CBSE releases official Sample Question Papers and marking schemes every academic year for Class 10 and Class 12 board exams, and they are the single best predictor of exam pattern, difficulty, and mark distribution — more reliable than any third-party guess paper. Here is how to find and use the official 2026-27 set correctly.
Where to Download the Official 2026-27 CBSE Sample Papers
CBSE publishes sample papers directly through its academic portal, not through any third-party site. The two official sources are:
- cbseacademic.nic.in — the primary source for sample question papers and marking schemes, subject-wise.
- cbse.gov.in/cbsenew/samplepaper.html — the official CBSE portal’s sample paper index.
Sample Papers by Subject
Class 10: Maths (Standard & Basic), Science, Social Science, English (Language & Literature / Communicative), Hindi (Course A & B), Sanskrit, and other electives — all published subject-wise on the official portal.
Class 12: covers all three streams — Science (Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Computer Science), Commerce (Accountancy, Business Studies, Economics), and Humanities (History, Political Science, Geography, Sociology, Psychology) — each with its own official sample paper and marking scheme.
If you’re looking for official CBSE practice material for Class 6-9 (or extra Class 10 practice beyond the board SQPs), see our CBSE Competency-Based Practice Questions (Class 6-10) page — official CBSE/DIKSHA resources, not board sample papers, but genuinely useful practice material.
Note: CBSE only issues formal board-pattern Sample Question Papers for Class 10 and Class 12, since these are the actual board exam years. Class 6–9 and Class 11 don’t have an official CBSE-issued sample paper (any “sample papers” you find online for those classes are unofficial, third-party-made practice sets, not CBSE originals) — which is also why we only cover Class 10 and 12 here rather than claim coverage we can’t verify against a real official source.
More Official CBSE Resources
- CBSE Question Bank for Class X — an additional official practice resource distinct from the sample papers above.
- Sample Question Paper Archive — official Class 10 & 12 sample papers going back to 2014-15, useful for practicing with multiple years’ patterns.
- Previous Years’ Question Papers — the actual papers used in past board exams (different from sample papers, which preview the pattern in advance).
We deliberately do not re-host or reproduce CBSE’s sample papers ourselves — download counts and exact papers change as CBSE updates them mid-year, so linking directly to the source is the only way to guarantee you always get the current version rather than a stale copy.
How to Use Sample Papers Effectively
Sample papers are most useful when combined with your NCERT textbook, not as a replacement for it:
- Finish the relevant NCERT chapter first (find your book on our Class 10 or Class 12 hub), then attempt the matching sample paper section under timed conditions.
- Always check your answers against the official marking scheme (published alongside the sample paper) — CBSE examiners award marks for specific steps, not just the final answer, especially in Maths and Science.
- Use sample papers to identify weak chapters, then go back to the full NCERT chapter (not just the sample question) to fix the underlying gap.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are CBSE sample papers different from previous years’ question papers?
Yes. Sample papers are released in advance by CBSE to preview that year’s exam pattern and typical question types, while previous years’ papers are the actual papers already used in past exams. Both are useful, but the sample paper reflects the current syllabus and pattern most closely.
Do sample papers cover the full syllabus?
Generally yes for the exam pattern, but always cross-check the official syllabus and your NCERT textbook’s full chapter list to make sure no topic is skipped just because it wasn’t in that year’s sample paper.
