The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) released the Class 12 examination results on May 13, 2026, revealing an overall pass percentage of 85.20%, a decline of 3.19% from the previous year's 88.39%. Approximately 15,07,109 students passed out of 17,68,968 who appeared for the exams. The drop in pass percentage has prompted discussions among educators about the factors influencing the results, particularly the introduction of On-Screen Marking (OSM) for answer sheet evaluation and the perceived difficulty of key subjects such as Physics and Mathematics. Education experts suggest that the OSM may have introduced more rigor to the evaluation process, potentially impacting students' scores, especially those on the borderline. Girls continued to outperform boys, achieving a pass percentage of 88.86% compared to boys' 82.13%. The CBSE has not directly linked the decline in results to OSM, emphasizing that the digital system aims to enhance transparency and reduce human error. Moving forward, schools may need to adapt their teaching strategies to better prepare students for the new evaluation format.