ICSE: Indian Certificate of Secondary Education

The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) is an examination conducted by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination. It is a private, non-governmental board of school education in India for class 10th. It is designed to fulfill the recommendation of New Education policy 1986. After that the demand for ICSE affiliated schools is increasing. The mode of examination in ICSE is English. Only the regular students from the affiliated colleges of ICSE are allowed to appear in this examination. Private students are not allowed for this examination.

Board Details

ICSE Affiliations

Guidelines for affiliations:

• 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.

About ISC Exam

The Indian School Certificate popularly known as ISC is an examination conducted by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations for Class 12. The subjects of examination include English as a compulsory subject and a list of elective subjects. The list of electives contains subjects like Geography, Sociology, History, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Home Science, etc.

ISC Board is known to lay a lot of importance for literature and language, which helps to pursue a good career in the field of management, communication, marketing, accounting, etc. The curriculum is designed to improve oral and writing skills, along with in-depth learning of various concepts, which focuses on the overall development of students.

ISC Board Details

CISCE aims to serve its learners through quality education and empowering them to contribute towards humanity, pluralistic society, by creating an exciting learning experience. The contact details of the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations is given below.

ISC 12^th Exam 2021: Important Dates

The table below provides important dates related to the ISC exam 2021. Students must refer to this table to stay updated with the official updates with regards to dates of various events.

ICSE 10th Time Table 2021 Overview & Highlights

ISC Board Compulsory and Elective Subjects

For ISC Class 11 and 12 students, English is a compulsory subject for all the three preferred streams: Science, Commerce and Arts. The elective subjects of all the streams are mentioned below, and students need to choose their subject of interest from the below-mentioned list.

Subjects in ICSE

The subjects offered by ICSE can be divided into three groups:

Group 1: Compulsory subjects

English, History, Civics and Geography, and Indian Language.

Group 2: Can select any two subjects from the following subjects

Mathematics, Science, Environmental Science, Agriculture Science, Computer Science, Commercial Studies, Technical Drawing, Economics, A Modern Foreign Language, A Classical Language.

Group 3: Can select any one from the following subjects

Computer Applications, Economic Applications, Commercial Applications, Home Science, Art, Performing Arts, Cookery, Fashion Designing, Physical Education, Yoga, Technical Drawing Applications.

There is 20% weightage for internal assessment in group 1 and group 2 and 50% weightage in group 3.

Benefits of ICSE Board:

• It focuses on the child's overall growth.
• Its syllabus is vast giving equal importance to all subjects.
• It offers the flexibility of selecting specific subjects.
• It gives emphasis on the detailed study of each subject with an edge over English.
• It is accepted by most of the schools and colleges across the world.
• The ICSE syllabus is well-structured and compressive. It aims to impart analytical skills, problem-solving skills and practical knowledge to the students.

What are the disadvantages of ICSE syllabus?

• Syllabus might be too extensive and difficult compared to CBSE and state board especially when the grades get higher.
• Students from ICSE schools cannot be admitted to non-ICSE schools.
• Since ICSE is still a niche in many parts of the country, it becomes difficult to find an ICSE school or an ICSE qualified private tutors if you are new to any city.
• Since the facilities offered by these schools are luxurious, the teaching methodologies used are modern and the staff is highly qualified, the schools fees are generally high as compared to CBSE and state boards.
• Furthermore, since the curriculum is more project-based, it is more exhaustive from the working parents to keep up with the number of projects the child gets from the school and help with the same.
• In India, CBSE is the most recognized certification, ICSE is recognized by a few registered institutes only.

ICSE Grading Pattern

The ICSE Board marking scheme is given below. Group 1 is compulsory, but students can select any 2 subjects from group 2 and any 1 subject from group 3.

Difference between CBSE and ICSE

How To Download ICSE Time Table 2021

Students need to follow the steps given below to easily download their ICSE 10th Time Table 2021 from official website:-

• Visit the official website that is i.e. cisce.org
• Once you click one the above link a new page will be displayed on the screen.
• As a result, you can view ICSE time table 2021 is available right there in the pdf format.
• Folks, before you actually go about downloading check the details and information thoroughly.
• Click on the save button and download.
• Make sure you take an extra printout for further use.

ICSE 10th Exam 2021 Preparation Tips

Start your icse 10th exam preparation right away a better future awaits. Students usually baffled upon the thought of preparation. Trust me on this, preparation is no rocket science or no big deal. A lot of students suffer with exam phobia but put your mind at ease. Students are always a bit apprehensive about the thought how they will go about the preparation and end up in anxiety and stress which serves no good to their health and mind.

Because we have some workable tips to help you out and sail through the hectic examination session. We understand that level of ICSE board I quite tough as compared to others but, it is certainly not impossible to get through. So, lets take a glance at a few important tips cherry-picked by experts

• Give your self enough time. Yes, you heard that right. For that you need to have a proper time table in place so that you will be in sync with cisce 10th class preparation.
• Pay attention to details and pen down important notes.
• Practice more. You must have heard the famous phrase that says practice makes a men perfect.
• Once you are done with the preparation it is significant that you do the revision thoroughly.
• You can go for sample papers, previous paper and as well as icse 10th mock test papers.
• Besides the important tips keep yourself hydrated and drink plenty of water and eat health food and follow a healthy lifestyle.
• Do not forget to take nap or regular breaks to rejuvenate yourself. A positive mood and mind will add up to the performance and help you score well and perform better during examination.

