ICSE Class 10 Internal Assessment and Project Work: Subject-wise Marks

In ICSE Class 10, internal assessment is 20 of every 100 marks in Group I and Group II subjects, and half the marks in Group III subjects. Your school sets and marks this project work, practical work and course work, and the Head of the School uploads the marks to CISCE. Below is what each subject asks for in Class X, taken from the 25 subject syllabuses in CISCE's ICSE 2027 Regulations and Syllabus.

Internal marks are added to your board paper before the subject mark and grade are worked out. A careful project file is the easiest 20 marks in the subject.

TL;DR

• 10 ICSE subjects are 80 board paper plus 20 internal. 23 subjects, all in Group III, are 50:50.
• English, HCG and Science have internal marks for each paper, so Science alone has 60 internal marks across its three papers.
• Two people mark the work: your subject teacher and an external examiner nominated by the Head of the School.
• For a student taking English, Hindi, HCG, Maths, Science and Computer Applications, 150 of the 600 marks on the result come from school.
• Project marks carry forward if you take the Improvement Examination.

How many internal assessment marks does each ICSE Class 10 subject have?

Chapter II of the ICSE 2027 Regulations lists 33 subjects. The first 10 (English, a second language, History, Civics and Geography, Mathematics, Science, Economics, Commercial Studies, a modern foreign language, a classical language and Environmental Science) are 80% external and 20% internal. The other 23 are Group III subjects, including the eight vocational subjects in Section B, and every one of them is 50% external and 50% internal.

The 20 marks apply to each paper. English has two papers, Language and Literature, so it has two internal components. History and Civics and Geography are two papers with 20 each. Physics, Chemistry and Biology each carry 20 internal marks for practical work. SUPW and Community Service is graded in school from A to E.

Group I and II papers carry 20 internal marks each, and Group III subjects are half internal.

What project work and practicals do Group I and Group II subjects need?

• English Paper 1 (Language): listening 10 and speaking 10, with two assessments in Class X. Listening is a 300-word passage read aloud twice, then an objective test. Speaking is a two-minute talk and a short discussion.
• English Paper 2 (Literature): two or three written assignments, not more than 1,500 words in total.
• Second language: two or three assignments, of which two are written, one on language and one on literature.
• History and Civics: any one project or assignment.
• Geography: one project report on a topic from the suggested list or your own choice.
• Mathematics: at least two assignments set by the teacher.
• Physics: practical work, about ten experiments from a suggested list of 12.
• Chemistry: practical work, at minimum the action of heat on salts, tests with sodium and ammonium hydroxide, acid and alkali tests, and concentrated hydrochloric acid tests.
• Biology: practical work on plant and animal life, such as osmosis and transpiration.
• Economics and Commercial Studies: one project each.
• Environmental Science: at least three assignments.

Source: CISCE ICSE 2027 subject syllabuses, Class X internal assessment sections, compiled by Gradehunt on 31 October 2026.

Most Group II papers need only one or two pieces of work, and the three Science papers need regular practicals through the year.

What does internal assessment involve in Group III subjects?

• Computer Applications: at least 20 programming assignments in the lab during the year.
• Economic Applications, Commercial Applications, Mass Media and Communication, Hospitality Management: at least four assignments.
• Home Science, Cookery, Fashion Designing: five practical assignments in Class X.
• Technical Drawing Applications: a file of at least 15 drawing assignments.
• Environmental Applications: two case studies and one project.
• Art: course work plus four finished pieces of artwork.
• Physical Education: games marked by the teacher, plus fitness and specialisation tests before the external examiner.
• Yoga: course work for 40 marks and three practical tests for 60.

Source: CISCE ICSE 2027 subject syllabuses, compiled by Gradehunt on 31 October 2026.

Computer Applications is the one to plan for early. Each examiner marks out of 50: class design 10, variable description 10, coding and documentation 10, and execution or output 20. A program with no variable description table loses a fifth of the marks even if it runs. The criteria are in CISCE's Computer Applications syllabus.

Group III internal work is half the subject, and in Computer Applications that means 20 programs written up properly.

Who marks ICSE project work and practicals?

Your subject teacher, as internal examiner, and an external examiner mark the work independently. The external examiner is nominated by the Head of the School and can be a teacher from your own school who does not teach that subject to your class. In most 20-mark papers each gives 10, and in Group III each gives 50. English listening and speaking are assessed by the two together. Yoga is the only one of the 25 syllabuses with an unequal split: the teacher gives 40 and the external examiner 60.

Working science models are not needed for project work, and there is no viva, so you need not be present when it is assessed. English speaking is the exception, as a live assessment.

The marking guides use five criteria with up to 4 marks each. In Maths they are preparation, concepts, computation, presentation and understanding. In Science they are preparation, procedure, observation, inference and presentation.

Your teacher and an external examiner chosen by the Head of the School mark the work separately, against criteria printed in the syllabus.

When do schools submit internal marks to CISCE?

The Head of the School enters the marks on CISCE's CAREERS portal by a due date CISCE gives to schools. The 2027 Regulations do not print that date, and I could not find a public 2027 circular with it, so I will not guess one. Your school will set its own deadline for each project before that date, so ask your subject teacher for it and note it down.

CISCE's upload date goes to schools, and the deadline that matters to you is the one your teacher sets.

How do internal marks change your final ICSE marks?

Take an example. A student scores 56 out of 80 in the Maths paper. With 18 out of 20 in internal assessment the Maths mark is 74. With 10 out of 20 it is 66. Same paper, 8 marks lower.

Across a common combination of English, Hindi, HCG, Maths, Science and Computer Applications, five subjects carry 20 internal marks out of 100 and one carries 50. That is 150 of the 600 marks on the result, or 25%. Counted paper by paper it is 280 of 1,100 marks.

The Regulations set one pass mark, 33% for each subject, and add the internal marks to the board paper. They do not set a separate pass mark for the internal part. Our ICSE grading system post explains how the subject mark becomes a grade, and the ICSE percentage post shows the best-of-five sum.

If you take the Improvement Examination in up to two subjects, your project marks from the main exam carry forward and you rewrite only the theory paper.

About a quarter of a typical ICSE result comes from school, and those marks stay with you into the Improvement Examination.

How should you plan Class 10 project work?

1. Get the list of projects and deadlines for every subject in the first month of Class X.
2. Finish the History and Civics, Geography and Economics projects before the pre-boards.
3. Keep Computer Applications programs in one file with variable tables and output as you go.
4. Write each practical up the same week you do it.

If your school splits Class 10 into two terms, our ICSE Class 10 semester 1 syllabus guide shows the first-term chapters to plan projects around.

Projects done early leave the last three months for board papers.

For the 80-mark papers, the Gradehunt ICSE Class 10 test series gives you chapter-wise and full papers. You write by hand and upload, and subject experts check your answer sheet within 48 hours with step-wise marks and comments. The first paper is checked free.