CBSE Class 10 Social Science Syllabus 2021(Updated), Marking Scheme, Map Work, Internal Assessment
CBSE has released rationalized syllabus for Class 10 Social Science. As per the latest changes made to the Exam Pattern, CBSE Class 10 Board Exams will be conducted across two terms with 50% syllabus being covered in each term. Class 10 Exam Pattern has been modified in accordance with the Covid-19 Pandemic to accomodate the lossof learning experienced by students.
CBSE Board Class 10th syllabus has five compulsory subject papers, which includes English, Maths, Social Science, Science and one language paper. Each subject carries 100 marks and a student requires a minimum 33% of marks to pass in the particular examination.
CBSE class 10th syllabus for session 2020-21 has been reduced by 30%. After the revision of the syllabus there are only four units in Social Science that have been retained. Every unit has a specific learning objective intended. The Syllabus and question paper of 10th grade Social Science subject are designed with various set of competencies with corresponding weightages in mind as follows:
- Understanding and Remembering- 35 percent out of 80 marks.
- Formulating, Evaluating, Investigating, and Creating- 40 percent out of 80 marks.
- Application (Problem Solving)- 17.5 percent out of 80 marks.
- Map Skill- 7.5 percent of 80 marks.
- Internal Assessment by Teachers- 20 percent out of 100 marks.
CBSE 10th Social Science Unit-wise Syllabus
The themes found in the 4 units of the subject are listed in the table below:
| Subject | Units | Themes |
|---|---|---|
| Social Science (CBSE 10th Grade) | India and the Contemporary World – II | Events and Processes - Nationalism in India; and The Rise of Nationalism in Europe |
| Everyday Life, Culture and Politics - Print Culture and the Modern World | ||
| Livelihoods, Economies and Societies - The Age of Industrialization; and The Making of a Global World | ||
| Democratic Politics - II | Power Sharing | |
| Democracy and Diversity | ||
| Popular Struggles and Movements | ||
| Democracy Outcomes | ||
| Federalism | ||
| Religion, Gender, and Caste | ||
| Political Parties | ||
| Democracy Challenges | ||
| Contemporary India – II | Resources and Development | |
| Water Resources | ||
| Minerals and Energy Resources | ||
| Life Lines of National Economy | ||
| Forest and Wildlife | ||
| Agriculture | ||
| Manufacturing Industries | ||
| Understanding Economic Development | Development | |
| Money and Credit | ||
| Consumer Rights | ||
| Sectors of the Indian Economy | ||
| Globalization and the Indian Economy |
CBSE 10th Social Science Theme-wise Syllabus
The Topics/subtopics found in the themes in the various units of the subjects are as follows:
| Themes | Topics/Subtopics | |
|---|---|---|
| Events and Processes | Nationalism in India | Towards Civil Disobedience |
| The First World War, Khilafat and Non - Cooperation | ||
| The Sense of Collective Belonging | ||
| Differing Strands within the Movement | ||
| The Rise of Nationalism in Europe | The Age of Revolutions: 1830-1848 | |
| The French Revolution and the Idea of the Nation | ||
| Visualizing the Nation | ||
| The Making of Nationalism in Europe | ||
| The Making of Germany and Italy | ||
| Nationalism and Imperialism | ||
| Everyday Life, Culture and Politics | Print Culture and the Modern World | The First Printed Books |
| The Print Revolution and its Impact | ||
| The Nineteenth Century | ||
| Religious Reform and Public Debates | ||
| Print and Censorship | ||
| Print Comes to Europe | ||
| The Reading Mania | ||
| India and the World of Print | ||
| New Forms of Publication | ||
| Livelihoods, Economies and Societies | The Age of Industrialization | The Peculiarities of Industrial Growth |
| Industrialization in the colonies | ||
| Before the Industrial Revolution | ||
| Market for Goods | ||
| Factories Come Up | ||
| Hand Labour and Steam Power | ||
| The Making of a Global World | The Inter war Economy | |
| The Pre-modern world | ||
| Rebuilding a World Economy: The Post-War Era | ||
| The Nineteenth Century (1815-1914) | ||
| Power Sharing | Why is power sharing desirable? | |
| Case Studies of Belgium and Sri Lanka | ||
| Forms of Power Sharing | ||
| Democracy and Diversity | Differences, similarities and divisions | |
| Case Studies of Mexico | ||
| Politics of social divisions | ||
| Popular Struggles and Movements | Mobilization and Organization | |
| Popular Struggles in Nepal and Bolivia | ||
| Pressure Groups and Movements | ||
| Democracy Outcomes | social diversity Accommodation | |
| Economic development and growth | ||
| How do we assess democracy’s outcomes? | ||
