SEE Grade-Increment ('Chance') Exam: Eligibility, Process & Timeline

The grade-increment examination, officially called the Supplementary (Grade Increment) Examination and popularly known as the 'chance exam', is a second sitting organised by the National Examinations Board (NEB) after the main Secondary Education Examination (SEE, Class 10) result. It lets students who did not clear a subject re-take only those specific papers instead of repeating the whole grade. In everyday Nepali this is what people mean when they search 'NG aayo, k garne?' — literally, 'I got NG, what should I do?'

The exam exists because SEE now uses letter grading rather than pass/fail. A subject scored below 35 marks in the external written exam is marked 'NG' (Not Graded). NG is not a passing grade: it counts as 0.0 grade points, drags down the overall Grade Point Average (GPA), and prints on the grade-sheet, which can block admission to Class 11. The grade-increment exam is the formal, board-approved route to clear that NG and lift the grade.

It is run every year on a fixed annual cycle, typically in the month of Asar (mid-June to mid-July) BS, a few weeks after the SEE result is published. Because SEE results come out for hundreds of thousands of students each year and a large share receive at least one NG, demand for this exam is durable and predictable. For SEE 2082, NEB reported 430,667 candidates, of whom 146,507 (about 34%) were Not Graded in at least one subject.

Eligibility is limited to candidates who were registered as regular students in that year's SEE. In the past, the exam was mainly for students carrying NG in a small number of subjects; from SEE 2082 onward NEB adopted a more flexible policy that allows a regular examinee to sit the supplementary exam in every subject in which they received an 'NG', not just one or two. This was framed by the board as a convenience measure so that no student is forced to repeat the entire class over failed subjects.

The two groups that typically appear are: students with one or more NG subjects who must clear them to complete SEE, and students who passed but want to improve a low grade (for example a D or C in a key subject) before applying to competitive Class 11 programmes. Grade-improvers should note the strict replacement rule described below — you only benefit if you actually score higher.

Candidates who were absent, whose results were withheld, or who sat under an older curriculum are usually handled under separate provisions in the same NEB notice, often with slightly different document requirements. Anyone unsure of their status should confirm against the specific year's official notice on neb.gov.np or see.gov.np before filling the form, because eligibility wording is set fresh in each annual notice.

The application window is short — usually one to a few weeks after the SEE result — so students must act quickly. The form is filled through the school where the candidate studied as a regular student; the school then forwards applications to the local Education Development and Coordination Unit (EDCU) and on to NEB's Office of the Controller of Examinations (SEE) at Sanothimi, Bhaktapur. There is normally a plain-fee deadline followed by a short late-fee period.

The standard exam fee has been about Rs 500 per subject payable to the SEE Board, deposited as a government revenue voucher. Candidates typically attach a copy of the payment voucher, a copy of their registration slip (admit card), and their grade-sheet (downloadable from the official website) when submitting through the school. Exact fee amounts, revenue codes and deadlines are set in each year's notice, so treat Rs 500 as the recent indicative rate rather than a permanent figure.

Because everything is routed through the school and the EDCU rather than filed directly by the student at NEB, the practical first step for any NG student is to contact their school's exam section as soon as results are out. NEB also lists helpline numbers for the SEE Controller's office in each notice (for recent years, 01-6630739 / 01-6630070, Sanothimi, Bhaktapur) for candidates who need clarification.

The grade-increment papers are held on a compact schedule, usually running over roughly a week to ten days in Asar. Papers are single-sitting exams held in the morning, commonly from 8:00 AM to 11:00 AM, one main subject per day. Candidates sit only the subjects they applied for, so a student with a single NG attends only on that subject's day.

For the SEE 2082 supplementary exam, NEB scheduled the papers from Asar 1 to Asar 9, 2083 BS (15 to 23 June 2026 AD). The published routine ran in the standard subject order: Compulsory English (Asar 1), Compulsory Nepali / Optional English (Asar 2), Compulsory Mathematics (Asar 3), Science & Technology (Asar 4), Social Studies (Asar 5), the two optional subjects (Asar 6 and 7), and technical-stream subjects on the final days (Asar 8 and 9).

The exam venue and centre are assigned by NEB/EDCU and printed on the admit card issued for the supplementary exam; it is not necessarily the candidate's original SEE centre. Students should carry the supplementary admit card, arrive well before the 8:00 AM start, and confirm the exact centre from the notice, since dates and centre allocation are re-issued each year.

After the supplementary exam, NEB publishes a grade-increment result and issues a revised grade-sheet for candidates whose performance improved. The core rule is protective of the student: the higher of the two attempts stands. If the new score is higher than the original, the improved grade replaces the old entry; if the new score is the same or lower, the original grade-sheet remains unchanged, so a grade-improver cannot lose a grade by trying.

When an NG is cleared, that subject moves from 0.0 grade points to the grade point earned in the new attempt (for example a D at 1.6, or higher). Because SEE GPA is the average of the grade points across all subjects, replacing even one NG (0.0) can substantially raise the overall GPA. The board recalculates the aggregate GPA on the revised grade-sheet using the standard NEB grade-point scale (A+ = 4.0 down to D = 1.6, with NG below 35 marks).

The revised grade-sheet from the increment exam is the document a student uses for Class 11 admission and other purposes once NG is cleared. Students who are still dissatisfied with a grade — from either the regular or the grade-increment exam — may separately apply for re-totaling (recounting) within NEB's re-totaling window; for SEE 2082 that window ran Jestha 1 to Jestha 7, 2083 BS.

The single most common mistake is missing the application window. Because the plain-fee deadline is only days to a couple of weeks after results, students who wait to 'decide later' often end up paying the late fee or losing the sitting entirely and having to wait a full year. The safe approach is to read the grade-sheet the day results are published, list every NG or low grade, and go to the school's exam section immediately.

A second pitfall is over-applying. Because the fee is charged per subject and only a genuinely higher score replaces the old grade, grade-improvers should apply strategically for subjects where a meaningful jump is realistic, rather than paying for every paper. NG subjects, however, must be cleared, so those are non-optional if the student wants to complete SEE and move to Class 11.

Finally, always verify the year's specific figures against the primary notice. Fees, revenue codes, exact BS/AD dates, centre allocation and eligibility wording are set anew in each annual NEB notice published on neb.gov.np and see.gov.np. The dates and the ~Rs 500 fee cited on this page reflect recent SEE cycles (notably SEE 2082) and are indicative for planning, not a substitute for the current official notice.