Decoding the CBSE Class 10 Maths 2025 paper
The 2025 CBSE Class 10 Maths Standard paper, read question by question: marks by unit and section, the choices, how demanding it was, and the time it needs.
The CBSE Class 10 Maths Standard paper of 10 March 2025 had 38 questions for 80 marks, in five sections. Its marks for each unit matched CBSE's published weightage exactly. Sixty of the 80 marks needed a written answer, not a chosen option. We rated more than half the marks as medium difficulty.
Did the 2025 Maths paper follow CBSE's weightage?
Yes, unit for unit. CBSE publishes the marks for each unit in its 2024-25 Maths curriculum for Class 10. This is often called the blueprint - the board's table of marks for each unit. The paper we analysed, set 30/S/1, gave each unit exactly those marks.
- Algebra: 20 marks. A quarter of the paper, the largest unit.
- Geometry: 15 marks. Triangles and circles.
- Trigonometry: 12 marks. Including heights and distances.
- Statistics and Probability: 11 marks. Eight for statistics, three for probability.
- Mensuration: 10 marks. Areas, surface areas and volumes.
- Number Systems and Coordinate Geometry: 6 marks each. The two smallest units.
The weightage is a guide to how the next paper will be split. Chapter-wise weightage for Class 10 Maths and Science sets out the 2026-27 unit marks.
How much choice did the 2025 Maths paper give?
All 38 questions had to be answered. Nine of them had an internal choice: two versions printed with "OR" between them, and you answer one. That makes 54 marks with no choice and 26 marks picked from the nine pairs.
In this paper, both versions of every pair came from the same chapter. So the choice changed the task, not the topic. No choice let a student skip a chapter, and all 14 chapters were tested.
The figure shows where the choice sat. Geometry and Number Systems had no choice at all. Mensuration had only 3 marks with no choice, out of its 10.
What was in each section of the paper?
- Section A: 20 one-mark questions, 20 marks. These were multiple-choice questions and assertion-reason questions - two statements, where you judge whether each is true and whether one explains the other.
- Section B: 5 two-mark questions, 10 marks.
- Section C: 6 three-mark questions, 18 marks.
- Section D: 4 five-mark questions, 20 marks.
- Section E: 3 case studies of 4 marks each, 12 marks.
Only Section A let a student pick an answer from options. The other 60 marks needed written working. Sections C and D alone held 10 questions and 38 marks, nearly half the paper.
The case studies used kite heights, number patterns and points on a graph. A case study is one kind of competency-based question - a question that asks you to use maths in a real situation. How case-based questions are marked explains how to read one before you calculate.
Was the CBSE Maths 2025 paper difficult?
We rated each question as easy, medium or difficult. These ratings describe the questions, not how any child did. They are our judgement, not results from real answer sheets.
By our rating, an 80-mark attempt held 14 to 16 easy marks, 41 to 46 medium marks and 20 to 23 difficult marks. The ranges exist because the choices changed the task. Each range is separate, so the three highest numbers do not add up to one attempt.
The difficult marks were mostly proofs and reasoning. Questions 21, 24, 28 and 32 asked for a proof. A proof needs a reason for each step, not only a correct diagram.
Of the 106 marks printed on the paper, only 2 asked a student simply to recall a fact.
Most marks asked a student to choose a method and use it. So a list of formulas learnt by heart covers very little of this paper. Full worked practice covers much more.
Why does written working matter so much in this paper?
Because 60 of the 80 marks are for written answers, and those are marked step by step. Step marking - marks given for each correct step means a wrong final answer does not lose every mark. It also means a step that is not written down cannot earn its mark.
A 5-mark proof in Section D is a chain of small steps. Each step with its reason is where marks are given. Why students lose marks they actually knew shows how a known answer can still lose marks on the page.
Is three hours enough for the Maths paper?
Our estimate is that solving the whole paper takes 158 to 159.5 minutes. The paper gives 180 minutes for writing, plus 15 minutes to read before writing starts. That leaves about 20.5 to 22 minutes to check.
- Section A: about 32.5 minutes for 20 marks.
- Section B: about 19.5 to 20.5 minutes for 10 marks.
- Section C: about 37 minutes for 18 marks.
- Section D: about 44 minutes for 20 marks.
- Section E: about 25 to 25.5 minutes for 12 marks.
These are our estimates, not a promise of anyone's speed. A timed practice paper shows your child's own pace. Managing time in the 3-hour paper turns the marks into a plan for the clock.
Was the 2025 paper like the 2023 and 2024 papers?
In shape, yes. The 2023, 2024 and 2025 papers each had 38 questions, 80 marks and five sections of 20, 10, 18, 20 and 12 marks. Each had three 4-mark case studies.
The 2022 paper is different. It was a Term 2 paper of 14 questions and 40 marks, written in two hours. Use it for single questions, not to practise the full three hours. The same shape across years also does not mean the same difficulty.
CBSE posts its own previous year question papers on its website. Which Class 10 papers we cover lists the years we hold, each with a worked solution and our analysis. For the next year's paper, the 2026 board season by the numbers reads the 2026 Maths papers the same way.
What can this analysis not tell you?
It is read from the question paper, not from any child's answer sheet. The marks, sections and choices are counted from the paper. The difficulty ratings and minutes are our estimates. They have not yet been checked against real answer sheets. The date is from CBSE's 2025 date sheet, which lists Maths Standard on 10 March 2025.
This paper was Maths Standard. Maths Basic is a separate paper with its own questions. Maths Basic or Standard: which to take explains the difference. Where anything here differs from CBSE's own paper, CBSE's version is the one that counts.
How the four main Class 10 papers are built - sections, marks and choice - is set out in the CBSE Class 10 exam pattern for 2026-27.
Sources
Facts last checked against these sources on 30 September 2026.
About the author
Chief Architect
An engineer (B.Tech, Computer Science) with over 20 years of preparing students for entrance exams, including as Dean at FIITJEE and Vice-President at Aakash. He is the chief architect of the TRUpreBoards evaluation engine.
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