate study material from CBSE, assessed by a separate 25-mark, one-hour paper of higher-order thinking questions.

Q: When is the first board exam with advanced maths and science?

In Class 10 in the 2027 28 session, so the exams fall in 2028, for students who entered Class 9 in 2026 27. This year s Class 10 is not affected: CBSE said on 9 April 2026 that they keep their earlier assessment scheme.

From 2026–27, every CBSE Class 9 student studies Mathematics and Science at the standard level, and some add an optional advanced level. The advanced result does not count in the total, but your school still has to group students for it, timetable it, mark it and show it on the report card.

By iVakeFor principals, exam cells and maths and science departments · Published 21 September 2026

Checked against official notices on 21 September 2026.

CBSE started its new scheme of studies, based on the National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023, in Class 9 this session. Its circular of 1 April 2026 asked schools to follow the guidelines in the curriculum’s initial pages and to hold special parent-teacher meetings on the changes. One of the biggest: Mathematics and Science now come at two levels.

The standard level is compulsory and is the full course. The advanced level is optional and extra, with its own study material and its own short paper. For most schools the hard part is not the syllabus. It is a result that parents will care about but that does not count in the total.

The short versionStandard is for everyone and is the only level that counts in the total. Advanced is an optional 25-mark, one-hour paper on top, in one subject, both or neither, noted on the marksheet at 50% or more but never added in. Your report card, grouping and timetable need room for it this year; the board exams under this structure start in Class 10 in 2027–28.

CBSE’s new rules for Class 9 in 2026-27

From CBSE’s own 2026–27 curriculum documents:

Two levels, starting in Class 9. Beside Class 9 Mathematics and Science, the curriculum lists “Mathematics at Advanced Level” and “Science at Advanced Level”, both marked optional.
The standard level is the full course. Mathematics and Science (086) each have an 80-mark, three-hour theory paper and 20 marks of internal assessment, made up of four 5-mark parts, including a portfolio and practical work.
Advanced has its own material. CBSE’s advanced Mathematics book for Class 9 has six chapters, from sets and logarithms to combinatorics and progressions. Advanced Science has ten, from Newton’s laws to chemical bonding, microscopy and biotechnology.
This year’s Class 10 is not affected. CBSE said on 9 April 2026 that Class 10 students in 2026–27 keep the assessment scheme they had in Class 9 last year.

The scheme of studies in the initial pages of CBSE’s 2026–27 secondary curriculum sets out the rest:

The advanced paper. A separate 25-mark, one-hour paper, all higher-order thinking questions, taken in addition to the common 80-mark, three-hour exam that every student sits.
None, one or both. A student can take the advanced level in no subject, in Mathematics or Science, or in both.
School exams first, board exams from 2027–28. In Class 9 the common exam is the school’s own annual exam. The board exams, standard and advanced, begin in Class 10 in 2027–28, so this year’s Class 9 is the first batch.
Not added to the aggregate. A student scoring 50% or more in the advanced paper gets a line on the marksheet, “The Advanced Level has been successfully cleared” (CBSE says the wording is tentative). Below 50%, the marksheet makes no reference to it. Either way, the marks are not added to the total.
Internal assessment has one level. The 20 marks of school-based internal assessment in Mathematics and Science have no advanced version.
Mathematics Basic ends. The Basic and Standard Mathematics scheme is discontinued from 2026–27. This year’s Class 10 stays on the old scheme and may still take Basic.

How the two levels of maths and science fit together

Only the bottom layer feeds the total. The marks, the choice of one or both subjects and the 50% rule are CBSE’s. How your own Class 9 report card shows the top layer is your decision, not a CBSE rule.

Is advanced the same as standard and basic maths?

No, and the difference matters for planning. In Class 10 this year, a student sits one of two alternative Mathematics papers, Standard (041) or Basic (241). Both are 80-mark, three-hour papers; Basic puts about 75% of its marks on remembering and understanding, against about 54% in Standard.

The new model works the other way round. Every Class 9 student sits the same standard paper, and some add a second, shorter one. The 2026–27 Class 9 Mathematics curriculum has one course and one paper design, and CBSE’s scheme of studies says the Basic and Standard scheme is discontinued from 2026–27. Only this year’s Class 10 may still take Basic.

The idea is not new. The National Education Policy 2020 suggested subjects, “beginning with mathematics”, could be offered at a standard and a higher level.

Report card format for Class 9 CBSE 2026-27

We have not found a CBSE format for showing the advanced level on a Class 9 report card, so the layout is your decision. Below is one way to do it. It is our illustration, not a CBSE format. It follows CBSE’s marksheet rule: standard marks make the total, and the advanced result sits beside them, never inside.

Example Class 9 report card for 2026-27 showing standard and advanced results separately. An iVake illustration with sample marks, not a CBSE format.
Subject	Theory (80)	Internal (20)	Standard total (100)	Advanced level (optional)
Mathematics	64	18	82	16 / 25 · Cleared
Science	55	17	72	Not taken
Other subjects	—	—	As your scheme of studies sets	No advanced level
Total and percentage	—	—	From standard-level marks only	Not added
Remark	Advanced level in Mathematics cleared (50% or more). Science studied at the standard level.

