CBSE Class 10th Board Exams 2026: Section-wise answer writing rules for Science, Social Science

According to the official notice, the Science question paper will now be divided into three sections — Biology, Chemistry, and Physics—while the Social Science paper will have four sections covering History, Geography, Political Science, and Economics.

CBSE has emphasised that answers must be written strictly within the dedicated space for each section, and no mixing of responses will be accepted (Representative/Express photo by Narendra Vaskar)

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has issued a detailed set of instructions for Class 10 students appearing in the Science and Social Science board examinations, introducing a mandatory section-wise structure that must be followed both in the question paper and the answer book. The board said the change was introduced to improve evaluation quality after repeated instances of students mixing answers across subjects, making it difficult for examiners to identify and award marks correctly.

According to the official notice, the Science question paper will now be divided into three sections — Biology, Chemistry, and Physics—while the Social Science paper will have four sections covering History, Geography, Political Science, and Economics. Students must replicate the same structure in their answer books by creating clearly labelled sections before they begin writing.

CBSE has emphasised that answers must be written strictly within the dedicated space for each section, and no mixing of responses will be accepted. “In case replies are mixed, these will not be evaluated, and no marks will be awarded,” the board stated. It added that such mistakes will also not be corrected during verification or revaluation, making it essential for students to understand the revised format well in advance.

Schools have been instructed to ensure that students practise this system before the final examinations. The board has advised teachers to integrate these rules into classroom activities and Pre-Board exams so that students do not risk losing marks due to avoidable structural errors. Sample question papers demonstrating the new section-wise layout have been made available on the CBSE Academic website.

Below is a simplified breakdown of the new structure introduced for Class 10 Science and Social Science question papers:

Revised section-wise pattern for CBSE Class 10 board exams 2026

Subject	Section	Corresponding Area
Science	Section A	Biology
	Section B	Chemistry
	Section C	Physics
Social Science	Section A	History
	Section B	Geography
	Section C	Political Science
	Section D	Economics

CBSE has stated that students must mirror this exact structure in their answer sheets, maintaining separation between sections throughout the exam. Any deviation, including writing answers of one subject area under another section, will lead to non-evaluation of those responses.