Science Previous Year Question Paper Class 10 (CBSE)

Paper pattern in recent board exams

The 2023, 2024 and 2025 class 10 science papers followed one five section design built on question type. Section A had 20 one mark objective questions, some as assertion and reason. Section B had six two mark questions, Section C seven three mark questions, Section D three five mark questions and Section E three case based questions worth four marks each.

The most recent board paper kept the same 39 questions and the same mix of marks but regrouped them by subject: Section A for biology (30 marks, including the environment chapter), Section B for chemistry (25) and Section C for physics (25). Your answer book is split the same way, and a biology answer written in the physics pages, for example, will not be checked. So when you practise with an older paper, the questions are still useful, but rehearse the new answer book layout with the latest sample paper.

CBSE prints several sets of the paper for different regions, each with its own code. Questions differ across sets but cover the same chapters with the same weightage, so solving more than one set from the same year is useful practice, not repetition. Internal choice is offered in a number of questions.

Reading a science previous year question paper class 10 by chapter

Compare the 2023, 2024 and 2025 papers chapter by chapter and the board's habits stand out:

• Weightage follows the syllabus. Chemistry and biology together supply about 50 of the 80 marks, as the unit wise marks in the curriculum say.
• Long answers favour a few chapters. Carbon compounds, life processes, reproduction, light and electricity are the usual sources of five mark questions.
• Diagrams are asked by name. Ray diagrams, the human heart or digestive system, nephron, flower parts and circuit diagrams appear often.
• Numericals are predictable in form. Mirror and lens formula, magnification, power of a lens, resistance in series and parallel, and electric power.
• Case based questions use data or a short passage. They test whether you can apply a concept, such as reading a pH chart or a pedigree of traits.

These are trends from reading the papers, not fixed rules. The CBSE class 10 science syllabus lists exactly what is in scope.

How to work through old papers

1. Finish the NCERT chapters first. Papers test understanding of the book; solving them too early mostly shows gaps you already know about.
2. Sit the full three hours. Use the first 15 minutes for reading, as you will in the hall.
3. Mark with the official marking scheme. It shows the keywords and steps that earn marks, which is where many students lose half marks.
4. Keep an error log by chapter. After five papers, the log tells you which chapters need a second revision.
5. Redo weak sections only. If your three mark answers keep running long, practise writing each one in under five minutes.

Practice questions in the board's style

We drafted these five ourselves to match the board's question types; no CBSE paper was used as a source.

1. (1 mark) When a strip of copper is dipped in silver nitrate solution, the solution slowly turns blue. Name the type of reaction.
2. (2 marks) A student finds that a liquid turns blue litmus red and reacts with sodium carbonate to give a gas that turns lime water milky. Identify the type of substance and the gas.
3. (3 marks) An object is placed 20 cm in front of a convex lens of focal length 10 cm. Find the image distance and state the nature of the image.
4. (3 marks) Explain why the walls of ventricles are thicker than the walls of atria in the human heart.
5. (4 marks, case based) Three resistors of 2, 3 and 6 ohms are available. Find the total resistance when they are joined in series and when they are joined in parallel, and state which arrangement draws more current from a 6 V battery.

Answers in short: a displacement reaction; an acid and carbon dioxide; image at 20 cm on the other side, real, inverted and the same size; ventricles pump blood to the body and lungs against more resistance; 11 ohms in series and 1 ohm in parallel, with the parallel set drawing more current (6 A against about 0.55 A).

Where to get papers and marking schemes

The board's main website, cbse.gov.in, keeps previous year question papers by year and subject, and the academic website, cbseacademic.nic.in, hosts the current sample question paper with its marking scheme. Download the files there rather than from forwarded PDFs, which often mix sets or carry wrong answers.

Planning your last two months

From early January, settle into a rhythm of a pair of full papers every week: one recent board paper and one sample paper. Spend the day after each paper on corrections. In the final fortnight, switch to section wise drills, with extra time on the four mark case studies and the five mark answers. Pair this with the other subjects on our CBSE class 10 previous papers page and the class 10 maths previous papers guide, so your practice is spread evenly across subjects.