Overview
The Secondary School Certificate (SSC) is the public examination that marks the end of secondary schooling in Bangladesh, taken at the end of Grade 10 by students roughly 15-16 years old. It is run by the Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education, with separate boards covering different regions of the country plus a Technical Board for vocational students; a parallel Dakhil examination, run by the Bangladesh Madrasah Education Board, serves students in the madrasah stream and is treated as equivalent to SSC. Passing SSC is required before a student can move on to Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) studies in Grade 11-12.
Who can apply
Students become eligible for SSC by completing Grade 9 and Grade 10 at a recognised school and registering with their board in Grade 9. Candidates sit the exam as "regular" candidates through the school where they are registered; students who could not clear SSC in an earlier attempt can also reappear in later years as improvement or repeat candidates, subject to board rules.
Groups and subjects
From Grade 9, students choose one of three groups, which decides part of their SSC subject list:
Science - adds Physics, Chemistry and Biology, with Higher Mathematics commonly taken as the optional fourth subject.
Business Studies - adds Accounting, Finance and Banking, and Business Entrepreneurship.
Humanities - adds subjects such as History, Civics, Geography and Economics, chosen from the options the school offers.
All three groups share a common core: Bangla (two papers), English (two papers), General Mathematics, Bangladesh and Global Studies, Religion and Moral Education, and Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Most schools also let students offer an extra, optional subject on top of the required set.
Exam pattern
Most subjects are examined out of 100 marks, split between a written paper and, for science-stream subjects, a practical component:
| Subject type | Multiple-choice (MCQ) | Written/creative (CQ) | Practical |
|---|---|---|---|
| General subjects (e.g. Bangla, English, Maths, Religion) | 30 | 70 | - |
| Science subjects with a lab component (e.g. Physics, Chemistry, Biology) | 25 | 50 | 25 |
The written part uses creative questions (CQ) that test understanding and application rather than only recall. MCQ and CQ are timed and answered separately within the same sitting. To pass a subject, a candidate must clear a minimum mark in both the MCQ and CQ parts as well as the overall 33% pass mark for that subject; falling short in either part fails the whole subject even if the combined total would otherwise pass.
Marking and results
SSC results are reported on a Grade Point Average (GPA) scale of 0 to 5, built from letter grades awarded per subject:
| Marks | Letter grade | Grade point |
|---|---|---|
| 80-100 | A+ | 5.00 |
| 70-79 | A | 4.00 |
| 60-69 | A- | 3.50 |
| 50-59 | B | 3.00 |
| 40-49 | C | 2.00 |
| 33-39 | D | 1.00 |
| 0-32 | F | 0.00 |
A candidate's GPA is the average grade point across the required subjects. The optional extra subject is not averaged in the normal way: only the part of its grade point above 2.00 is added to the total, so a weak optional subject cannot pull the GPA down, though an F in any compulsory subject still means the candidate has not passed SSC overall, regardless of other grades.
Important dates
For the 2026 SSC cycle, form fill-up (registration for the exam itself) ran from 31 December 2025 to 10 January 2026, with a late-fee window from 12 to 17 January 2026. The theory exams began on 21 April 2026 and ran to 20 May 2026 for general boards (24 May 2026 for the Dakhil and Vocational streams), with practical exams held from 7 to 17 June 2026. Results for SSC, Dakhil and SSC (Vocational) were published together on 10 August 2026. Note that the 2026 schedule was shifted later than the traditional February-March exam window because of the academic calendar, Ramadan and election-related adjustments that year; students should always check their own board's notice for the year they are sitting the exam, since dates move from year to year.
Fees
For the 2026 cycle, the board-notified form fill-up fee for regular candidates (including the optional fourth subject) was about BDT 2,435 for the Science group and about BDT 2,315 for the Business Studies and Humanities groups; a late-fee window added roughly BDT 100 per candidate. Checking a result by SMS costs the standard SMS charge (a few taka). A candidate who wants a subject re-checked (board challenge/rescrutiny) pays a separate fee per paper, payable online through mobile financial services. Fees are set and revised by the boards each year, so candidates should confirm the current amount through their school before paying.
How to apply
Students do not apply individually to a board. Registration happens in Grade 9 through the school, which submits student information to the relevant board. In Grade 10, the school again handles "form fill-up" for the SSC exam itself within the board's notified window, collecting the exam fee from students and submitting it along with subject choices to the board online. Candidates then receive an admit card through their school ahead of the exam. Fees for form fill-up are commonly paid online via mobile financial services such as bKash or Nagad, routed through the school.
After the exam
Results are published simultaneously by all boards, available on the boards' own result systems and by SMS, and schools also receive detailed mark sheets for their candidates. A candidate unhappy with a result in a particular subject can apply online for rescrutiny (a recount/review of the marking) within the window the boards announce after results are published. Passing SSC with a group-appropriate GPA lets a student move on to HSC: admission into Grade 11 runs through a centralised online college-admission process that uses the SSC GPA and group as the main criteria, with each college setting and publishing its own minimum-GPA cut-offs for the year, which commonly differ by group and tend to be higher for Science.
Preparation tips
Decide your group (Science, Business Studies or Humanities) early in Grade 9, since it fixes most of your SSC subjects and affects HSC and admission options later.
Practice both MCQ and creative-question (CQ) formats for each subject, since a subject is only passed when both parts individually clear their minimum marks, not just the combined total.
For science-stream subjects, treat the practical component as seriously as the written paper; losing practical marks can be the difference between grade bands.
Keep your optional (fourth) subject strong enough to clear GPA 2.00 in it, since only the portion above that adds to your overall GPA.
What is the difference between SSC and Dakhil?
SSC is run by the general education Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education, while Dakhil is the equivalent Grade 10 exam for the madrasah education stream, run separately by the Bangladesh Madrasah Education Board. Both are treated as equivalent secondary-completion qualifications.
Can a student change their group after choosing Science, Business Studies or Humanities?
Group choice is normally made at the start of Grade 9 and determines the group-specific subjects studied through Grade 10, so changing groups after SSC subjects have been finalised with the school is generally not possible; any change needs to happen early, with the school's agreement, before registration is submitted to the board.
What happens if a student fails one subject in SSC?
An F grade in any required subject means the candidate has not passed SSC overall for that attempt, even if every other subject is strong. The candidate can usually reappear in that subject (or as a full repeat candidate) in a later SSC cycle, following the board's rules for improvement/repeat candidates.
Does a good SSC GPA guarantee admission to a particular HSC college?
No. SSC GPA and group are the main criteria used in the centralised online admission process for Grade 11, but each college sets its own minimum-GPA cut-off and seat numbers for that year, so meeting a general pass GPA does not guarantee a seat at a specific, more competitive college.