The NIOS is one of the three central boards of secondary education in our country – the other two being CBSE and ICSE.

The 10th std. Exam is the NIOS secondary exam
The 12th std. Exam is the NIOS senior secondary exam, equivalent to the PUC exam.
The NIOS exam is recognized by most universities in the country including Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Law School University.
NIOS Examination Details
The NIOS exam syllabus is similar to the CBSE syllabus in terms of content , but the exams include questions which can be answered in a simpler way. The exams are designed to test the extent of knowledge/ information but does not stress on lengthy answers.
The NIOS exam papers include
  • 20% marks for objective type questions
  • 40% marks for one sentence answers and 3 sentence answers
  • 20%marks for home assignments submitted
  • 20%marks for 1 page answers and/or practical.

The NIOS is a flexible system and you can choose

  • Any 5 of the following subjects if you want to do BA, B’Sc, Bcom or BBM
  • Any 6 of the following subjects including Science or Maths if you want to do Engineering or Medicine.

The subjects you can choose from are :

  • Compulsory Subjects: English
  • Optional(4 or 5 of the following) : Science(Physics, Chemistry, Biology)
    Social Studies
    Mathematics
    Home Science (Practical science)
    Word Processing
The 5 or 6 exams chosen can be given at the end of 10th std. or in three sittings starting from the end of 9th std in a semester system, with 2 exams being taken in each semester.

Books: All books and audio visual materials are supplied by NIOS.