| Dignity and freedom of the citizens | ||
| Reduction of inequality and poverty | ||
| Accountable, responsive and legitimate government | ||
| Federalism | What is Federalism? | |
| How is Federalism practiced? | ||
| What makes India a Federal Country? | ||
| Decentralization in India | ||
| Religion, Gender, and Caste | Gender and Politics | |
| Caste and Politics | ||
| Communalism, Religion, and Politics | ||
| Political Parties | Why do we require Political Parties? | |
| National Political Parties | ||
| Challenges to Political Parties | ||
| How many Parties must we have? | ||
| State Parties | ||
| How can Parties be reformed? | ||
| Democracy Challenges | Thinking of the challenges | |
| Redefining democracy | ||
| Thinking of the Political Reforms | ||
| Resources and Development | Resources Development | |
| Resources Types | ||
| Soil Erosion and its Conservation | ||
| Soil as a Resource | ||
| Soils Classification | ||
| Resource Planning in India | ||
| Land Utilization | ||
| Land Resources | ||
| Land Degradation and Conservation Measures | ||
| Indian Land Use Pattern | ||
| Water Resources | Rainwater Harvesting | |
| Management of Integrated Water Resources and Multi-Purpose River Projects | ||
| Water Scarcity and The Need for Water Conservation and Management | ||
| Minerals and Energy Resources | What is mineral? | |
| Rock Minerals | ||
| Non-Metallic Minerals | ||
| Minerals occurrence Mode | ||
| Non-Ferrous and Ferrous Minerals | ||
| Minerals Conservation | ||
| Energy Resources | Energy Resources Conservation | |
| Non-Conventional and Conventional | ||
| Life Lines of National Economy | Transport | Roadways, Waterways, Railways, Airways, and Pipelines |
| Tourism as a Trade | ||
| International Trade | ||
| Communication | ||
| Forest and Wildlife | Biological Diversity or Biodiversity | |
| Indian Fauna and Flora | ||
| Vanishing of Forests | ||
| The Himalayan Yew in trouble | ||
| Asiatic Cheetah: Where does it went? | ||
| Project Tiger | ||
| Indian Wildlife and Forest Conservation | ||
| Conservation and Community | ||
| Wildlife and Forest resources distribution and its Types | ||
| Agriculture | Farming Types | |
| Major Crops | ||
| Cropping Pattern | ||
| Institutional and Technological Reforms | ||
| Globalization Impact on Agriculture Sector | ||
| Manufacturing Industries | Manufacturing Importance | |
| Location of Industries | ||
| Industries Classification | ||
| Industry Contribution towards Indian Economy | ||
| Spatial distribution | ||
| Environmental degradation and Industrial pollution | ||
| Controlling the Environmental Degradation | ||
| Development | What Development assures of - Varied people with diversified goals | |
| National Development | ||
| Income and other goals | ||
| Income and other criteria | ||
| How to distinguish between different states or countries? | ||
| Development Sustainability | ||
| Public Facilities | ||
| Money and Credit | Money as an exchange medium | |
| Modern money forms | ||
| Credit Terms | ||
| Two varied credit situations | ||
| Loan activities of Banks | ||
| Self Help Groups for the Poor | ||
| Indian Formal sector credit | ||
| Consumer Rights | - | |
| Sectors of the Indian Economy | Sectors of Economic Activities | |
| Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sectors in India | ||
| Comparison of three sectors | ||
| Sectors in terms of ownership: Private and Public Sectors | ||
| Sectors Division as unorganized and organized | ||
| Globalization and the Indian Economy | National Production | |
| Production Interlinking across countries | ||
| Markets Integration and Foreign Trade | ||
| What is globalization? | ||
| Factors contributing towards the Globalisation | ||
| Globalization Impact on the country | ||
| World Trade Organisation | ||
| Struggle towards a fair Globalisation | ||
Important Books for Social Science
Students are suggested to study NCERT books exclusively for the board exam. Apart from NCERT there are some reference books that can be studied for more practice. Some of the NCERT recommended books for CBSE 10th Social Science are given below:
| Books | Publisher |
|---|---|
| India and the Contemporary World-II | NCERT |
| Together Towards a Safer India - Part III, a textbook on Disaster Management | CBSE |
| Contemporary India II | NCERT |
| Understanding Economic Development | NCERT |
| Learning Outcomes at the Secondary Stage | NCERT |
| Democratic Politics II | NCERT |
CBSE 10th Social Science Syllabus: Topic-wise Weightage
The whole syllabus for CBSE 10th Social Science subject is divided into 4 units and the weightage for the same is tabulated below.
