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CBSE Class 10 Previous Year Question Papers: Where to Find Them and How to Use Them Chapter-wise
CBSE publishes Class 10 previous year question papers, and their official marking schemes, on its main website, cbse.gov.in. Use them chapter-wise during the year, as soon as each chapter is finished, and as full timed papers in the final two months. Before using any old question, check that its topic is still in the 2026–27 syllabus, and mark every answer against the official marking scheme, not just the final answer.
This guide is part of our Class 10 home tutors in Gurgaon series for CBSE families. It covers where the official papers and marking schemes are, how to check an old question against the current syllabus, when to use papers chapter-wise and when in full, a five-step method, a timeline for the Class 10 year, and six practice questions in CBSE style with worked solutions.
Why previous year papers matter in Class 10
CBSE Class 10 previous year question papers are real board papers, set and marked by CBSE. They show how the Board phrases questions on each chapter, how deep it goes and what it rewards in an answer. Guidebooks and question banks are useful, but they are someone else's estimate of the board paper; previous year papers are the board paper.
In practice they help with four things:
- Calibrating the level. Students who only do NCERT exercises are sometimes surprised by case-based and assertion–reason questions. Students who work mainly from difficult reference books sometimes over-prepare the wrong things. Board papers show the actual level.
- Seeing how a chapter is asked. After a few years of papers on, say, Arithmetic Progressions or Light, you notice that the same ideas come back in different forms and contexts.
- Learning how answers are marked. CBSE publishes a marking scheme with each year's papers. Reading it shows where step marks and value points are awarded.
- Building exam stamina. In the final weeks, full papers from the most recent years are the best timed practice after the official sample papers.
What previous year papers do not do is teach a chapter. If you have not yet learnt a chapter from the NCERT textbook, its old questions will only tell you that you cannot do them, and you will have used up practice material you will want later.
Where CBSE publishes previous year papers and marking schemes
Use CBSE's own website first. The official pages are the only sources you can rely on to be complete and accurate.
- Question papers: the Question Papers page on cbse.gov.in. When we checked on 29 September 2026, it listed Class X papers for the main examinations of 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026, plus the compartment examinations of 2022 to 2025 and the Class X Second Board Examination of 2026.
- Marking schemes: the Marking Scheme page on cbse.gov.in (www.cbse.gov.in/cbsenew/marking-scheme.html). When we checked, it listed Class X marking schemes for the same years, including the 2026 main and second board examinations.
- Sample papers (a different thing): CBSE's academic website, cbseacademic.nic.in, publishes the sample question papers for the current session. These are not previous year papers, but they show the current design. See our guide to CBSE Class 10 sample papers for how to use them.
What you will find when you download
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| One ZIP file per subject per year | Each ZIP holds several question papers (sets) for that subject, as PDF files. |
| Several sets per subject | CBSE prepares several different papers (sets) for each subject. Each set is a full paper, so one year gives you several full papers per subject. |
| Maths Standard and Basic in one file | In the 2026 main examination, for example, the Mathematics ZIP contained both Mathematics Standard (code 30) and Mathematics (Basic) (code 430) papers. Check the paper code and title on the first page before you start. |
| Files marked "(B)" or "V.I." | Versions for visually impaired candidates. Other students should use the standard sets. |
| Second Board Examination (2026) | Papers from the second Class 10 examination held in May 2026. Each is a full paper, and they are useful extra recent practice. |
Download both the question paper ZIP and the matching marking scheme for each subject and year you plan to use. Rename the files with the year and set, for example "Science 2025 set 2", so you can track which ones you have used.
From our tutors: because each year has several sets, we split them into two piles at the start of the year. One pile is cut up chapter-wise and used as chapters finish. The other pile, usually the most recent year, stays untouched until the final two months, when it becomes the unseen full-paper test. A student who has already seen every question cannot get an honest reading of where they stand.
Checking old questions against the 2026–27 syllabus
Before using any old question, check that its topic is in the current syllabus and is assessed in the board examination. CBSE's syllabus has changed over the years, and some topics that appeared in older papers are no longer examined.
