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Class 10 SST PYQ chapter wise: marks per chapter in the 2025 and 2026 board papers

CMDLearn · 5 November 2026

In short: we read two real CBSE Class 10 Social Science board papers question by question, set 32/1/1 of 2025 and set 32/1/1 of 2026, and counted the marks each NCERT chapter carried. In both papers each of the four subjects (History, Geography, Political Science and Economics) carried exactly 20 of the 80 marks. The chapters that CBSE assesses only in school carried no marks at all. Below are the counts, where to download the papers free from CBSE, how to use them chapter by chapter, and 8 practice questions in the board's style with worked answers.

The 8 practice questions are our own, drafted with AI help. Their numbers were re-computed and their facts found in the NCERT text by a test script, but no practising teacher has reviewed them yet. If you find a mistake, please tell us. We do not copy past-paper questions here; for those, use CBSE's own files linked below.

Where to get the official papers

CBSE puts its board question papers on its website, free, as one zip file per subject and year: the "Question Paper" page of cbse.gov.in lists Class X papers by year, for the main exam and the supplementary exam. Social Science (code 087) is one zip for each year, holding many sets, such as 32/1/1, 32/1/2 and 32/1/3. The sets of a year follow the same blueprint, so reading one set closely tells you more than skimming five. CBSE also publishes the marking schemes on its "Marking Scheme" page, which show the points an examiner looks for in each answer.

The paper changed shape in 2026

Both papers have 80 marks, but they are laid out differently.

• 2025 (37 questions): sections by question type. Section A had 20 one-mark questions, B four 2-mark questions, C five 3-mark questions, D four 5-mark questions, E three 4-mark source-based questions, and F the 5-mark map question (2 marks History, 3 marks Geography). The subjects were mixed inside each section.
• 2026 (38 questions): four sections by subject, 20 marks each: A History, B Geography, C Political Science and D Economics. Each section has its own one-mark questions, short and long answers and a source-based question. The map question is split in two, 2 marks inside History and 3 marks inside Geography.

So in 2026 you can see at a glance how much each subject carries, and you answer the subjects in order.

Marks per chapter in two real papers

Where a question had an internal choice, both options came from the same chapter in these two sets, so the counts do not depend on which one a student picked. In 2025 the Print Culture source (Q34) asked one 2-mark part on the Rowlatt Satyagraha, so those 2 marks are counted under Nationalism in India.

A few notes on reading the table:

• The Geography map question offered four places and asked for any three, from different chapters (for example a dam, a nuclear power plant, a software park and a sea port in 2026), so its 3 marks are shown on their own line. Lifelines of National Economy appears only here, as CBSE's curriculum says: only map work is examined from it.
• The Age of Industrialisation and Consumer Rights carried no marks. CBSE's 2026-27 curriculum lists The Age of Industrialisation for periodic assessment only and Consumer Rights as project work, so this is what you should expect.
• The 2026 Geography source-based question was about floods: safety steps before and during a flood. It comes from disaster management, which CBSE's curriculum lists through its book Together, towards a safer India, not from an NCERT Geography chapter.
• Two items are our reading. In 2025, Q27 (a good democracy gives many citizens a stake in power) is counted under Power-sharing, and Q35 (a city where residents help make the budget) under Federalism, as decentralisation. Someone else could place them differently.

What moves and what stays. Every subject is fixed at 20, and Nationalism in India, Outcomes of Democracy, Development and Money and Credit carried at least 4 marks in both years. The chapter behind a 5-mark question moved: Manufacturing Industries had the Geography 5-marker in 2025, and Minerals and Energy Resources had it in 2026. So do not skip a chapter because it carried little last year.

Where the big questions came from. The 5-mark questions were The Rise of Nationalism in Europe, Manufacturing Industries, Outcomes of Democracy and Development in 2025, and The Rise of Nationalism in Europe, Minerals and Energy Resources, Outcomes of Democracy and Sectors of the Indian Economy in 2026. The source-based questions were Print Culture (with the Rowlatt part), decentralisation in a city and cooperatives as a source of credit in 2025, and Bhagat Singh and the HSRA, floods, and power sharing through parties and pressure groups in 2026.

