The board year
Class 10 is the biggest class at Qlive: about 475 Class 10 students have learned with us, more than any other year. Most are CBSE students in India and the Gulf, and almost all of them want the same thing from the year: finish the syllabus properly, then practise enough that the board paper feels familiar.
Since 2026, CBSE holds two Class 10 board exams. The main exam, from mid-February, is compulsory. An optional second exam in May lets a student improve up to three of science, maths, social science and languages, and the better of the two marks counts. Our guide to the two board exams explains the rules and the planning. In short, we plan for February and treat May as a safety net.
Where the marks are
Maths and science each have an 80-mark theory paper, and not every chapter carries the same weight. In Maths Standard, algebra (polynomials, linear equations in two variables, quadratic equations and arithmetic progressions) carries 20 marks, geometry (triangles and circles) 15, trigonometry 12, statistics and probability 11, mensuration 10, and real numbers and coordinate geometry 6 each.
In science, chemical substances (reactions, acids and salts, metals and non-metals, carbon compounds) and the world of living (life processes, control and coordination, reproduction, heredity) carry 25 marks each. Effects of current carries 13, natural phenomena (light and the human eye) 12, and our environment 5. Single chapters such as Metals and Non-metals at 10 marks, and Life Processes and Light at 9 each, deserve real time.
Teachers use these weights to decide where extra practice goes, and the month-by-month preparation plan shows how the year usually runs.
Where Class 10 students lose marks
- Trigonometry and its applications, often because ratios were memorised rather than understood. See trigonometry basics.
- Quadratic equations, when factorisation from earlier classes is shaky. See factorising quadratics.
- Chemical equations, unbalanced or with wrong formulae. See balancing chemical equations.
- Electricity numericals and ray diagrams in light.
- Answer presentation. Right content, missing steps or units, and marks lost.
- Time in the exam hall, with the last section rushed. See time management in the exam hall.
How one-to-one classes run through the year
Classes are usually 60 minutes, live on Google Meet, with the learning in Qlive Space, and recorded so your child can rewatch a chapter before a test. Until about December, most time goes on finishing chapters in the school’s order. From January, around pre-boards, the balance moves to sample papers and timed answers, with the teacher marking line by line.
For CBSE Class 10 maths and science, term exams built from the chapters already covered are included at no extra cost. Worksheets and a checkpoint every two to three weeks come through Qlive Pulse, so you can see which chapters are secure as the exam approaches. Your Student Success Partner can arrange extra classes before pre-boards or the main exam.
If you only need certain chapters
The Grade 10 crash course is for CBSE Class 10 students who need help with particular chapters rather than a full year of classes. You pick chapters of maths or science, see the number of sessions and the fee, and book one-to-one sessions of 1.5 hours at ₹500 + GST each, with 5% off from 15 sessions, 8% from 25 and 12% from 50.
Other boards
ICSE students sit their Class 10 exams at the end of the two-year ICSE course, and Kerala students sit the SSLC. We teach both, along with other state boards. For families in British schools, Class 10 lines up roughly with Year 11 and GCSE.
Start with a free assessment
The free assessment, guided live by a Qlive counsellor, shows which Class 10 chapters are secure and which need work, so the months before the board exam go where the marks are.