The four-step check
- Download the current curriculum. CBSE's Curriculum 2026–27 page has a separate Class X document for each subject.
- Find the topic. For each old question, find the matching topic in the current document. If you cannot find it, leave the question out.
- Read the limits. The current syllabus often limits how a topic can be asked. A question that goes beyond the limit is out of scope even if the topic is present.
- Read the notes. Some topics are in the syllabus but assessed only in school, not in the year-end board examination.
Examples from the 2026–27 curriculum
| Subject | What the 2026–27 curriculum says | What it means for old questions |
|---|---|---|
| Science | Periodic Classification of Elements, Evolution, and the Motor, Electromagnetic Induction and Electric Generator topics are assessed only formatively, not in the year-end examination | Skip old board questions on these topics |
| Science | Information in the boxes of the NCERT textbook is not assessed in the year-end examination; scattering of light excludes the colour of the sun at sunrise and sunset | Skip old questions that test boxed material or that specific example |
| Maths | Area of a segment of a circle: central angles of 60°, 90° and 120° only | Skip segment questions with other angles |
| Maths | Heights and distances: angles of elevation or depression of 30°, 45° and 60° only | Skip questions with other angles |
| Maths | Surface areas and volumes of combinations of any two solids (cubes, cuboids, spheres, hemispheres, right circular cylinders and cones) | Treat questions on other solids or larger combinations as out of scope |
| Maths | Mean, median and mode of grouped data; bimodal situations to be avoided | Skip bimodal questions |
This is not a complete list; use the full curriculum documents for your subjects. Our guides to the CBSE Class 10 Maths syllabus 2026–27 and the CBSE Class 10 Science syllabus 2026–27 go chapter by chapter.
Check the format as well as the topic
A question can be in the syllabus but in an older format. The current papers include question types such as assertion–reason and case-based questions, and the 2026–27 Science sample paper is organised in three sections by discipline: Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Older papers may be laid out differently or have a different mix of question types. That does not make their questions useless, but for full timed practice, prefer the most recent years and the current sample papers, which match the current design. CBSE has stated that the question paper design for 2026–27 is unchanged from 2025–26.
Chapter-wise use vs full papers
Use previous year papers chapter-wise first, during the year, and as full timed papers in the final months. Chapter-wise work builds depth in one chapter; full papers build speed, selection and stamina across the syllabus.
| Chapter-wise use | Full papers (timed) | |
|---|---|---|
| Main purpose | Test one chapter; see every way it has been asked | Practise three hours of mixed questions under exam conditions |
| When | As soon as each chapter and its NCERT exercises are finished | Once the syllabus is complete, mainly in the last 60 days |
| Which years | Older years (after the syllabus check) as well as recent ones | The most recent years, whose design matches the current papers |
| Timing | Untimed at first, then roughly the time the marks suggest | Strictly three hours, one sitting |
| What you learn | Concept gaps and chapter-specific traps | Time per section, which questions to attempt first, error rate under pressure |
| Risk if overused | You always know which chapter a question is from | A total that says something is wrong, but not what |
To collect chapter-wise questions, go through each paper once with a highlighter and write the chapter name next to each question. It takes some time at the start of the year but saves hours later. Printed chapter-wise compilations are convenient too, but they are not official; check their questions against the official papers and marking schemes when an answer looks doubtful.
Chapter-wise practice has one weakness: you always know which chapter you are in, so the step of recognising which idea a question needs is done for you. After a group of related chapters (for example, all the algebra chapters), solve mixed sets from those chapters before moving to full papers.
A five-step method for each set
Treat each set of previous year questions as a test, check it against the official marking scheme, and turn every lost mark into a note you will come back to.
- Attempt without help. No textbook, no notes, no solutions. If you are stuck, mark the question and move on.
- Write full answers. Even in chapter-wise practice, write every step, formula, unit and label as you would in the exam. Practising short-cut answers trains short-cut habits.
- Mark against the official marking scheme. Award step marks and value points only when they are on the page.
- Classify each lost mark. Concept, method, calculation, reading the question, presentation (missing steps, units, labels) or time. The fix depends on the cause.