ICSE Compartmental Examinations 2021

Any student who unfortunately not able to qualify the examination in the previous year, fear not, they can take up the examination this year as well in July 2021. Yes, you heard that right! But for this a student need to qualify in English subject on then they will be eligible to take up compartmental examination.

A student must have cleared English subject along with the three compulsory subjects in ICSE examination. Those who fulfil the criteria can submit the form by June 2021. And the result for same will be announce in the month of August 2021. CISCE will declare the result for same.

Here are some of the facts or features that you get to know about ICSE Schools:

• The ICSE Board has core instructions in English. They do not encourage any other language as the main subject. Whereat one hand, CBSE is affiliated to both English and Hindi, ICSE is only restricted to English medium school.
• ICSE focuses more on project and lab work. Nearly 20 per cent of the marks is allowed right from the internal assessment. The curriculum of the ICSE syllabus completely focuses on details. The best ICSE school in Bangalore is student-centric and every course is well detailed and well-researched. Most of the chapters are filled in with depth. The concept is way and far more complex in comparison to CBSE. The syllabus focuses more on practical knowledge, especially when compared to CBSE.
• ICSE  focuses more on language, arts and science subjects. At one stance, CBSE students are well prepared for threading on to the traditional path. They are properly equipped for tackling competitive exams for engineering, medical, banks and so on. While ICSE guides the students for management, literature, arts subjects. Scoring in TOEFL or scholarships exams, studying abroad becomes easier for them.
• ICSE is globally recognized. If the child is willing to pursue higher studies, ICSE will be the sole factor for the children to prepare on going abroad to pursue higher studies, ICSE will help him/her at the foundation level. His/her base will be very strong for higher studies abroad with ICSE.
• Marking scheme for ICSE class 10 board exams is based in 3 groups. Group 1 – all the subjects are compulsory, Group 2 – students can choose any two subjects and Group 3 – student needs to select only one subject. The marking scheme for the board goes like 80 per cent from externals from Group 1 and 2 subjects, while 20% is from internals. However, for Group 3, the marking scheme is 50% from both externals and internals.
• ICSE board gives equal weightage to arts, science, and language. The scale does not tip in favour of any particular field. Thus, children studying in ICSE schools are well-rounded and have more opportunities to explore.
• ICSE board is a great choice for the children who are willing to go for English literature or humanities subjects. The creativity or the relatable profession works the best under the ICSE board and curriculum vitae.
• ICSE schools focus on physical education and activities as well. There is a clear emphasis on English and literature in the ICSE Syllabus.
• The way English grammar is taught is very systematic. The idea is about teaching and developing young minds for global exposure. The aim is not just getting restricted to something only being in India, rather the entire world.

ISC 2021 FAQs

Question: Will students be allowed to take the ICSE, Class 10, exams later?

Answer: CISCE had earlier announced that Class 10 students will get an option to either write the exams later or get evaluated on the basis of alternative criteria. However, this provision has been withdrawn.

Question: How will students of Class 10 evaluated?

Answer: The council will declare the Class 10 results on the basis of a “fair and unbiased criterion”. “The criterion on which basis the results will be declared for the ICSE (Class 10) students will be announced by the CISCE later,” a CISCE statement said.

Question: When will ISC Class 12 exams be conducted?

Answer: CISCE has not yet announced the Class 12 ISC exam dates. However, while announcing the postponement news, the council said that the decision on the conduct of Class 12 exams will be taken in the first week of June.

Question: How were students evaluated last year?

Answer: Last year as well, the council had to cancel the board exams considering the COVID-19 situation. In 2020, students were evaluated on the basis of the best three percentage marks obtained in subjects for which board exams were held and the marks of their internal assessment as well as project work were considered.

Question: When will admission to Class 11 start?

Answer: Given that the council has cancelled Class 10 exams, the admission process for Class 11 will start shortly. The CISCE has advised schools to begin the admission process for class 11, if not already started. "In addition, schools should prepare a schedule to begin online classes for the class 11 students at the earliest, a CISCE statement said.

Q: When will the ISC result release?

A: The ISC Result 2021 is expected to release in July.

Q: Will the result is announced online only?

A: The Council will release the ISC result 2021 in the online mode. This result will be provisional. You will be required to collect the original mark sheet from school after a few days. This is an important document and will be required for admission to higher educational institutes.

Q: How tough is the ISC exam?

A: The difficulty level of the ISC exam is considered to be high, or tough. However, with systematic and strategic preparation, candidates will be able to ace the test, without feeling the difficulty level to be too tough.

Q: What are the total marks of the ISC exam?

A: Although the total marks of the ISC exam are 500 while calculating the scores, total of English and three best subjects are considered, which makes the total marks for evaluation to be 400.

Q: What is the minimum percentage to secure for passing the ISC exam?

A: The candidates should secure minimum 40 percent aggregate in order to pass the ISC Class 12 Board exam.

Q: Is it possible to score 100 percent in the ISC exam?

A: Yes, it is possible to secure a perfect score in the ISC exam irrespective of the stream. In the year 2019, there were joint toppers from Science and Humanities stream, who secured 400 out of 400.

Q: Who topped the ISC exam in 2019?

A: Dewang Kumar Agarwal from Kolkata and Vibha Swaminathan from Bengaluru were the toppers of the ISC exam in 2019. Dewang and Vibha were from Science and Humanities stream respectively.

Q: How many schools are affiliated to the ISC Board?

A: There are as many as 2,605 schools affiliated to the ISC or the CISCE Board.