The choices behind that layout are our suggestions, not CBSE rules:

Keep the total clean. Total, percentage, grade and any class rank come from standard-level marks only, as CBSE’s marksheet does.
Give advanced its own column. Not an extra subject, not bonus marks. A parent should see at a glance that it is additional.
Write “not taken”, not a blank. An empty cell reads like a missing mark and prompts a phone call.
Decide what you print below 50%. CBSE’s marksheet says nothing about the advanced level below 50%. Whether your Class 9 report card shows a lower mark, or just “taken”, is your call. Decide before the first exam.
Keep merit lists on the total. If you want to recognise advanced work, give it a list of its own.

Decisions your school has to make this year

Who opts in, and when

In the documents we checked, CBSE has not said when a student’s choice is fixed, whether it can change before the Class 10 board exam, or whether schools may set an entry cut-off. The session is half over: if your advanced groups formed informally in April, write down now who is in them. Our suggestions:

Advise, do not gate. Let the subject teacher advise each family. If you set a cut-off, tell parents it is your rule, not CBSE’s.
Fix the list once a year, after a short trial window, so groups and papers stay stable.
Record every change with its date. When CBSE sets the rule for Class 10, you will want to know who opted in, and when.

Timetable and teacher load

CBSE’s advanced materials do not set a number of periods, so this is yours to plan.

One slot across all sections. Advanced students come from every Class 9 section. Running each advanced subject at the same time for all sections lets them leave without missing standard lessons.
Never both subjects in one slot. A student may take both, so advanced Mathematics and advanced Science cannot run together.
Plan for the rest of the class. Students who did not opt in need something useful in that period, such as revision.
Count the load. Six chapters of advanced Mathematics and ten of Science is real teaching, plus a paper to set and mark. The same teachers carry the standard classes every student needs, so add these periods to their load before you promise the groups.

Exams and marking

Give the advanced paper its own slot in the exam timetable rather than squeezing it in after the standard paper, and give its marks their own place in your records, so they cannot slip into the total by accident.

Telling parents

CBSE’s circular of 1 April 2026 asked schools to hold special parent-teacher meetings on the curriculum changes. On the advanced level, parents mostly want four answers:

Is it compulsory? No. The standard level is.
Can it lower my child’s percentage? No. Advanced marks are not added to the aggregate.
What does my child get? Deeper work in the subject, and a line on the Class 10 board marksheet at 50% or more.
Can we change our mind? Give your school’s rule, and say plainly that CBSE has not yet announced one for Class 10.

Put the answers in writing once, so every class teacher gives the same ones.

If you do one thingCheck that your marks system can hold a result that is shown but not counted. If the only way to record advanced marks is as another subject, they will end up in someone’s total, and you will hear about it from a parent asking why the percentage changed.

How iVake handles it

Advanced Mathematics and Advanced Science are set up as subjects of their own, with their own grade books for the students who opted in. Marks are entered once, the grade book locks on the date you set, and every correction keeps who made it and the previous value. Report card layouts are set up for your board, so the advanced result can print in its own column, apart from the standard subjects and their total.

The timetable treats advanced groups like electives: it checks the combinations students have actually chosen, so nobody taking both is placed in two periods at once. Each teacher’s periods are counted against their load as you place them, and the exam timetable flags any student with two papers in the same slot.

Parents see published marks and teacher remarks in the app, with one login per family, and your notice on who can opt in arrives in the same place.

See a Class 9 report card built this way

Frequently asked questions

What are the two levels of maths and science in CBSE Class 9?

From 2026–27, every Class 9 student studies Mathematics and Science at the standard level: an 80-mark, three-hour exam plus 20 marks of internal assessment in each. Students may add an optional advanced level, with separate study material from CBSE, assessed by a separate 25-mark, one-hour paper of higher-order thinking questions.

Is advanced maths compulsory, and can a student take just one subject?

The advanced level is optional; the standard exam is compulsory for everyone. CBSE allows none, one or both: Mathematics only, Science only, or both. If your school limits who opts in, tell parents it is your rule.

Do advanced marks count in the Class 9 percentage?

Not on the board marksheet: CBSE does not add advanced marks to the aggregate, and records only that the advanced level was cleared, at 50% or more. Keeping advanced marks out of the total, percentage and rank on your own Class 9 report card is our suggestion, so that Class 9 matches the board.

When is the first board exam with advanced maths and science?

In Class 10 in the 2027–28 session, so the exams fall in 2028, for students who entered Class 9 in 2026–27. This year’s Class 10 is not affected: CBSE said on 9 April 2026 that they keep their earlier assessment scheme.

Is CBSE advanced mathematics the same as Mathematics Standard?

No. Standard (041) and Basic (241) are alternative Class 10 papers, and a student sits one. The advanced level is an extra paper on top of the standard one. CBSE is discontinuing Basic and Standard from 2026–27; only this year’s Class 10 may still take Basic.

Sources

Two board exams a year Gradebook Examination management

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