- Log it and re-attempt. One line per error in an error log, with a re-attempt about a week later and again about a month later. Close the entry when you solve it cleanly twice.
Step 4 is the one most students skip. "Silly mistake" is not a diagnosis; most silly mistakes are repeated habits, such as dropping a negative sign or forgetting to write the unit, and they can be fixed once you see the pattern.
Reading the official marking schemes
The marking scheme shows how CBSE splits marks inside each answer. Reading it is as important as solving the paper, because it shows exactly what an examiner looks for.
- Maths marking schemes show marks against steps, often in half marks. A correct final answer with missing steps can lose marks; a correct method with an arithmetic slip can still earn most of them. In the 2026–27 Maths Standard sample marking scheme, the Section A multiple-choice questions are marked with no part marks.
- Science marking schemes give marks for the formula, the substitution, the answer with its unit, and for correct labels on diagrams and balanced equations.
- Social Science and English marking schemes list value points and often say "any two", "any three" or "any other relevant point". The marks come from distinct relevant points, not from length.
After marking a set, read the scheme once more for any answer where you lost a mark, and copy the exact point or step you missed into your error log. For a fuller explanation of how marks are awarded, see our guide to CBSE Class 10 answer writing.
Not sure which previous year questions still count for 2026–27, or how strictly to mark them? Book a free demo class with a CBSE Class 10 home tutor in Gurgaon. The tutor will go through a recent paper with your child against the official marking scheme.
Book a Free Class 10 Demo +91 92204 75088A timeline for the Class 10 year
This is a typical sequence for a CBSE Class 10 student. Adjust the months to your school's teaching plan; the order matters more than the exact dates.
| Stage | Usual timing | Previous year paper work |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Set up | Start of Class 10 (April) | Download papers and marking schemes from cbse.gov.in; download the 2026–27 curriculum; split sets into a chapter-wise pile and an unseen pile |
| 2. Chapter-wise | Through the teaching year, after each chapter | Old questions for that chapter, after the syllabus check; mark against the scheme; start the error log |
| 3. Mixed sets | After each group of chapters, and before half-yearly exams | Mixed questions from several chapters; first error log re-attempts |
| 4. First full papers | Once the syllabus is complete, often around the end of the calendar year | Two or three full papers per main subject from recent years, timed; compare the time spent per section |
| 5. Last 60 days | Counting back from the first board paper | Full timed papers from the unseen pile and the sample papers, rotated by subject; see our 60-day sample paper plan |
| 6. Final week | Before the first paper | Error log review and NCERT; no new question banks |
Under CBSE's two-board-exams scheme for Class 10, the first examination is compulsory for every student and is held in February; in 2026 it ran from 17 February to 11 March. The optional second examination (15 to 21 May in 2026) allows eligible students to improve in up to three subjects from Science, Mathematics, Social Science and languages. Plan the timeline above for the first examination. Our guide to CBSE Class 10 two board exams explains the scheme.
Students in Gurgaon and Gurugram who start this process late, in the winter of Class 10, should shorten stages 2 and 3 rather than skip them. Even a short chapter-wise round in the weakest chapters finds gaps that full papers only hint at.
Practice questions in CBSE style, with solutions
The six questions below were written by our Home Tutors Team in the style of CBSE Class 10 board questions. They are not actual CBSE previous year questions, and the marks shown are our own suggested split, modelled on the way CBSE marking schemes award steps. All topics are within the 2026–27 syllabus. Try them with the five-step method: attempt, mark, classify, then log. Every answer has been checked by calculation.
Practice question 1 (Maths, Polynomials, 3 marks): Find the zeroes of the quadratic polynomial 6x2 − 7x − 3 and verify the relationship between the zeroes and the coefficients.
