CBSE Class 10 Social Science Previous Year Question Papers with Solutions (2020-2025)

Download CBSE Class 10 Social Science board papers from 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, three sets for each year, with solutions, from the table below. There is no 2021 paper, because CBSE cancelled the Class 10 board exams that year.

Social Science is the paper where students most often know the content and still lose marks, usually through answers that are too long, too short, or not in the shape the marking scheme expects. Past papers fix that faster than rereading the textbook.

How the CBSE Class 10 Social Science paper is set

• Theory paper: 80 marks, 3 hours. Internal assessment adds 20 marks.
• Four parts, 20 marks each: History (India and the Contemporary World II), Geography (Contemporary India II), Political Science (Democratic Politics II) and Economics (Understanding Economic Development).
• Question types: objective questions, very short and short answers, long answers, case-based questions, and a map question on History and Geography.

The 2026 section rule for Social Science

From the 2026 exams, CBSE divided the Social Science answer book into four labelled sections: Section A for History, Section B for Geography, Section C for Political Science and Section D for Economics. An answer written in the wrong section is not evaluated, and CBSE has said it will not be corrected at verification or re-evaluation.

Older papers mix the four subjects, so practise the habit now. Before you start any full paper, divide your answer sheets into the four sections and write each answer in its own part.

How to use these papers

• Start with 2025 and 2024, which follow the current pattern most closely.
• Treat 2022 as extra practice; that year's exam was term-wise and shorter.
• Write each paper in three hours, by hand, including the map question on the outline map.
• Check your answers against the solutions point by point. In a 3-mark answer, each relevant point usually carries a mark, so count your points.

Where students lose marks in Social Science

• Long answers written as one paragraph, which makes it hard for the examiner to find the points. Use short paragraphs or numbered points.
• History answers with events but no dates, causes or consequences when the question asks for them.
• Geography answers that skip the example: name the crop, state or industry the question is about.
• Economics questions answered from general knowledge instead of the textbook definitions, which the marking scheme follows.
• Map work left to the end and done in a hurry, or with locations marked but not labelled.

Gradehunt's CBSE Class 10 test series checks full Social Science papers point by point, the way a board examiner does, so you can see which of these habits is costing you marks.

Other CBSE Class 10 past papers

We also have solved past papers for Science, Maths and English.