The Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) exams under eight general education boards began on Thursday across the country.
The exams began at 10am with Bangla 1st Paper on the first day.
More than 10 lakh students are expected to take the tests at 1,384 centres.
Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni visited Tejgaon College centre in the capital at 9:30am.
This year, the exams will be held for full marks and on a curtailed syllabus for all the subjects except Information and Communications Technology, which will be held for 75 marks instead of 100 marks.
All coaching centres across the country will remain closed till September 25 in an attempt to avoid question leakage during the exams.
According to the routine, HSC written exams will continue till September 25.
Practical exams will be held from September 26 to October 4.
However, more than 3 lakh examinees under rest three boards - Chattogram, Madrasa, and Technical - will sit for the examinations on August 27 as the exams under the three boards were deferred due to the flood in different parts of the country.