Answer: zeroes 3/2 and −1/3. Split the middle term: 6x2 − 9x + 2x − 3 = 3x(2x − 3) + 1(2x − 3) = (2x − 3)(3x + 1). So the zeroes are 3/2 and −1/3 (1 mark). Sum of zeroes = 3/2 + (−1/3) = 7/6, and −b/a = −(−7)/6 = 7/6 (1 mark). Product of zeroes = (3/2)(−1/3) = −1/2, and c/a = −3/6 = −1/2 (1 mark). Both relationships hold. Trap: writing the sum as b/a and getting −7/6.
Practice question 2 (Maths, Arithmetic Progressions, 3 marks): The 4th term of an AP is 14 and its 10th term is 32. Find the sum of its first 20 terms.
Answer: 670. Using an = a + (n − 1)d: a + 3d = 14 and a + 9d = 32. Subtracting, 6d = 18, so d = 3 and a = 5 (1 mark). Sn = (n/2)[2a + (n − 1)d] (½ mark), so S20 = 10[2 × 5 + 19 × 3] = 10[10 + 57] (1 mark) = 670 (½ mark). Trap: writing the 4th term as a + 4d.
Practice question 3 (Maths, Heights and Distances, 3 marks): From a point on level ground, the angle of elevation of the top of a tower is 30°. On walking 40 m towards the tower, the angle of elevation becomes 60°. Find the height of the tower. (Take √3 = 1.732.)
Answer: 20√3 m, about 34.64 m. Let the height be h and the distance from the nearer point to the foot be x. From the nearer point, tan 60° = h/x, so x = h/√3. From the first point, tan 30° = h/(x + 40), so x + 40 = h√3 (1 mark for both equations with a figure). Subtracting: h√3 − h/√3 = 40, so h(3 − 1)/√3 = 40, giving h = 20√3 (1 mark) = 20 × 1.732 = 34.64 m (1 mark). The nearer point is x = 20 m from the tower. Trap: using tan 30° = √3 instead of 1/√3.
Practice question 4 (Science, Electricity, 3 marks): Resistors of 3 Ω and 6 Ω are connected in parallel, and this combination is connected in series with a 4 Ω resistor across a 12 V battery. Find (a) the total resistance, (b) the current drawn from the battery, and (c) the current through the 6 Ω resistor.
Answer: (a) 6 Ω (b) 2 A (c) 2/3 A, about 0.67 A. (a) Parallel part: 1/Rp = 1/3 + 1/6 = 1/2, so Rp = 2 Ω; total R = 2 + 4 = 6 Ω (1 mark). (b) I = V/R = 12/6 = 2 A (1 mark). (c) Potential difference across the parallel part = I × Rp = 2 × 2 = 4 V, so the current through 6 Ω = 4/6 = 2/3 A, and through 3 Ω it is 4/3 A (check: 2/3 + 4/3 = 2 A) (1 mark). Trap: dividing the full 12 V by 6 Ω for part (c).
Practice question 5 (Science, Light, 3 marks): An object is placed 20 cm in front of a convex lens of focal length 15 cm. Find the position of the image, its magnification and its nature. What is the power of the lens?
Answer: image 60 cm behind the lens; magnification −3; real, inverted and enlarged; power +6.67 D. Using the sign convention, u = −20 cm and f = +15 cm. Lens formula: 1/v − 1/u = 1/f, so 1/v = 1/15 + 1/(−20) = 4/60 − 3/60 = 1/60, giving v = +60 cm (1 mark). Magnification m = v/u = 60/(−20) = −3 (1 mark), so the image is real, inverted and three times the size of the object. Power P = 1/f (in metres) = 1/0.15 = +6.67 D (1 mark). Trap: taking u as +20 cm, which gives the wrong sign and position.
Practice question 6 (Science, Chemical Reactions and Metals, 2 marks): When an aluminium strip is placed in a blue-green solution of copper(II) chloride, the blue colour fades and a reddish-brown deposit forms on the strip. Write the balanced chemical equation and name the type of reaction. Why does the reaction take place?
Answer: 2Al + 3CuCl2 → 2AlCl3 + 3Cu; a displacement reaction. Balanced equation (1 mark): 2 Al, 3 Cu and 6 Cl atoms on each side. It is a displacement reaction because aluminium is more reactive than copper and displaces it from its salt solution; the reddish-brown deposit is copper (1 mark). Trap: writing AlCl2. Aluminium forms Al3+, so the chloride is AlCl3, and the equation then needs 2 and 3 as coefficients.
