The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) released the timetable for the Indian School Certificate (ISC) examination in November 2024. The exams will end on April 5th. Each exam will be three hours long. With exams ending, students eagerly wait for the results.
By the end of this article, students will know the ISC 12th passing percentage 2025, ISC board paper difficulty level, cutoff predictions, and how the results differ for ISC and CBSE board students. Here's a look.
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ISC 12th Exam 2025: Expected Date for Results
Although the official date for the ISC 12th result 2025 has not been announced yet, it's expected to be in May. Admissions for students at colleges like Amity University Online are now open for the January 2025 session.
Last year, the results were announced on May 6th 2024 at 11 AM. For results, visit CISCE's official website.
Here are a few key highlights of the ISC board result trends for 2025.
- Result Mode: Once announced, students can check their results online and download their mark sheets immediately. They can also collect their original mark sheets from their school.
- Pass Percentage: ISC has set 40% as the minimum mark to pass the particular subject and an aggregate mark of 35% (all subjects combined) to clear the ISC exam 2025.
- How to Check the Results: Students must enter the course code, candidate UID, and index number on the CISCE result portal to check their results.
- Re-Evaluation: Those not content with the marks obtained in one or multiple subjects can apply for re-evaluation. Their paper will be rechecked. The results of re-evaluated exams will be declared in June 2025.
- Improvement Exam: CISCE also organizes improvement exams for students who couldn't pass one or two subjects.
For ISC board cutoff prediction 2025, students must closely monitor factors that might influence the cutoff percentage. Exam difficulty, students' performance, and evaluation scheme are a few factors that might affect the cutoff percentage.
ISC Exam Difficulty Level
The exam's difficulty level directly affects students' scores and their eligibility to apply for their desired institute for further studies. Here are some highlights from what students said about this year's ISC 12th exam:
- Mathematics was the toughest, with lengthy and tricky problems.
- Biology and English were the easiest
- Physics and Chemistry were moderately difficult
- Commerce was moderate
ISC Cutoff Prediction 2025
Scoring the cutoff percentage is crucial for students who aim to get admission to the top Indian and international universities. The percentage usually varies between institutes and depends on multiple factors, such as the exam's difficulty level, students' performances, and the number of applicants registered for a particular program.
In top-rated institutes, the cutoff percentage can range from 80% to 90%. Some academic institutes offer low cutoffs to make undergraduate and postgraduate programs accessible to most students. Some institutes decide their cutoff percentage based on entrance tests.
Medical universities, for instance, require students to pass NEET with a specific percentage to get admission. These students must focus more on the entrance test rather than their ISC grade.
ISC Exam Student Analysis
Each paper had different difficulty levels. Here's the students' reaction to a few popular ISC exams in 2025.
Commerce
The initial reaction of the tutors and students showed that the exam had a difficulty level of moderate to difficult. Certain questions were from textbooks, while the rest required conceptual understanding and excellent problem-solving skills. Time constraints were common among commerce students, particularly for lengthy papers like accountancy and economics. Business studies have straightforward questions, but case studies were a little tricky.
Political Science
Political Science was conducted on March 19th, and students described the difficulty level of the test as moderate. The paper was divided into three sections of 16, 32, and 32 marks, respectively. Section A consisted of straightforward questions. Section B had long-answer questions, and the last section was a bit tricky, with questions requiring an in-depth understanding of the subject.
Physics
The ISC class 12th physics exam was conducted on March 7th and was a 70-mark paper. It mainly consisted of conceptual questions with a moderate difficulty level. The derivation section was pretty easy. However, the numerical questions were too long for most students to solve. The paper also had case studies, which required a deeper understanding of different concepts.
Mathematics
Conducted on March 3rd, Mathematics was the trickiest exam this year. The question paper was described as quite lengthy, time-consuming, and difficult. Calculus and probability & statistics were the most challenging sections. Time was the biggest issue for students, as many struggled to finish the paper within three hours.
English
The easiest ISC exam in 2025 was English. The paper had textbook-based questions. The essays and comprehension-based questions were also pretty straightforward.
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ISC Vs CBSE 12th Result Comparison
ISC and CBSE (short for Central Board of Secondary Education) differ in curriculum, evaluation, difficulty level, and other factors. Here's ISC vs CBSE 12th result comparison:
Paper Difficulty Level
Paper difficulty levels vary for CBSE and ISC students. Mathematics is tougher for ISC 12th board students, while it's moderately difficult for CBSE students. Chemistry is moderately difficult for ISC students, but numerical questions can be tricky. The same is easy for CBSE students, as questions are mostly direct. Likewise, each subject has different marking and scoring schemes on the ISC and CBSE boards.
Pass Percentage
There's a notable difference between the pass percentages for students attempting ISC and CBSE exams. The pass percentage for CBSE students was 87.98% in 2024, while the same was 98.19% for ISC students. Not just in 2024, students attempting CBSE exams have an overall pass percentage lower than ISC students. It was 83.01% in 2018 and 92.71% in 2022. This also shows the inconsistency in the pass percentage of students at CBSE-affiliated schools.
Marking Scheme
ISC has a considerably stricter marking scheme than CBSE. Its syllabus is also considered more complex than CBSE's. While both have case studies, conceptual questions, and theoretical and practical questions, the difficulty level of the paper is higher in ISC exams.
Conclusion
ISC 12th exam results in 2025 can be predicted from past years' pass percentage trends, cutoff, and difficulty levels. Students mostly struggled in mathematics, physics, accounting, and economics. Exams that involved numerical and case studies were regarded as lengthy and complex. The result dates haven't been announced yet, but considering past trends, this year's passing percentage is anticipated to be above 95%.