How to use past papers chapter by chapter

1. Finish the chapter first. Read the NCERT chapter and do our chapter guide before you open past questions on it. A past paper tests you; it does not teach the chapter.
2. Sort by chapter. Take two or three years of papers and list each chapter's questions under it, with the marks. You will see question types come back: dates in order, a soil or forest type from clues, a match of dams and rivers, a sector from a description, a data table of income or literacy.
3. Learn the maps as a list. The 5 map marks come from a fixed list in the curriculum (Congress sessions and satyagraha places for History; dams, crops, mines, power plants, industries, ports and airports for Geography). Mark them on a blank map every week.
4. Write to the word limit. About 40 words for 2 marks, 60 for 3, 120 for 5 and 100 for a source-based question. One point per mark, with an example, is what the marking schemes look for.
5. Time yourself. Three hours for 80 marks: about 1 minute per one-mark question, 3 to 4 for 2 marks, 5 to 6 for 3 marks, 10 to 12 for 5 marks and 8 for a source-based question leaves time to check the map.

8 PYQ-style questions, our own, with answers

Question 1 (1 mark, History: Nationalism in India). Put these events in the order they happened, earliest first: I. Gandhiji breaks the salt law at Dandi. II. Gandhiji organises a satyagraha for the peasants of Kheda. III. The violence at Chauri Chaura. IV. Alluri Sitarama Raju, leader of the Gudem Hills rebels, is captured. (A) II, III, IV, I (B) II, IV, III, I (C) III, II, I, IV (D) IV, II, III, I

Answer: (A). Kheda 1918, Chauri Chaura February 1922, Alluri Sitarama Raju's capture 1924, Dandi March 1930. (NCERT, India and the Contemporary World II, Nationalism in India, pages 31 and 36 to 42.)

Question 2 (1 mark, Geography: Water Resources). Assertion (A): Many old houses in Bikaner, Phalodi and Barmer have an underground tank, or tanka, filled with rain from the roof. Reason (R): In this dry part of Rajasthan, water stored this way lasts until the next rains and serves for drinking when other sources run dry. (A) Both true, and R explains A (B) Both true, but R does not explain A (C) A true, R false (D) A false, R true

Answer: (A). The tanks exist because rain there is scarce and stored roof water is a dependable drinking supply in the dry months. (NCERT, Contemporary India II, Water Resources, page 25.)

Question 3 (1 mark, Economics: Development). In village P, four families earn ₹9,000, ₹10,000, ₹10,500 and ₹10,500 a month. In village Q, four families earn ₹2,000, ₹2,000, ₹4,000 and ₹32,000. Which statement is correct? (A) Village Q is better off because one family is rich (B) Both have the same average income, but income is shared far more evenly in P (C) Village P has the higher average income (D) Average income shows that both villages are equally well off in every way

Answer: (B). Both totals are ₹40,000 over 4 families, an average of ₹10,000. But in Q three families earn ₹4,000 or less, so the average hides how unequal it is. (NCERT, Understanding Economic Development, Development, pages 8 to 10, on average income and its limits.)

Question 4 (2 marks, Economics: Money and Credit). A farmer needs ₹20,000 for 6 months. The village moneylender charges 3% simple interest a month; a farmers' cooperative charges 12% simple interest a year. How much more interest would the moneylender's loan cost? Give one reason the farmer may still borrow from the moneylender.

Answer: ₹2,400 more. Moneylender: 20,000 × 3% × 6 = ₹3,600. Cooperative: 20,000 × 12% × 6/12 = ₹1,200. Difference ₹2,400. One reason: formal lenders usually ask for collateral and papers, which a small farmer may not have, while the moneylender lends on personal terms. (NCERT, Money and Credit, pages 44 to 47.)

Question 5 (2 marks, Political Science: Federalism). A gram panchayat has 15 elected members. (a) Under the 1992 changes to local government, at least how many of these seats must be held by women? (b) Which body in each state holds panchayat and municipal elections?

Answer. (a) At least one-third of the seats are reserved for women: 5 of 15. (b) The State Election Commission, an independent body created in each state. (NCERT, Democratic Politics II, Federalism, page 24.)

Question 6 (3 marks, Geography: Resources and Development). A district covers 2,400 km², and 480 km² of it is forest. (a) What percentage of the district is forest? (b) India's National Forest Policy of 1952 set a target of 33% of the area under forest. How many more km² of forest would this district need to reach it? (c) Suggest one way to add forest cover.