Notice that most of the traps above are about signs, formulas written from memory, or a valence, not about difficult ideas. That is typical of what an error log shows in Class 10. Writing the formula before substituting, and checking signs and units at the end, catches many of them.
Common mistakes our tutors see
- Using unofficial papers without checking. Papers on websites are sometimes mislabelled by year or include out-of-syllabus questions. Download from cbse.gov.in where you can.
- Skipping the syllabus check. Time spent on topics that are no longer examined, such as the Science topics now assessed only in school, is time taken from topics that are.
- Checking answers but not marks. The marking scheme is where the step marks and value points are. Reading only the final answer hides most lost marks.
- Solving every year as a full paper too early. Full papers before the syllabus is finished mostly measure what has not been taught yet.
- Using up the most recent papers early. Keep the newest sets unseen for the final weeks.
- Doing only favourite chapters. Chapter-wise practice makes it easy to avoid weak chapters. The error log and a chapter checklist keep that honest.
- Practising the wrong Maths level. Mathematics Standard and Basic papers differ. Check the paper code and title before starting.
From our tutors: when a student's chapter-wise scores are good but full-paper scores are not, the error log usually shows that the lost marks are in the second half of the paper and are mostly presentation or time, not concepts. The student knows the chapters but has never practised switching between them for three hours. The fix is not more chapter-wise work; it is a few more timed full papers with the section order planned in advance, and strict marking afterwards.
For families in Gurgaon who want this kind of planning done one-to-one, our Home Tutors Team offers CBSE Class 10 Maths home tutors in Gurgaon and board exam coaching for Class 9 and 10, at home or online, backed by 12+ years of teaching in Gurgaon.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I download CBSE Class 10 previous year question papers officially?
On CBSE's website, cbse.gov.in, under Question Papers. When we checked in September 2026, it listed Class X papers for the 2022 to 2026 main examinations, compartment papers, and the 2026 Second Board Examination, each as a ZIP file of several sets.
Does CBSE publish marking schemes for previous year papers?
Yes. The Marking Scheme page on cbse.gov.in lists Class X marking schemes by year, including the 2026 main and second board examinations. Use them to mark your answers step by step.
How many years of previous year papers should a Class 10 student solve?
There is no official number. Several recent years, each with several sets, is more than enough if you use them properly: chapter-wise first, then as timed full papers, always marked against the scheme. Covering fewer papers carefully is better than skimming many.
Are old CBSE papers still useful for the 2026–27 syllabus?
Yes, after a syllabus check. Some older questions are on topics that are no longer examined, or go beyond the current limits of a topic. Check each question against the 2026–27 curriculum on cbseacademic.nic.in and skip any that fall outside it.
Should I use previous year papers chapter-wise or as full papers?
Both, in that order. Use them chapter-wise as each chapter is finished during the year, and as full timed papers once the syllabus is complete, especially in the last 60 days before the board exam.
What is the difference between a sample paper and a previous year paper?
A sample paper is issued by CBSE each session to show the design of the coming exam; a previous year paper is an actual board paper from an earlier examination. Use the sample paper to learn the current format, and previous year papers for the bulk of your practice.
Are the 2026 second board exam papers worth solving?
Yes. They are full CBSE papers from the most recent examination year, published with marking schemes, so they give you extra recent practice in the current design.
Can a home tutor help with previous year papers?
Yes. A one-to-one tutor can choose which questions to set and when, check them against the current syllabus, mark strictly against the scheme and read the error log with the student. Our Class 10 home tutors in Gurgaon teach at home or online, and male and female tutors are available.
Want a CBSE Class 10 plan built around your child's own mistakes? Book a free demo class with Ajay Vatsyayan Classes, Saraswati kunj II, Wazirabad, Sector 52, Gurugram, Haryana 122003. We teach at home across Gurgaon or online, with male and female tutors available.
Book a Free Class 10 Demo +91 92204 75088