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

There is no 2021 paper, because CISCE cancelled the ICSE Class 10 exams in April that year during Covid. The oldest paper in the table is the 2020 board paper.

For 2027, CISCE has published a Chemistry specimen paper with its answer key on its specimen papers page. It follows the same plan as the 2026 paper, with two changes covered further down.

ICSE Chemistry 2026 paper analysis

Here is how the marks in the 2026 Chemistry paper fell. Section A, 40 marks, was compulsory. Section B printed six 10-mark questions, of which you answered four.

• Organic chemistry: 10 of the 40 Section A marks (three MCQs, two name-the-compound items and a full 5-mark block of IUPAC names and structures), plus 8 marks spread over four Section B questions.
• Mole concept sums: 2 marks in Section A and 7 in Section B, in Questions 4, 6 and 8. You skip only two Section B questions, so at least one of these sums is in any set of four you choose.
• Electrolysis: 5 marks in Section A (four MCQs and a fill-in on the anode reaction for molten lead bromide), and a 4-mark electroplating part in Question 5.
• Equations: Section A did not ask you to write one. Four of the six Section B questions (3, 4, 5 and 7) did.
• Question 1: 15 MCQs, two of them assertion-reason.
• Section B split: five questions came as 2, 2, 3 and 3 marks; Question 5 came as 3, 3 and 4.

Source: CISCE ICSE 2026 Chemistry (Science Paper 2) question paper, Gradehunt analysis.

What came in the 2026 Chemistry question paper

Question 2 had five 5-mark blocks: a diagram of the Haber process (name the process and catalyst, how ammonia is separated, and what the fountain experiment shows), name the compound or term, match reactions with oxidation, reduction, ionisation and electrolytic dissociation, fill in the blanks, and organic names and structures. The structures asked for were butanal, pent-2-yne and the isomer of n-butane.

Section B leaned on reactions you can describe and test. A student called Alex identified a salt from a white precipitate with silver nitrate and a pale blue one with sodium hydroxide. A laboratory assistant stored nitric acid in a clear bottle in sunlight and found brown fumes. One question gave a box of chemicals and asked for balanced equations to make lead carbonate, copper(II) chloride and iron(II) chloride.

The numericals were short. Find the number of chlorine molecules in a container holding the same volume as 34 g of ammonia; work out the moles, nitric acid mass and NO2 volume for 32.5 g of zinc; and get the molecular weight and vapour density of a gas when 5.6 litres weighs 32 g.

Two hours for 80 marks gives 1½ minutes a mark. Plan on about an hour for Section A and 15 minutes for each Section B question, and pick your four questions during the 15 minutes of reading time.

How the 2027 Chemistry specimen differs from the 2026 paper

• Section A gets a 5-mark block of balanced equations to write (Question 2(ii) in the specimen). In 2026, Section A had none.
• Three specimen Section B questions (4, 6 and 8) are split 3, 3 and 4 marks. In 2026 only one was.
• The rest is unchanged: 15 MCQs, five 5-mark blocks in Question 2, six 10-mark Section B questions with any four to answer, 80 marks in two hours.
• The match-the-column set in the specimen uses almost the same five reactions as 2026: CuO with carbon, Al³⁺ gaining electrons, lead bromide splitting into ions, oxide ions forming oxygen and HCl dissociating.

CISCE's circular of 9 October 2026 says questions that test apply, analyse, evaluate and create will carry about 50% of the weightage in 2027. The specimen itself warns that board questions can come from any part of the syllabus, so practise the whole syllabus, not just the specimen's topics.

How to practise with ICSE Chemistry past papers

• Do 2026 and 2025 first, timed at two hours, then 2024 and 2023. After each one, write out every equation in the paper from memory.
• The 2022 semester papers each covered half the syllabus, so use them for chapter practice. The 2020 paper is a full paper, so time it like the recent ones.
• Keep a list of the mole sums you get wrong. In 2026 they were in three Section B questions, so avoiding them by choice did not work.
• In Question 1, write only the option. The paper says not to copy the questions.
• Draw organic structures with every bond and hydrogen shown, then check the IUPAC name you would give it.

For more years than the table holds, our 10 Years Solved Papers (PYQ) for ICSE Class 10 has ten years of Chemistry board papers arranged chapter-wise, with answers and updated to the latest CISCE syllabus, including the 2026 questions.

See our ICSE Class 10 Chemistry syllabus for the chapter list, and the Physics and Biology past papers for the other two science papers.