| Unit Name | Weightage of marks |
|---|---|
| India and the Contemporary World – II | 20 |
| Democratic Politics - II | 20 |
| Contemporary India – II | 20 |
| Understanding Economic Development | 20 |
| Total Marks* | 80* |
*Remaining 20 marks are allocated to internal assessment.
CBSE 10th Social Science Marking Scheme
All the marks awarded are indicated approximately since the accuracy and preciseness of the answer will only give you full marks in categories of questions. The Indicative Marking Scheme adopted in the CBSE 10th Social Science exams are tabulated below.
| Questions Type | Marks Allotted |
|---|---|
| Very Short Answer questions | +1 mark each correct answer |
| Short Answer Questions | +3 marks for each correct answer |
| Long Answer Questions | +5 marks for each correct answer |
| Map-based Questions | +1 mark for each correct answer |
CBSE 10th Social Science Project Work
Every student has to take up the project work compulsorily. The students have to pick any of the following theme for his/her project work:
- Consumer Awareness
- Sustainable Development
- Social Issues
This project work carries 5 marks with certain weightage being given to the following aspects of the work being carried out. The weightage of it are:
- Presentation and creativity- 2 marks
- Accuracy of the Content, Investigation, and originality – 2 marks
- Viva Voce- 1 mark
CBSE 10th Social Science Map Work
In the Map work section, the students need to answer 6 out of 8 or more questions to secure 6 marks. 2 questions from and 4 questions from Geography have to be answered. The skills of Locating, labelling, identifying the various places will be tested in this map work. The areas of questions in CBSE 10th Social Science exams are given below.
| Areas of Questions | |
|---|---|
| History | Geography |
| Nationalism in India | Water Resources |
| Resources and Development | - |
| Minerals and Energy Resources | |
| Agriculture | |
| Lifelines of National Economy | |
| Manufacturing Industries | |
Frequently Asked Questions
Ques. How much mark is assigned for internal assessment in Social Science?
Ans. A total of 20 marks are assigned for internal assessment out of the total marks of 100 getting marks allocated for CBSE 10th Social Science Subject. 80 marks for the subjective knowledge and 20 marks as internal totalling to 100 marks.
Ques. How Periodical Assessments are made when allocating marks to the students in the internal assessment for CBSE 10th Social Science Subject?
Ans. Marks for Periodical Assessments are allocated to the students with a pen paper-based test and miscellaneous multiple co-curricular activities.
Ques. From which sections, the questions for map works for CBSE 10th Social Science Subject are taken?
Ans. Sections like History and Geography are the areas of questions in the map work. Map works should be practiced by giving equal weightage to both History and Geography.
Ques. What is the weightage given for history and geography for the map works in CBSE 10th Social Science Subject?
Ans. Two from History and four from Geography will be asked in the exam for Map works found in the CBSE 10th Social Science.
Ques. Whether problem solving skills are tested in CBSE 10th Social Science exams?
Ans. Yes, there is a section allocated for ‘Applying’ in the CBSE 10th Social Science question paper design, wherein the student’s capability to solve the problems using his/her learning or knowledge will be tested.
Ques. How many marks are allocated to Project work carried out in CBSE 10th Social Science?
Ans. A total of 5 marks gets allocated after the student’s successful completion of the project works.
Ques. Are there any elective sections/ themes in the syllabus of CBSE 10th Social Science Subject?
Ans. Yes, some of the sections/ themes are declared to be Electives so that the students can choose their interest themes out of it suiting their own preference.
*The article might have information for the previous academic years, please refer the official website of the exam.