KSEAB to set common 1st PUC question papers from 2027, stripping colleges of paper-setting role

From 2027, every Karnataka 1st PUC candidate will sit for a common question paper set by the Karnataka School Examination and Assessment Board (KSEAB). The announcement ends the existing arrangement under which individual pre-university colleges framed their own question papers for the first-year Pre-University Course examination.

KSEAB to prepare papers for all PU colleges

The revised framework hands question-paper preparation to KSEAB. State-level papers will replace the college-level system, and the responsibility now moves from individual pre-university colleges to the board. The change applies across pre-university colleges, with all 1st PUC students appearing through the same centralised paper-setting process.

Colleges no longer get to set or frame the papers. The KSEAB prepares the examination papers; colleges conduct the examinations. The shift is specific: paper-setting leaves the colleges, while the conduct of the exam remains with them.

Same paper, same timetable

The change is not only about a common question paper. The state is also introducing a uniform timetable for the 1st PUC examination. Candidates who previously wrote college-specific papers under college-controlled schedules will instead follow one state-level paper and one timetable.

Reports describe the KSEAB papers as centralised digital question papers. The board prepares them, and the colleges conduct the exam. What does not change is evaluation: college-level evaluation is retained, even though colleges lose responsibility for framing the questions.

What stays with colleges

The line after 2027 is clearer now. Framing the 1st PUC question paper is a KSEAB job. Running the examination is still a college job. Marking the answer scripts also stays at the college level. So the colleges’ role narrows from setting the paper and scheduling the exam to conducting the exam and evaluating the scripts.

That division is the core of the new model. KSEAB fixes what is asked and fixes when it is asked. The colleges host the exam and judge the answers. A uniform timetable removes the old college-to-college variation in scheduling, while a common paper removes variation in what students are tested on.

Other current KSEAB matters

The board is also busy beyond the 2027 paper change. It has increased the SSLC examination fee by 5% for the academic year 2026-27 through a circular. For Class 10 candidates, the KSEAB Karnataka SSLC result for 2026 can be checked by SMS: students send KSEEB10 followed by their roll number to 56263.

The KSEAB has also announced the 1st PUC result for 2026. Candidates who appeared for the examination can download the scorecard as a PDF from the board’s result portal. The result and the fee circular are separate from the 1st PUC paper-setting change, but they show the board running several examinations cycles at once.

The 2027 change will first be visible when the first common 1st PUC question papers and uniform timetable are issued for that year’s annual examination.