What Are CBSE's Competency-Based Questions? A Simple-English Guide for Parents

Published by SP Home Tuition | Delhi & Gurugram | Updated June 2026

Picture this. Your child sat at the desk for three hours the night before the Science exam. They revised every chapter, rewrote definitions, and could recite Newton's Laws forwards and backwards. You felt good about it. They felt ready.

The paper came back with 61%.

If that sounds familiar, you're not alone — and the reason isn't what most people think. It's not laziness. It's not that your child is bad at Science. The real reason is that the exam changed, but the way most students study hasn't caught up yet.

This is exactly what CBSE's shift to Competency-Based Questions (CBQs) is about. And once you understand it — really understand it — it stops being scary and starts making sense.

---

So, What Exactly Is a Competency-Based Question?

Let's start with the simplest explanation possible.

A normal question asks: "What is Ohm's Law?"

A competency-based question asks: "Riya's house has a 220V supply. She connects a bulb with resistance 440Ω. What current flows through the circuit? If she adds a second identical bulb in series, how does the current change — and what does this tell us about series circuits in household wiring?"

Same concept. Same formula (V = IR). But in the second version, your child has to:

• Read the situation
• Pull out the relevant numbers
• Apply the formula themselves
• Think about what the answer means

That's the difference. A competency-based question doesn't ask your child to repeat information. It asks them to use it.

Why Did CBSE Make This Change?

The shift didn't happen overnight. CBSE has been moving in this direction since the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 was introduced, and from the 2024-25 academic session, it became official and fixed.

The reason is straightforward: the old system was producing students who were very good at scoring marks but not always good at thinking. Someone who memorised the textbook word for word could score 90% — but struggle to explain the concept to a friend, or apply it in a real situation.

CBSE recognised this was a problem. Not just for students' future careers, but also because competitive exams like JEE and NEET have always been competency-based. Students were cramming for boards and then finding entrance exams completely different — not because the difficulty jumped, but because the style of thinking required was entirely different.

The CBQ shift is CBSE saying: let's build that thinking skill from Class 9 onwards, not from Class 11.

How Much of the Exam Is Now CBQs?

As of 2025-26, 50% of every 80-mark CBSE theory paper is competency-based. That's 40 out of 80 marks. In practical terms, for a Class 10 student:

This is permanent. It won't go back to the old format. The 2025 board results confirmed that CBSE is happy with this direction — the board officially stated that competency-based questions "yielded results" as pass rates improved for students who prepared correctly.

The 3 Types of CBQs You'll See in the Exam

CBQs come in three main formats. Each one tests a slightly different skill.

1. Case-Based / Source-Based Questions

These are the most common. Your child is given a short paragraph, a data table, a graph, or a real-world scenario — and then asked 4-5 questions based on it.

Example (Maths — Class 10):

A school wants to set up a class library. Section A has 32 students. Section B has 36 students. The librarian wants to distribute books equally among all students in either section.

Q1. What is the minimum number of books needed?
Q2. If the librarian buys 10 extra books, can they still distribute equally? Why or why not?

The concept being tested is LCM and HCF — standard Class 10 Maths. But instead of simply asking "Find the LCM of 32 and 36," the question wraps it in a real situation. Students who understand LCM solve this comfortably. Students who only memorised the steps often freeze at the word "library."

2. Assertion–Reason Questions

These are the ones that trip students up the most — and yet once you understand the pattern, they're actually very scoring. The question gives two statements: an Assertion (A) and a Reason (R). The student picks the correct logical relationship between them.

Example (Science — Class 10):

Assertion: When a gun is fired, the shooter experiences a backward push.
Reason: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

(Answer: a — Both are true and R correctly explains A)

This question is testing Newton's Third Law. But it's testing whether they truly understand why the recoil happens, not just whether they can write the definition in a box.

3. Application-Based MCQs

These are standard multiple-choice questions, but with a twist — they present a situation or problem rather than asking for a direct definition.

Example (Science):

Old Way: "Define photosynthesis."
CBQ Way: "A plant is kept in a dark room for 48 hours, then brought into sunlight. Which of the following will happen first: (a) photosynthesis, (b) transpiration, (c) starch formation, (d) none of the above?"

The Honest Reason Most Students Struggle

Here's something worth saying directly. Most students study by re-reading their notes, copying from the textbook, and reading the solved examples in the back of the chapter. These activities feel like studying. The hand is moving, the notebook is filling up. But this kind of studying builds recognition, not understanding.

Recognition means: "I've seen this before." Understanding means: "I know why this works."

CBQs test understanding. And you can't fake understanding on a board paper the way you could in the old format. This is why a student can revise for 4 hours and still score 55%. It's not about how much time they put in. It's about what they do with that time.

Is This Actually Good News? (Yes, It Is)

We know that framing a sudden grade drop as "good news" sounds tone-deaf. But give us a moment. The skills that CBQs build — reading a problem carefully, extracting relevant data, applying a concept to something new — are the exact skills that matter in every competitive exam after Class 10.

A student who genuinely learns to think in terms of application in Class 9 will find JEE Mains and NEET far less overwhelming in Class 11. They'll already know how to approach a question they haven't seen before. That's not a small advantage — in entrance exams, that's everything.

What Does This Mean for How You Prepare?

Three things matter most:

1. Understand the concept before practising questions. If your child doesn't know why the formula works, no amount of practice questions will help.
2. Solve problems without looking at solutions. The single most important habit shift. Close the book. Try the problem. Struggle with it. That struggle is not failure — it's the actual learning happening.
3. Practice case studies from official CBSE sample papers. Solving these regularly is non-negotiable for Class 9 and 10 students.

---

FAQ: CBSE Competency-Based Questions

Q: Are CBQs only in Science and Maths?
A: No. CBQs are across all subjects — Science, Maths, Social Science, English, and Hindi. The shift to application-based testing applies to the full paper.

Q: My child is in Class 8. Does this affect them already?
A: Not directly in terms of board exams — but yes, in terms of preparation. Class 8 concepts are the foundation for the CBQs your child will face in Class 10. It's better to address gaps now.

Q: My child's coaching class says they cover CBQs. Should that be enough?
A: It depends. If the teaching method is still based on drilling formulas and predicting question patterns, the underlying gap in conceptual understanding won't be fixed. Practice without understanding still produces inconsistent results.

Q: How do I know if my child understands a concept rather than just memorising it?
A: Ask them to explain it without their notes. "Tell me why the LCM of two numbers matters. Give me an example from real life." If they revert to textbook phrases they can't explain, the understanding isn't there yet.

The Bottom Line

The CBQ shift is not a sudden obstacle. It's CBSE finally testing what should have always been tested — whether students actually understand what they've studied. For students in Delhi and Gurugram, the good news is that the NCERT syllabus is the same. What's changed is the question format — and that's a skill that can absolutely be built.