CBSE Previous Year Questions – Class 10 & 12 Chapters

CBSE previous year questions are exam questions taken directly from real board papers, each carrying its original year, set and marks tag. This hub organises them class by class and chapter by chapter, solved in the answer style CBSE examiners expect.

Before you scroll further, know this: a formal CBSE board exam exists only for Class 10 and Class 12. That single fact decides what you will find below for every other class.

Why Questions Matter for Board Exam Revision

Every question on this hub is pulled from an actual CBSE paper, not written to sound like one. That is the difference between a genuine previous year question and a practice question someone invented to fill a page — the tag tells you exactly which year and paper it came from.

Solving real past papers, chapter by chapter, is usually the last step in board exam revision — after you finish the NCERT chapter and its exercise questions. It shows how CBSE actually phrases a question, how many marks it carries, and how much writing that mark weight expects.

Only Class 10 and Class 12 write a CBSE board exam. That is why official previous year question papers, in the strict sense, exist only for these two classes — Classes 1 to 9 and Class 11 are promoted through school-conducted exams, so there is no CBSE paper to draw a previous year question from.

Questions by Class

The table below marks each class as available, coming soon, or not applicable, so you know what to expect before you click through.

Classes 1 to 5 and Classes 6 to 8 sit school-set exams, not a CBSE board exam, so there is no official previous year paper to publish for these classes — each school writes its own terminal tests.

Class 9 is a pre-board year: CBSE issues sample papers to help schools set their internal exams, but these are not previous year board question papers, so this class stays outside the strict PYQ scope. Class 11 is an internal promotion year for the same reason as Classes 1 to 8.

Class 10 previous year questions are live now, organised subject-wise and split chapter by chapter. Class 12 carries the highest revision value of any class here and is marked coming soon — we will not claim it is live before it actually is.

How to Use These Previous Year Question Papers for Revision

Solved answers only help once you have attempted the question yourself. Follow this order to turn a stack of past papers into an actual revision routine.

1. Pick your class and open the subject you are weakest in — previous year questions expose gaps faster than reading notes does.
2. Attempt the chapter’s previous year questions starting with the oldest year available, without looking at the solution first.
3. Check the marks tag against how much you wrote. A 1-mark question does not need a paragraph; a 5-mark question needs full working.
4. Note the year and set of every question you get wrong, then go back to that chapter’s NCERT concept before re-attempting it.
5. In the final weeks before the exam, repeat the process using only the most recent three to five years of papers.

What You Get in Each Chapter’s Previous Year Questions

Every chapter-level page under this hub is built around the same set of details, so you always know what to expect.

• The genuine year the question was asked, such as 2023 or 2019.
• The set label — A, B or C — wherever CBSE issued more than one version of a paper.
• The exact marks allocated to that question.
• A worked solution written in the answer format CBSE’s marking scheme expects.
• Questions grouped by chapter, not by full paper, so you can revise one topic at a time.

Two mistakes cost marks even when a student has solved plenty of past papers. First, many students ignore which Set A, B or C

a question belongs to and assume every set asks the same thing — different sets often reword a question while keeping the mark weight identical, so practising only one set leaves gaps in how the question could appear.

Second, CBSE’s marking scheme awards partial marks for correct steps even when the final answer is wrong. Skipping working to save time, even on an objective-looking board question, throws away marks you could have kept.

For the unedited original paper and the official marking scheme, open the CBSE Academic website — it is the primary source CBSE itself publishes from, and it is worth cross-checking your solved answer against it.

Frequently Asked Questions on CBSE Previous Year Questions

Are CBSE previous year questions available for classes other than 10 and 12?

No, not officially. CBSE conducts a board exam only for Class 10 and Class 12, so only these two classes have genuine previous year question papers. Classes 1 to 9 and Class 11 are assessed through school-set exams, which CBSE does not publish.

What is the difference between CBSE sample papers and previous year question papers?

A sample paper is a model paper CBSE releases before the exam to show the expected pattern and difficulty for the coming session — it has never actually been asked. A previous year question paper is a real paper that was asked in a past board exam, complete with its actual year, set and marks tag.

Do CBSE board exam questions repeat from previous years?

Exact questions rarely repeat, but the same concepts and question types return often. Solving several years of previous year questions from one chapter shows you the range of ways a concept can be tested, even when no two years ask it identically.

How many years of previous year questions should I solve before my board exam?

Five to seven years gives a reliable picture of how a chapter is usually tested. If time is short, prioritise the most recent three to five years, since CBSE’s question style shifts gradually over time.

Where can I check the original CBSE previous year question paper and marking scheme?

The CBSE Academic website publishes the original papers and marking schemes. Use it to verify a solved answer here against the exact wording CBSE released.

Why do some previous year questions show different Set A, B or C labels?

CBSE issues multiple sets of the same paper to different exam centres to prevent copying. The sets carry the same marks and largely the same concepts but reword or reorder the questions, which is why practising only one set can leave gaps.

Reference: NCERT textbooks (CBSE).