The examination is written on paper at examination centres across Uttar Pradesh and is held once a year, with a compartment or improvement route notified separately by the board. Candidates take papers in the subjects prescribed for their stream, so class 12 students appear in the science, commerce or arts subject combination they have studied, along with compulsory language papers. Question papers are set on the syllabus prescribed by the board and combine objective and descriptive questions, and practical or internal assessment components apply in the subjects that carry them. Results are published by the board as marks and a division, and the board issues the mark sheet and
certificate used as proof of the qualifying examination in later admissions. It is not an examination conducted for admission to any particular institution or professional course.