Two students who took the CBSE Class XII exam this year have claimed that their answer sheets had been changed, pointing to a discrepancy in the handwriting on the scanned copies that they had applied for to request a re-evaluation.
This year, the CBSE introduced the on-screen marking (OSM) system under which the scanned copies of answer sheets were sent to evaluators for assessment. Many have blamed the new system for the decline in the pass rate to 85.2 per cent from 88.39 per cent in 2025.
The CBSE started the process of verification and re-evaluation from May 19. Students are allowed to obtain scanned copies of their marked answer sheets by paying ₹100 per subject.
Vedant Shrivastava and Sanjana have posted their scanned answer sheets on X and pointed out a mismatch in their handwriting.
“I am a CBSE Class 12 student. After receiving unexpectedly low marks in Physics, we applied for photocopies of my answer sheets through the CBSE revaluation process. Today we received the copies. And I am shattered because the Physics answer sheet uploaded by CBSE is not mine,” Vedanta wrote.
“I KNOW this is not my handwriting and it did not have the questions I attempted. Not just me — my family, teachers and everyone who knows my writing immediately noticed the difference,” he added.
Vedant has uploaded copies of the physics, computer science and English papers to show the marked difference in letter formation, spacing, slant and sentence flow. “But the Physics copy looks like it belongs to another student entirely,” he wrote.
“If this is true, then what exactly was evaluated under my roll number? My paper? Or someone else’s? This is no longer just a ‘rechecking issue’. This may be a serious answer-sheet exchange or tagging error in CBSE’s OSM system,” he added.
Sanjana said she was “shocked” after scoring 11 marks out of 70 in chemistry theory. “I first thought the scanned copy might be blurry, but it does not match my answer sheet at all, every page appears to be someone else’s writing. The handwriting is not even comparable,” she posted on X.
The CBSE on Monday admitted the error on its part and sent the correct scanned copy of the physics paper to Vedant. "Your result will be uploaded based on the new marks of physics shortly," the board stated in an email to Vedant.
Besides allegations of swapping of answer sheets, students have complained of technical issues in the CBSE portal that hobbled the application process. Many students are still waiting for their answer sheets.
“My son has got 93 in maths. He was not satisfied. We tried to apply for scanned copies. We struggled for two days. I tried to submit the application even at 2am, but failed,” said the mother.
She said the OSM made copies look blurry and might have led to confusion for the examiner.
