The paper at a glance

The Class 10 Mathematics Standard (041) board paper is 80 marks and 3 hours, with 38 questions. Every question is compulsory. The other 20 marks of your 100 come from internal assessment done by your school.

Before the 3 hours start you get 15 minutes of reading time. In the board papers of 2025 and 2026 the paper was handed out at 10:15 a.m.; from 10:15 to 10:30 you may only read, and writing starts at 10:30.

Section Questions Type Marks each Total
A 1 to 18 Multiple choice (MCQ) 1 18
A 19 and 20 Assertion-Reason 1 2
B 21 to 25 Very short answer (VSA) 2 10
C 26 to 31 Short answer (SA) 3 18
D 32 to 35 Long answer (LA) 5 20
E 36 to 38 Case study, parts of 1 + 1 + 2 marks 4 12
Total 38 80

So Section A is worth 20 marks, the same as all of Section D. Twenty quick 1-mark answers are worth as much as four long ones, which is why careless MCQ slips hurt.

The paper is set at three levels: 43 marks test remembering and understanding (formulas, definitions, standard results and direct questions), 19 marks test applying them, and 18 marks test analysing and reasoning. More than half the paper rewards plain, regular practice.

Internal choice

There is no overall choice, but 9 questions have an internal choice (an OR):

  • Section A: no choice at all.
  • Section B: 2 of the 5 questions.
  • Section C: 2 of the 6 questions.
  • Section D: 2 of the 4 questions.
  • Section E: part (iii), the 2-mark part, of all 3 case studies.

In the sample paper and all three board papers studied, the OR option came from the same chapter as the question it replaces, with the same marks. A choice lets you pick the easier question; it does not let you skip a chapter.

Do only one option. If you answer both, CBSE evaluates only the one you attempted first, so the second is wasted time even if it is better.

The general instructions in plain words

  1. 38 questions, all compulsory. Leave nothing blank. Even half an answer can earn step marks.
  2. Five sections, A to E. Keep each section's answers together in the answer book.
  3. Section A (Q1-20): 18 MCQs and 2 Assertion-Reason questions, 1 mark each.
  4. Section B (Q21-25): 2 marks each. Section C (Q26-31): 3 marks each. Section D (Q32-35): 5 marks each.
  5. Section E (Q36-38): case studies of 4 marks each, split 1 + 1 + 2, with an OR in the 2-mark part.
  6. Internal choice in 2 questions each of B, C and D, and in part (iii) of every case study.
  7. "Draw neat and clean figures wherever required." A figure often carries its own mark (see step marking below).
  8. "Take π=227\pi = \frac{22}{7} wherever required, if not stated." Use 3.14 only when the question says so, and leave the answer in terms of π\pi when it asks for that.
  9. No calculators. The numbers are chosen to come out clean. If your working gives an ugly decimal, check your steps.
  10. Write the question number in the answer book exactly as printed. For an OR question, also write which option you did, for example 28 (b).

How step marking works

MCQs and Assertion-Reason questions are 1 mark with no part marks: the answer is right or wrong.

Every 2-, 3-, 4- and 5-mark question is marked step by step. The marking scheme lists the steps and the marks for each, usually in halves and ones. The examiner gives you each step you get right, even if the final answer is wrong. A bare answer with no working gives the examiner no steps to mark.

A 3-mark question: The 4th term of an AP is 11 and its 9th term is 26. Find the sum of its first 15 terms.

Step in the answer Marks
Forming both equations: a+3d=11a + 3d = 11 and a+8d=26a + 8d = 26 1
Solving: 5d=155d = 15, so d=3d = 3, and then a=2a = 2 1 (½ + ½)
Writing the formula with values: S15=152[2×2+14×3]S_{15} = \frac{15}{2}[2 \times 2 + 14 \times 3] ½
Final answer: S15=152×46=345S_{15} = \frac{15}{2} \times 46 = 345 ½
Total 3

How three students would score:

  • Riya writes every step and gets 345: 3 marks.
  • Aman does everything right but slips in the last line and writes 335: he loses only the last ½, so 2½ marks.
  • Kabir takes d=−3d = -3 by a sign slip, then uses the formula correctly with his wrong values: he keeps the equations and the formula step, so about 1½ marks.

The 2026-27 marking scheme shows where marks sit in other question types too:

  • Heights and distances (5 marks): a correct figure alone carries 1 mark.
  • BPT proof in a 5-mark question: figure, given, to prove and construction together carry 1 mark; the proof carries 2.
  • Mean of grouped data: a correct table of xix_i and fixif_i x_i carries 1 mark.
  • Quadratic word problems: rejecting the impossible root in writing (a negative width, for example) is part of the step that gets the mark.

Assertion-Reason: what the options mean

Questions 19 and 20 give a statement called the Assertion (A) and another called the Reason (R). The four options are always:

  • (a) Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A.
  • (b) Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A.
  • (c) A is true but R is false.
  • (d) A is false but R is true.

Judge A on its own first (work it out; it is usually a number), then R on its own (it is usually a general rule). Only when both are true do you ask whether R is the reason A is true. That one question decides between (a) and (b).