Competency-Based Questions in CBSE Boards: What They Are and How to Score

Competency-based questions (CBQs) are now a significant and growing part of CBSE board papers for both Class 10 and Class 12. Unlike simple recall questions, CBQs test your ability to apply concepts to a new scenario, analyse a passage or data set, and draw conclusions.

CBSE Academic publishes competency-based practice question sets for many subjects on cbseacademic.nic.in — for example in Biology and English Core for Class 12. These are free to download and directly reflect the question style used in SQPs and board papers.

The most effective preparation is practising with official SQPs and the specific CBQ resource sets, paying close attention to the Marking Scheme to understand what an acceptable answer looks like.