ICSE 2025 English Language Specimen Papers Class 10: The ICSE Class 10 English Language (Paper 1) specimen paper and answer key are out to prepare for the 2025 board exams. This sample paper was released on the official website of the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), cisce.org, along with the marking scheme. As per the ICSE English Language sample paper 2024-25, the paper will be 80 marks and needs to be completed in two hours. 15 minutes will be given to read the question paper. There will be five questions with subparts. For more details and a free PDF download for ICSE Class 10 English (Paper 1), read this article.
ICSE Class 10 English Language 2025 Exam Guidelines
The general guidelines for ICSE Class 10 English Language (Paper 1) that you will find on the question paper will include the following:
- Maximum Marks: 80
- Time allowed: Two hours
- Answers to this Paper must be written on the paper provided separately.
- You will not be allowed to write during the first 15 minutes.
- This time is to be spent in reading the question paper.
- The time given at the head of this Paper is the time allowed for writing the answers.
- Attempt all five questions.
- The intended marks for questions or parts of questions are given in brackets [].
- You are advised to spend not more than 30 minutes in answering Question 1 and 20 minutes in answering Question 2.
- Instruction for the Supervising Examiner
- Kindly read aloud the Instructions given above to all the candidates present in the Examination Hall.
ICSE Class 10 English Language Sample Paper 2024-25
Question 1
(Do not spend more than 30 minutes on this question.)
Write a composition (300-350 words) on any one of the following:
(i) Write an original short story in which a woman, her strange neighbour and a police officer form the main characters.
Answer: The story must be original and must have at least three characters - the woman, her neighbour and the policeman. The 'strangeness of the neighbour must be qualified, the encounter described and the action that arises out of the encounter.
(ii) Your teacher has asked you to form a group and work on a particular project. Write an account of how you worked together and what each of you learned from the experience.
Answer: This is a first-person account and must be narrated from within the plausible experience of a Class X candidate. There must be a clear description of the work entailed, the way in which the students learned to work together, the take-away or lesson learned.
(iii) 'Peer pressure is a force for good.'
Express your views either for or against this statement.
Answer: Views either for or against are to be accepted. The candidate should take a clear stand and give valid reasons for whatever stand he/she takes. There should be a cohesive well-constructed logical argument and ideas based on logical reasoning and personal experience.
iv) Describe the locality in which you live. Give details of the things you see and hear as you walk around your locality. What do you especially like about the place?
Answer: Words of sight and sound must form the main body of this composition. Describe clearly the sights and sounds. Explain what about the locality appeals to you.
(v) Study the picture given below. Write a story or a description or an account of what it suggests to you. Your composition may be about the subject of the picture or you may take suggestions from it; however, there must be a clear connection between the picture and your composition.
Answer: A wide interpretation will be accepted. Any relevant ideas taken from the picture should be accepted. However, a mere itemization/listing/description of the picture is to be avoided.
Question 2
(Do not spend more than 20 minutes on this question.)
Select any one of the following:
(i) Your uncle was unable to attend your birthday celebrations but has sent you one thousand rupees as a gift. Write a letter thanking him, tell him how you will spend the money, and why you have made that particular choice.
Answer: Friendly/Informal letter
Format, Content, Expression are important.
Content
Thank your uncle you could use words like 'grateful', 'thoughtful' Describe how/on what you will spend the money at least two things
Explain why you chose the two how they will be useful, for example
(ii) The garbage bins in your locality have not been cleared regularly resulting in the overflow of garbage in the area. Write a letter to the Municipal Commissioner of your city/town, complaining about the problem. Offer suggestions for the removal of the garbage and cleaning up of the place.
Answer: Formal letter
Format, Content, Expression are important.
Content
Give details of problems caused
e.g. spread of germs, stench
Offer suggestions for removal/cleaning
e.g. regular inspections, garbage removal vans, closed vats etc.
Question 3
(i) Your school is hosting an Art and Craft exhibition. Write a notice informing the pupils at your school about the event.
Answer: Creative Titlee.g. Colour Palette, Mix and Mould
Event: Inter School Art and Craft Competition
Date: Accept single date for example ten days or fortnight away from the date
of writing
Time: e.g. 10.00 a.m. 3.00 p.m.
