Over 1.6 million students will sit for the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) examinations starting March 3 at over 5,500 centres spread across the country and abroad, an official release said here Friday.

This year 902,517 students of Class 10 and 699,129 of Class 12 will take the board exams, a CBSE release said.

Last year, 824,438 candidates appeared for the Class 10 examinations while 637,578 students took the Class 12 exams.

Of the total number of Class 10 students, 368,802 are female candidates while 533,715 are male students. Similarly in the Class 12 exams, there are 290,762 female candidates and 408,367 male students.

Among the candidates in special categories, 1,891 of Class 10 and 1,306 of Class 12 will appear for examinations in the country and abroad.

"It will be for the first time that the new grading system has been introduced at Secondary School level (for Classes 9 and 10) effective from 2009-10 academic sessions," CBSE spokesperson Rama Sharma said.

"Class 12 students will appear for the first time in Graphics Design Course and Heritage Crafts," she added.