Competency-based questions

A competency is the skill of putting what you know to work. So these questions test whether you can apply an idea, not whether you can recite it. The chapter is one you know. The situation is new.

How many are in a CBSE Class 10 paper?

CBSE's Secondary Curriculum for 2026-27 says that "approximately 50% of the questions are competency-focused". That is a share of the questions, not of the marks. The curriculum names the kinds: case-based, source-based, integrated, data interpretation, situational and application-oriented.

What does one look like?

Question 31(A) of the 2026-27 Maths Standard sample paper is a good example. It prints a student's working for a trigonometry sum. You must find the step with the error, fix it and finish the answer. Knowing the formula is not enough. You have to read the working and judge it.

Two common kinds have their own entries: case-based questions and assertion-reason questions.

Does ICSE have them too?

Yes. CISCE, the board that sets ICSE papers, says it added competency-focused questions from the 2024 exam. It has published practice questions for ICSE Class 10 Maths, with an answer key. Its 2027 Maths specimen paper tags its questions with the skill they test, such as "Application".

The questions are marked part by part and step by step. CBSE's 2026 instructions to examiners add that a correct answer not in the scheme should still get its marks. How case-based and competency questions are marked works through real examples.

About the author

Mohit Sardana

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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