ICSE Class 10 Biology Previous Year Question Papers with Solutions (2020-2026)

There is no 2021 paper because CISCE cancelled the ICSE Class 10 exams in April 2021 during Covid. The 2020 Biology paper was never sat either: Biology was one of the papers not yet held when the 2020 lockdown began, and CISCE cancelled those papers in June 2020. Treat the 2020 paper as extra practice rather than a board paper.

CISCE has also put up a 2027 specimen paper for Biology, with its answer key, on its specimen papers page. Its layout matches the 2026 board paper, which makes 2026 the closest real paper to practise before your own exam.

ICSE Class 10 Biology 2026 paper: topic-wise marks

We tagged every mark in the 2026 paper to a topic group. Section A is compulsory, so its 40 marks are the split every candidate faced. Section B prints six questions of 10 marks and you answer four, so its 60 printed marks are listed separately.

• Human body systems (heart and blood, kidneys, nerves and sense organs, hormones, reproduction): 27 of 40 in Section A, 28 of 60 in Section B
• Plant physiology (osmosis, transpiration, photosynthesis, plant hormones and tropisms): 5 in Section A, 12 in Section B
• Cell division, chromosomes and genetics: 3 in Section A, 8 in Section B
• Population, evolution, pollution and food chains: 5 in Section A, 12 in Section B

Source: CISCE ICSE 2026 Biology (Science Paper 3) question paper, Gradehunt analysis. A few one-mark items, such as the salted pickle MCQ (osmosis) and the term tubectomy (population control), could sit in another group and would move a total by one mark.

So two of every three compulsory marks came from the human body. Three of the five 5-mark blocks in Question 2 were body topics from start to finish: a labelled sperm diagram, a diabetes case and a kidney diagram to match with functions.

What the 2026 Biology question paper asked

• Question 1 had 15 MCQs. Three were assertion-reason, and two were small genetics sums: the number of thymine bases in a DNA stretch of 300 base pairs with 75 guanine, and the chance of a colour-blind son when the mother is a carrier.
• Question 2 had five 5-mark blocks: biological terms, a fill-in on the sperm diagram, odd one out with the category named, the diabetes case and the kidney match.
• All six Section B questions were split the same way: 1, 2, 2, 2 and 3 marks.
• The last 3-mark part was a drawing in two questions (prophase with four chromosomes, and a spinal cord section with grey and white matter labelled). In the other four it was a short case: prostate surgery, an elderly woman who cannot thread a needle, shrinking city greenery, and hearing loss in a stone quarry.
• Drawing or copying a diagram and labelling it carried 8 of the 60 Section B marks, counting the turgid plant cell in Question 8.
• Eight question parts are built around a named person, from Bharat missing the school bus to Mohit's high blood sugar at a routine check-up.

Two hours for 80 marks works out to 1½ minutes a mark: about 60 minutes for Section A and 15 for each Section B question. Use the 15 minutes of reading time to choose your four Section B questions.

Which Biology chapters to revise first

Start with the body systems. In 2026 they decided 27 compulsory marks, and Question 5 was body topics except for a 2-mark food chain. If physiology is weak, you lose choice in Section B as well, because every Section B question had at least one body-systems part.

Learn the labelled diagrams well enough to read them back: heart, kidney and nephron, eye, ear, brain and spinal cord, and the sperm. Question 2 gave a diagram and asked you to fill in or match from it, which is faster if you already know every label.

Plant physiology came as experiments. One question compared two plants kept at 15°C and 38°C; another asked why a plant is kept in the dark for 48 hours before a starch test, and why the leaf is boiled in alcohol. For every textbook experiment, learn why each step is done as well as what it shows.

Cell division had no question in Section A, but in Section B it came as a 3-mark drawing, a plant-versus-animal cytokinesis difference and a one-mark question on interphase. Practise drawing each stage of mitosis with a set number of chromosomes.

Is the ICSE Biology 2027 paper pattern the same?

Yes, the layout is the same. The 2027 specimen keeps 15 MCQs in Question 1, five 5-mark parts in Question 2 and six 10-mark Section B questions split 1, 2, 2, 2 and 3, of which you answer four. The theory paper stays at 80 marks in two hours, and practical work assessed in school carries the other 20.

The type of question is what changes. CISCE's circular of 9 October 2026 gives questions that test apply, analyse, evaluate and create about 50% of the weightage in the 2027 exams. The specimen also notes that board questions can come from any part of the syllabus, so do not treat it as a list of likely questions.

How to practise with these Biology papers

• Write the 2026 and 2025 papers first, in two hours each, then 2024 and 2023.
• The 2022 papers were set in two semesters on half the syllabus each, so use them topic by topic. Use the 2020 paper the same way.
• Question 1 says not to copy the questions; write only the option. Copying the question costs minutes and earns nothing.
• Mark your answers against the solution, and give yourself a diagram mark only if every label asked for is there.

Our 10 Years Solved Papers (PYQ) for ICSE Class 10 has the Biology board questions from 2016 to 2026 sorted chapter-wise, with answers, updated to the latest CISCE syllabus. The 2026 questions are solved there too.

For the full chapter list, see our ICSE Class 10 Biology syllabus. Past papers for Chemistry and Physics are also on Gradehunt.