ICSE · Class 10 · 2026–27
ICSE Class 10, 2026–27 the board year
Your child sits the ICSE examination in 2027. Here is what CISCE has published, what it has not yet published, and how to prepare for questions that ask your child to think, not recite.
Class 10 is the ICSE board year. Students in Class 10 in 2026–27 sit the ICSE examination in 2027, which closes the two-year course they began in Class 9. CISCE has published its list of prescribed books for 2027, including the Acts of Julius Caesar studied in Class 10. When we checked on 2 October 2026 the timetable was not out, and we had not confirmed from a CISCE document what share of the 2027 papers will ask for application and analysis. What we can say plainly: learning last year's answers is not enough when a question puts a familiar idea in an unfamiliar setting.
Board years invite panic. This page tries to replace it with a short list of facts and a plan that works whatever the final paper looks like.
Class 10 at a glance
- Board exam
- ICSE 2027, at the end of Class 10
- Prescribed books
- CISCE's ICSE 2027 list (Appendix I)
- Share of application questions
- Not yet confirmed from a CISCE document for 2027
Checked on 2 October 2026 against CISCE's own documents.
What this year asks
These are the CISCE documents behind the board year. We list only what we read on cisce.org.
CISCE's list of prescribed books for ICSE 2027 sets the English literature texts: for example, Acts I and II of Julius Caesar in Class 9 and Acts III to V in Class 10.
In CISCE's current ICSE regulations, Group I and II subjects are 80% external examination and 20% internal assessment; Group III subjects are 50% each.
ICSE Regulations for Examination Year 2028 (CISCE, January 2026)
Under the same regulations, a candidate who is "Not Qualified" may take an Improvement Examination in up to three subjects.
ICSE Regulations for Examination Year 2028 (CISCE, January 2026)
Subjects in the ICSE 2027 examination
Your child continues the subjects chosen in Class 9.
English (Group I)
Prescribed literature for 2027, plus unseen passages and composition under time.
A second language (Group I)
Two years of work examined in one paper, so steady revision matters.
History, Civics and Geography (Group I)
Long answers, map work and source questions in one compulsory subject.
Mathematics (Group II)
Two years of topics in one paper, where each step of the working is marked.
Science: Physics, Chemistry, Biology (Group II)
Numerical problems, diagrams and reasons, with practical work in internal assessment.
Other Group II choices
Economics, Commercial Studies, a modern foreign or classical language, or Environmental Science.
Group III
Computer Applications, Economic or Commercial Applications, Art, Performing Arts and others, half internal.
SUPW and Community Service
Compulsory, assessed in school, and needed to complete the ICSE.
What the questions will ask
ICSE board papers mix short questions, which check recall and understanding, with longer ones that ask your child to calculate, explain a cause or argue a point. Reports say CISCE is raising the share of competency questions, the ones that put an idea to work in a new setting. We have not read the 2027 figure on cisce.org, so we give no percentage; when CISCE's specimen papers for your exam year are in hand, count how many questions could not be answered from memory alone.
Internal assessment is already under way in most subjects. In Group III it is half the result, so finishing projects on time is part of exam preparation, not a distraction from it.
One topic, six kinds of question GST on a bill
One piece of money maths, Goods and Services Tax, asked six ways.
Remember
What does GST stand for?
Understand
Explain how GST is shared between the Centre and the State on a sale within one state.
Apply
A jacket is priced at ₹2,000 and GST is 12%. Find the amount the customer pays.
Analyse
Shop A sells a phone for ₹15,000 including GST. Shop B charges ₹13,500 plus 12% GST. Which is cheaper, and by how much?
Evaluate
A friend says a 10% discount taken before GST costs the buyer the same as one taken after GST. Is she right? Show why.
Create
Make a bill for a school-fair stall selling three items at different GST rates, showing the tax on each line.
Ideas this year rests on
Board-year revision goes faster when these Class 9 and earlier ideas are secure.
- Percentages and successive percentage changes.
- Simultaneous linear equations and factorisation.
- Balancing a chemical equation and the mole idea from Class 9 Chemistry.
- Forces, work and energy from Class 9 Physics.
- Writing an answer that states a point, explains it and gives an example.
How SelfEnabler practises this
Past papers show what was asked; they do not show whether your child can handle a new version. A SelfEnabler check starts with recall and climbs to using the idea and finding the pattern, so revision targets the kind of question your child cannot yet do.
Notes are built from your child's own mistakes, the most important gap first, and can be kept for revision. AI Guru explains a topic again from the approved lesson material when a doubt turns up late in the evening. If your child cannot get started on a topic, a person steps in.
See how a lesson works
For parents: what to watch this year
Past papers learned by heart
Sign: your child recognises a question instead of solving it. Action: change the numbers or the setting and ask again; real understanding survives the change.
Internal work left late
Sign: projects and practical files pile up near the exam. Action: put every internal deadline on one calendar now.
Revision that is only rereading
Sign: notes are read again and again. Action: close the book, ask for the idea in your child's own words, then check against the notes.
Questions parents ask about ICSE Class 10
Is the ICSE Class 10 syllabus for 2026–27 out?
CISCE publishes a syllabus for each examination year. For the 2027 examination we read its list of prescribed books on cisce.org; check each subject's syllabus there rather than on unofficial sites.
When is the ICSE 2027 exam?
CISCE had not published the 2027 timetable when we checked on 2 October 2026. We will add the dates when it does.
What happens if my child does not qualify?
CISCE's current regulations let a candidate who is "Not Qualified" take an Improvement Examination in up to three subjects. Ask your school for the rules that apply in 2027.
How much of the 2027 paper is competency-based?
We have not confirmed a figure from a CISCE document, so we do not quote one. Whatever the share, practising questions that apply an idea is the safest preparation.
Will the 2027 papers be hard?
No one can say in advance. Papers feel hardest to students who learned answers instead of ideas, so build understanding first and speed second.
More from ICSE and ISC
Prepare for ICSE 2027 with a clear plan
Book a free demo and see which kinds of question your child is ready for.