CBSE case-based and source-based questions: a parent's decoder

If you have read our guide to CBSE HOTS questions, you know the board now tests thinking, not just memory. Case-based and source-based questions are where that shows most clearly. They are also the ones that surprise parents most.

One rule for both: use what is in front of you

Both formats work the same way. The answer must come from the case or source on the paper, joined to what your child has learnt. A correct chapter answer that ignores the situation given can still lose marks.

Case-based (Science, Maths, and in senior classes subjects like Economics)

A short situation, followed by linked questions. Here is the shape, simplified:

Case: A student puts a few raisins in a bowl of plain water and a few in a bowl of very salty water. After some hours, the raisins in plain water have swollen. The ones in salty water have not.

(i) Explain what happened in each bowl, using osmosis.
(ii) What is the one thing that is different between the two bowls?
(iii) Suggest one way to make the result more reliable.

Notice how the questions build. Part (ii) only makes sense once (i) is understood, and part (iii) asks your child to judge the experiment, not just describe it.

Source-based (History, Geography, Political Science)

A passage, cartoon, photo or map extract, followed by questions that ask your child to interpret it.

Source: A short newspaper report from 1930 describes crowds walking to the sea to make salt, against the law.

(i) Which movement does this report describe?
(ii) Why was salt a powerful choice of symbol?
(iii) Is a newspaper report a reliable source for a historian? Give one reason.

The trap here is writing everything your child remembers about the freedom struggle. The marks are for answering about this source.

The case or source is not decoration. It is the question.

What the marking schemes reward

CBSE publishes marking schemes with its sample papers on cbseacademic.nic.in. Read a couple and you will see a pattern. They usually reward:

• Using the information given, not a different example from memory.
• Naming the right idea: osmosis, demand and supply, a cause of an event.
• Reasoning: “because…”, not just “yes” or “no”.
• Method, especially in Maths, where steps can earn marks even if the final number is wrong.

They tend to lose marks for answers that ignore the case, paragraphs copied from the textbook, and linked parts answered as if they had nothing to do with each other.

Why chapter exercises don’t fully prepare them

• Textbook questions are direct. “Define osmosis” is not the same as “use osmosis to explain what happened to the raisins”.
• “Important questions” lists are often recall-heavy. They rarely include linked parts or unfamiliar situations.
• Children practise answering, not reading. Many mistakes are reading mistakes: the case was misread, so a different question got answered.
• Time pressure. Cases take longer to read. A rushing child skims the setup and treats it like a short answer.

A four-step method your child can learn

Teach it once. It works across subjects.

1. Read the case twice. First for the gist, then with a pencil: underline numbers, names and anything that looks like a clue.
2. Answer in order. The parts are linked, and (ii) often depends on (i).
3. Point back to the case. Starting with “In this experiment…” or “According to the source…” keeps the answer grounded.
4. Name the idea, then apply it. “This is about osmosis. Here, the water moved into the raisins because…” Two sentences, on target.

Practise at home: 15 minutes, once a week

• Use real sample papers. Download one from the CBSE academic site and pick one case block a week, not the whole paper.
• You read, they explain. Read the case aloud. Before your child writes anything, ask: “What is this really about?” If they can’t say it in one sentence, they’re not ready to answer yet.
• Check against the marking scheme. Look for the key ideas and reasoning steps, not identical wording.
• Swap roles. You write a deliberately vague answer that ignores the source. Your child marks it. They will quickly see what “ignoring the case” looks like.

One case a week for two months does more than ten cases crammed the night before a test.

Common slips, by subject

Science

• Mixing up what happened with why it happened.
• Forgetting which things were kept the same in an experiment.
• Drawing a diagram that doesn’t match the setup described.

Maths

• Reading the case like an English passage and missing the maths in it.
• Leaving out units or steps.
• Reaching for a formula from another chapter because it “looks similar”.

Social Science

• Writing everything about the topic instead of answering about the source.
• Missing details in a map or cartoon: labels, arrows, dates.
• Giving an opinion with no evidence from the passage.

In short

• Both formats test one skill: answering from the material given.
• Read twice, answer in order, point back to the case, name the idea.
• Practise one case a week with real sample papers.