CBSE competency-based questions: what they are and how to answer them

How 2026-27 papers weight application and analysis

Each CBSE syllabus sets a typology table. Questions that test applying, analysing and evaluating are where competency-based items sit.

Sources: CBSE 2026-27 syllabi for each subject. The 50% competency-focused figure is stated in the Secondary School Curriculum 2026-27 (Classes 9 and 10), which adds that the structure may be reviewed periodically.

The four formats you will meet

• Case-based or case study questions: a short real-life scenario (a shop, a journey, a lab test) followed by three or four linked sub-parts. In the 2026-27 Maths sample papers these are Section E, three questions of 4 marks each.
• Assertion-reason questions: two statements, and you choose whether both are true and the reason explains the assertion, both are true but it does not, only the assertion is true, or only the reason is true.
• Source-based and passage-based questions: a paragraph, table, graph or experiment description that the answer must come from.
• Integrated and situational questions: an ordinary short or long answer framed in context, such as finding the cheapest option or the safest current rating.

Worked example 1: a maths case study (arithmetic progression)

Case: Aisha saves 50 dirhams in the first week and each week saves 20 dirhams more than the week before. (i) How much does she save in week 10? (ii) What has she saved in total after 10 weeks? (iii) In which week does she save 410 dirhams?

1. Name the concept before calculating: equal increases each week means an AP with a = 50 and d = 20.
2. (i) a_10 = a + 9d = 50 + 180 = 230 dirhams.
3. (ii) S_10 = (10/2)(2a + 9d) = 5 × (100 + 180) = 1,400 dirhams.
4. (iii) 50 + (n - 1) × 20 = 410, so (n - 1) × 20 = 360, n - 1 = 18 and n = 19. She saves 410 dirhams in week 19.
5. Check (ii) another way: first term 50, tenth term 230, so 5 × (50 + 230) = 1,400. Write the units in every answer.

Worked example 2: assertion and reason (science)

Assertion (A): If a wire is stretched to twice its length with the same cross-sectional area, its resistance doubles. Reason (R): The resistance of a conductor is directly proportional to its length.

1. Judge A on its own: R = ρL/A, so with A unchanged, doubling L doubles R. A is true.
2. Judge R on its own: R = ρL/A shows resistance is proportional to length. R is true.
3. Ask whether R explains A: yes, the doubling follows directly from the proportionality.
4. Answer: both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
5. Trap: in reality stretching a wire also makes it thinner. Answer the statement as written, which fixes the area.

Worked example 3: a data-based question (acids and bases)

A student tests four solutions with universal indicator: P has pH 2, Q pH 7, R pH 12 and S pH 9. (i) Which is most acidic? (ii) Which would turn red litmus blue? (iii) Which could be pure water? (iv) Which sample would best neutralise a spill of P?

1. (i) The lowest pH is the most acidic: P.
2. (ii) Bases turn red litmus blue, so any pH above 7: R and S.
3. (iii) Neutral, pH 7: Q.
4. (iv) A base neutralises an acid. S, a mild base, is the safer choice than the strongly basic R; the question rewards a reason, so write one.

A method that works on every format

1. Read the sub-questions first, then the case, so you know what to look for.
2. Underline every number, unit and condition in the case.
3. Name the concept being tested (AP, Ohm's law, pH) in a word at the top of your answer.
4. Answer from the case, not from general knowledge.
5. Show working even on 1-mark sub-parts in long cases, because later parts often reuse earlier answers.
6. For assertion-reason, judge each statement separately before asking whether one explains the other.

Why students lose marks, and how lessons help

The commonest losses are reading the case too quickly, answering a different question from the one asked, and dropping units or reasons. Students who learned chapters as lists of question types also struggle when the same idea appears in an unfamiliar setting, such as an AP disguised as weekly savings. Practice with CBSE's 2026-27 sample papers and marking schemes on cbseacademic.nic.in is the best guide to what examiners expect.

In one-to-one lessons a tutor gives your child unfamiliar cases and asks them to name the concept aloud before calculating, which builds the recognition these questions demand. The tutor can also write fresh cases in the style of the board paper on the shared whiteboard, so practice does not run out once the sample papers are done.

Self-check

• Can you say what the four options in a CBSE assertion-reason question are, from memory?
• In example 1, how much has Aisha saved in total after 19 weeks? (Answer: 4,370 dirhams)
• A case gives a table of daily temperatures. Which statistics chapter is it most likely testing? (Answer: mean, median or mode of grouped data)
• Why should you read the sub-questions before the case?