Venue: smaller place to larger e.g. Carnation Hall, St. Helen's School
Participate: All pupils who wish to register should give their names to the Vice Principal/etc on or before...
(ii) Write an e-mail to a local artist inviting him/her to inaugurate the exhibition and be the Chief Guest on the occasion.
Answer: E-mail-id
Subject
Salutation
Opening sentence
Closing sentence
Subscription
Expression - All details of the notice are to be included in the e-mail.
Question 4
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
One day I found the pond occupied by several buffaloes. Their keeper, a boy a little older than me, was swimming about in the middle. Instead of climbing out on the bank, he would pull himself up on the back of one of his buffaloes, stretch his naked brown body out on the animal's glistening hide, and start singing to himself.
When he saw me staring at him from across the pond, he smiled, showing gleaming white teeth in a dark face. He invited me to join him in a swim. I told him I couldn't swim, and he offered to teach me.
His name was Ramu, and he promised to give me swimming lessons every afternoon, and so it was during the afternoons - especially summer afternoons
when everyone was asleep that we usually met. Before long I was able to swim across the pond to sit with Ramu astride a contented buffalo.
Sometimes I would slip into the water. Emerging in shades of green and khaki, I would sneak into the house through the bathroom and bathe under the tap before getting into my clothes.
One afternoon Ramu and I found a small tortoise in the mud, sitting over a hole in which it had laid several eggs. I presented the tortoise to Grandfather. He had a weakness for tortoises, and was pleased with this addition to his menagerie, giving it a large tub of water all to itself, with an island of rocks in the middle. If one of the dogs bothered it too much, it would draw its head and legs into its shell and defy all its attempts at rough play.
Ramu came from a family of bonded labourers and had received no schooling. But he was well-versed in folklore and knew a great deal about birds and animals.
'Many birds are sacred,' said Ramu, as we watched a blue jay swoop down from a peepul tree and carry off a grasshopper.
Both Ramu and Grandfather were of the opinion that we should be more gentle with birds and animals and should not kill so many of them.
'It is also important that we respect them, said Grandfather. 'We must acknowledge their rights. Birds and animals are finding it more difficult to survive, because we are trying to destroy both them and their forests."
Ramu and I spent long summer afternoons at the pond. I still remember him with affection, though we never saw each other again after I left Dehra.
-Rusty, the Boy from the Hills, Ruskin Bond
(i) For each word given below choose the correct meaning (as used in the passage) from the options provided:
- hide (line 4)
(a) blanket
(b) fur
(c) undisclosed
(d) skin
Answer: (d) skin
- contented (line 12)
(a) cheerful
(b) lazy
(c) satisfied
(d) container
Answer: (c) satisfied
(ii) Which word in the passage is the opposite of 'easy'?
(a) sneak
(b) difficult
(c) labourer
(d) survive
Answer: (b) difficult
(iii) Answer the following questions briefly in your own words.
(a) What did Ramu like to do once he had climbed on the back of a buffalo?
Answer: He liked to stretch his naked brown body out on the animal's glistening hide/back, and start singing to himself
(b) What offer did Ramu make to the narrator?
Answer: He offered to teach the narrator to swim/ give him swimming lessons every afternoon
(c) Why do you think the narrator would bathe before entering the house?
Answer: c) any 2 reasons e.g to avoid being scolded for swimming/in the village pond/they swam when everyone was asleep - maybe the grownups would have been angry/they emerged in shades of green and khaki, so would have to sneak into the house through the bathroom and bathe under the tap to get clean first
(d) Who was the large tub of water for?
Answer: The tortoise/presented by the narrator to his grandfather
(e) How would the tortoise protect itself from the dogs?
Answer: It would draw its head and legs into its shell and defy all the dog's/dogs' attempts at rough play.
(iv) Despite the lack of schooling what did Ramu know? How, according to Ramu and Grandfather, should we treat birds and animals? Answer in not more than fifty words.
Answer: Points:
- Ramu was well-versed in folklore
- he knew a great deal about birds and animals
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To download this complete model specimen paper along with the answer key, click on the link below and download the PDF.
| Download ICSE Class 10 English Language (Paper 1) Specimen Paper 2024-25 PDF |
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