Answer. (a) 480 ÷ 2,400 × 100 = 20%. (b) 33% of 2,400 = 792 km², so it needs 792 − 480 = 312 km² more. (c) Plant trees on wasteland and village common land with the help of local people, who share in the forest's produce, as in joint forest management. (NCERT, Resources and Development, page 5; Forest and Wildlife Resources, on community efforts.)

Question 7 (4 marks, source-based, Economics: Sectors of the Indian Economy). Read the data and answer.

A survey of a village counted 300 workers. 210 work in farming and fishing and together produce goods worth ₹42 lakh a year. 60 work in small workshops (furniture, flour mills) producing ₹30 lakh. 30 work in shops, transport and services, earning ₹18 lakh.

(7.1) What share of the village's workers is in the primary sector? (1) (7.2) Find the output per worker in the primary and the secondary sector. (1) (7.3) On one family's farm, 5 people are enough for all the work, but 8 family members work there. How many are in disguised unemployment, and why does this keep output per worker low? (2)

Answer. (7.1) 210 of 300 = 70%. (7.2) Primary: ₹42 lakh ÷ 210 = ₹20,000 per worker; secondary: ₹30 lakh ÷ 60 = ₹50,000. (7.3) 3 people. They appear to be working, but taking them away would not lower the farm's output, so the same output is divided among more people and each one's share stays small. (NCERT, Sectors of the Indian Economy, page 26.)

Question 8 (5 marks, History: The Rise of Nationalism in Europe). "In the early nineteenth century, a common market and a shared culture did as much to build the German and other nations as wars did." Explain with suitable points.

Answer (points to make, about 120 words).

• Before 1834, the German lands were split into 39 states, each with its own money, weights and measures and many customs barriers, which slowed trade.
• In 1834 Prussia led a customs union, the Zollverein, which removed tariff barriers and cut the number of currencies, so goods could move freely across the German region.
• Economists such as Friedrich List argued that such a union would bind the Germans into one economy and so one nation.
• Romanticism turned to folk songs, poetry and dances to find the true spirit of the nation, so ordinary people's culture became a source of national pride.
• Language mattered too: in Poland, using Polish in church and school became an act of resisting Russian rule.

(NCERT, The Rise of Nationalism in Europe, pages 10 and 13.)

Practise more

• Chapter by chapter: Nationalism in India, Development, Sectors of the Indian Economy, Federalism and Outcomes of Democracy, each with 8 practice questions.
• Mixed: Class 10 Social Science important questions 2026-27.
• The official model: CBSE Class 10 Social Science sample paper 2026-27, section by section.

Where CMDLearn fits

CMDLearn is building an AI tutor for Classes 1 to 10 that explains a step and checks the child's working, but leaves the writing to the child. It is still in development, and no child uses it yet. If you would like to hear when there is something to try, you can join the waitlist.

Sources

All opened and read on 5 November 2026. Page numbers are the printed page numbers of the NCERT books.

• CBSE, Question Paper page (Class X papers by year, main and supplementary exams): www.cbse.gov.in/cbsenew/question-paper.html
• CBSE, Class X Social Science (087) question papers, 2025 (set 32/1/1 read in full): www.cbse.gov.in/cbsenew/question-paper/2025/X/087_Social_Science.zip
• CBSE, Class X Social Science question papers, 2026 (set 32/1/1 read in full): www.cbse.gov.in/cbsenew/question-paper/2026/X/Social_Science.zip
• CBSE, Marking Scheme page (the points examiners look for in the same papers): www.cbse.gov.in/cbsenew/marking-scheme.html
• CBSE, Social Science curriculum, Class X, 2026-27 (subject marks, chapters assessed only in school, map list): cbseacademic.nic.in/web_material/CurriculumMain27/SecPart1/SocialScience_SecP1X_2026-27.pdf
• NCERT, India and the Contemporary World II, Contemporary India II, Democratic Politics II and Understanding Economic Development (Class X, current reprints), chapters at ncert.nic.in/textbook/pdf/jess301.pdf, jess101, jess401 and jess201 onwards.

The chapter counts are our reading of the two CBSE papers named above, and the curriculum notes are from CBSE's own document. The practice questions and answers are our own; their numbers were re-computed by script and their facts checked against the NCERT pages named. This guide is general information; follow your teacher and the official CBSE notices.

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