The Secondary Education Examination is the exam at the end of Class 10, and it is the first one in a Nepali student’s life that a stranger will ask about years later. Two separate bodies are involved and they are easy to confuse: the Curriculum Development Centre, under the Ministry of Education, decides what is taught and examined, and the National Examinations Board runs the examination and publishes the result.
This page covers the structure and the grading, both of which are set nationally and neither of which your school decides. Where our sources disagreed we have said so rather than picked one, and every claim below is attributed at the foot of the page.
The grading scale, in full
The SEE is graded on letters and grade points rather than a pass mark and a division. The same scale is used for Class 11 and Class 12.
| Grade | Marks | Grade point |
|---|---|---|
| A+ | 90–100 | 4.0 |
| A | 80–89 | 3.6 |
| B+ | 70–79 | 3.2 |
| B | 60–69 | 2.8 |
| C+ | 50–59 | 2.4 |
| C | 40–49 | 2.0 |
| D | 35–39 | 1.6 |
| NG | Below 35 | 0.0 |
What a pass actually requires
This is the part that is most often explained wrongly, including by people who have sat the exam. Grading is subject-wise. There is no aggregate GPA that rescues a bad subject with good ones — each subject is judged on its own, and the minimum in each is a D, which is 35%.
The rule that catches people out is that the 35% has to be reached in the theory paper and in the internal assessment separately. Passing one and not the other is not a pass in that subject. For a subject marked out of 100 as 75 theory and 25 internal, that means 27 out of 75 and 10 out of 25 — clearing the theory paper comfortably does not cover a missed internal.
A subject below the threshold is recorded as NG, which stands for Non-Graded and is what replaced the word "fail" on the certificate. It is not a permanent result: it is cleared through the grade improvement examination.
- Minimum grade
- D — 35%, grade point 1.6.
- Applied per subject
- No overall GPA minimum rescues an individual subject.
- Applied per component
- Theory and internal assessment must each reach 35%.
- Below the threshold
- Recorded as NG, cleared by the grade improvement exam.
The subjects
Under the Secondary Education Curriculum 2078, which follows the National Curriculum Framework 2076, Classes 9 and 10 in the general stream take five compulsory subjects and two electives.
- Nepali
- Compulsory
- English
- Compulsory
- Mathematics
- Compulsory
- Science and Technology
- Compulsory
- Social Studies
- Compulsory
- Two elective subjects
- Commonly Optional Mathematics, Computer Science, or Health, Population and Environment Education.
How the marks are split
Assessment is divided between an external written examination set and marked through the National Examinations Board, and an internal assessment carried out by the school — classroom participation, project work and practical work, judged against the curriculum’s stated learning outcomes.
The widely applied split is 75% external and 25% internal, which is the split the 27-out-of-75 and 10-out-of-25 thresholds above are derived from. Subjects are not all marked out of 100: Health, Population and Environment Education is commonly 50 marks and Computer Science 75, so read the threshold as 35% of whatever your subject is marked out of rather than as a fixed number.
Common questions
- What does NG mean in the SEE result?
- NG stands for Non-Graded. It is recorded when a subject falls below 35%, and it replaced the word "fail" on the certificate. It is cleared by sitting the grade improvement examination for that subject.
- Is there a minimum overall GPA to pass the SEE?
- No. Grading is subject-wise, so there is no aggregate GPA that has to be reached. Each subject needs at least a D, which is 35%, on its own.
- Can a high theory mark make up for a low internal assessment?
- No. The 35% minimum applies to the theory paper and to the internal assessment separately. A subject split 75 theory and 25 internal needs at least 27 and at least 10 respectively.
- Who sets the SEE syllabus, and who conducts the exam?
- The Curriculum Development Centre, under the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, develops the curriculum. The National Examinations Board conducts the examination and publishes the results.
- What is the highest grade in the SEE?
- A+, awarded for 90 marks and above, carrying a grade point of 4.0.
Notes for these subjects
Everything students have shared with us for this level. If the subject you need is empty, that is an invitation rather than an apology — the library only holds what somebody uploaded.
Share your notes for this levelWhere this came from
Every factual claim on this page is drawn from the sources below. The curriculum and the examination are national and change; if you find something here that is out of date, please tell us and we will correct it.