CBSE Class 10 Maths Previous Year Question Papers with Solutions (2020-2026)

Taking Maths Basic (241)? That is a separate paper. CBSE's question paper page has the 2026 Class 10 papers, including the Maths Basic and Standard papers from its 2026 second board examination.

CBSE Class 10 Maths paper pattern (2026 and 2027)

• 38 questions, 80 marks, 3 hours, plus 15 minutes of reading time. Calculators are not allowed.
• Section A: 18 MCQs and 2 assertion-reason questions, 1 mark each (20 marks).
• Section B: 5 very short answers of 2 marks (10 marks).
• Section C: 6 short answers of 3 marks (18 marks).
• Section D: 4 long answers of 5 marks (20 marks).
• Section E: 3 case studies of 4 marks (12 marks).
• Internal choice in two questions each in Sections B, C and D, and in the 2-mark part of every case study.

CBSE's 2026-27 sample paper for Maths Standard has the same 38-question layout, and every page of it carries one line: there is no change in the question paper design and assessment pattern for 2026-27. So the 2026 papers are the closest practice you can get for 2027.

Three hours for 80 marks is 2¼ minutes a mark. That makes a 5-mark question worth about 11 minutes and a case study about 9.

Chapter-wise marks in the 2026 Maths paper

We matched every question in Set 1 (paper code 30/1/1) to its chapter:

• Real Numbers: 6 marks (Q1, 2, 3, 26)
• Algebra, 20 marks: Polynomials 4 (Q4, 20, 21), Pair of Linear Equations 6 (Q5, 32), Quadratic Equations 5 (Q33), Arithmetic Progressions 5 (Q6, 36)
• Coordinate Geometry: 6 marks (Q8, 23, 27)
• Geometry, 15 marks: Triangles 8 (Q7, 22, 34), Circles 7 (Q12, 13, 25, 29)
• Trigonometry, 12 marks: Introduction to Trigonometry 7 (Q9, 10, 24, 28), Some Applications of Trigonometry 5 (Q11, 37)
• Mensuration, 10 marks: Areas Related to Circles 6 (Q14, 15, 38), Surface Areas and Volumes 4 (Q16, 30)
• Statistics and Probability, 11 marks: Statistics 6 (Q17, 35), Probability 5 (Q18, 19, 31)

Source: CBSE Class 10 Mathematics Standard 2026 question paper and marking scheme, Set 1 (30/1/1), and the 2026-27 curriculum, Gradehunt analysis. Where a question had an internal choice, both options came from the same chapter.

The unit totals are exactly CBSE's weightage in the 2026-27 curriculum: 6, 20, 6, 15, 12, 10 and 11. Triangles was the single biggest chapter at 8 marks, mostly through one 5-mark question: prove the Basic Proportionality Theorem, or show that medians of similar triangles form similar triangles.

Same questions in Sets 1, 2 and 3

The three sets were not three different papers. Comparing CBSE's three marking schemes, 32 of the 60 marks in Sections B to E were the same questions in every set, only renumbered, and many of the one-mark MCQs repeated as well:

• all three case studies: a potato race (AP), a trigonometry case and a circular wire frame with ten sectors (12 marks)
• the 5-mark quadratic word problem (two trains, or two squares) and the 5-mark triangle theorem (10 marks)
• the 3-mark trigonometric identity and the 3-mark circle question on an incircle or tangent lengths (6 marks)
• the 2-mark questions on DE ∥ BC or similar triangles, and the trigonometric ratio question (tan θ = 24/7, or cot θ = 7/8) (4 marks)

Smaller swaps changed the rest. Set 2, for instance, asked students to prove √2 irrational where Sets 1 and 3 used √3. For revision, this means the standard question types reached every student, whichever set they got.

How the 2026 marking scheme gave step marks

• Two-trains quadratic (5 marks): 2 for forming the equation, 1 for simplifying it, 1 for factorising, ½ for rejecting the negative root and ½ for the final speeds.
• Basic Proportionality Theorem (5 marks): 1 for the statement, 2 for given, to prove, construction and figure, and 2 for the proof.
• √3 is irrational (3 marks): ½ for the assumption, 1 and 1 for the two divisibility steps, ½ for the conclusion.

Two general instructions in the marking scheme matter too. An error carried forward is penalised only once, so keep working after a slip. And in competency-based questions, a correct method that is not in the scheme still earns marks.

Which CBSE Maths past papers to practise first

• The three 2026 sets and the 2026-27 sample paper, as timed three-hour papers.
• 2025, 2024 and 2023 next. They use the same five-section design.
• 2022 and 2020 for chapter practice. 2022 was a two-term year, so its papers are shorter.
• After each paper, mark each step against the solution as well as the final answer.

Want more than one paper a year? Gradehunt's 10 Years Solved Papers (PYQ) for CBSE Class 10 puts the Maths board questions from the 2016 to 2026 exams in chapter order, with the year on each question and the marks for each step shown.

We also have solved past papers for Class 10 Science and Social Science.