CBSE Class 10 Science

Pre-Board Sample Paper 2024-25

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS:
1. This question paper consists of 39 questions in 5 sections.
2. All questions are compulsory. However, an internal choice is provided in some questions. A
student is expected to attempt only one of these questions.
3. Section A consists of 20 objective type questions carrying 1 mark each.
4. Section B consists of 6 Very Short questions carrying 02 marks each. Answers to these
questions should be in the range of 30 to 50 words.
5. Section C consists of 7 Short Answer type questions carrying 03 marks each. Answers to
these questions should be in the range of 50 to 80 words.
6. Section D consists of 3 Long Answer type questions carrying 05 marks each. Answer to these
questions should be in the range of 80 to 120 words.
7. Section E consists of 3 source-based/case-based units of assessment of 04 marks each with
sub-parts.

Section-A (1 mark each)

1. Pb + CuCl2→ PbCl2+ Cu
The above reaction is an example of:
(a) Combination
(b) Decomposition
(c) double displacement
(d) displacement

Ans. (d) displacement

2. The image shows the pH values of four solutions on a pH scale.

Identify the solutions that are alkaline in nature?

(a) A and B
(b) B and C
(c) C and D
(d) A and D

Ans. (c) C and D

3. Identify the non-metal which is lustrous.

(a) Sulphur
(b) Oxygen
(c) Nitrogen
(d) Iodine
Ans. (d) Iodine

4. The complete oxidation of ethanol gives

(a) Acetic acid/ethanoic acid
(b) CO2 and water
(c) Ethanal
(d) Acetone/Ethanone

Ans. (b) CO2 and water

5. The image shows the bread moulds on a bread. How do these fungi obtain nutrition?

(a) by eating the bread on which it is growing

(b) by using nutrients from the bread to prepare their own food
(c) by breaking down the nutrients of bread and then absorbing them
(d) by allowing other organisms to grow on the bread and then consuming them

Ans. (c) by breaking down the nutrients of bread and then absorbing them

6. Sodium hydrogen carbonate when added to acetic acid evolves a gas. Which of the
following statements are true about the gas evolved?
(i) It turns lime water milky.
(ii) It extinguishes a burning splinter.
(iii) It dissolves in a solution of sodium hydroxide.
(iv) It has a pungent odour.
a. (i) & (ii)
b. (i) & (iv)
c. (i), (ii) & (iii)
d. All of these.

Ans. c. (i), (ii) & (iii)

7. Identify unsaturated compounds from the following:

i. Propane
ii. Propene
iii. Propyne
iv. Chloropropane
a. i & ii
b. ii & iii
c. iii & iv
d. i & iv

Ans.(b) ii & iii

8. A student setup an experiment to study the human respiratory system. In the

experiment, the student places a lighted candle and a living cockroach in flask A, while a
lighted candle and a dead cockroach in flask B. The burning of candle needs oxygen.

After 10 minutes, the student observes that the candle in flask A extinguishes faster while
candle in flask B keeps burning for a longer time. What can be evaluated from this experiment?
(a) candle produces high amount of carbon dioxide
(b) living beings consumes oxygen during respiration
(c) burning of candle decreases the lifespan of cockroach
(d) water vapours produced by living beings prevents burning of candle

Ans. (b) living beings consumes oxygen during respiration

9. Choose the correct route of oxygenated blood in the body starting from its
oxygenation:
(a) Lungs -- pulmonary vein -- left atrium --left ventricle—aorta-- body cells
(b) Lungs -- pulmonary vein --right atrium -- right ventricle – aorta– body cells
(c) Lungs-- pulmonary artery – left atrium --left ventricle – vena cava - -body cells
(d) Lungs-- pulmonary artery--right atrium -- right ventricle-- vena cava - body cells

Ans. (a) Lungs -- pulmonary vein -- left atrium --left ventricle—aorta-- body cells

10. In peas, a pure tall plant (TT) is crossed with a pure short plant (tt). The ratio of pure
tall plants to pure short plants in F2 generation will be:
(a) 1:3
(b) 3:1
(c) 1:1
(d) 2:1

Ans. (c) 1:1

11. In the given figure, identify “3” and its function.

(a) It is a sensory neuron that carries the message from the receptor to the CNS
(b) It is a motor neuron that carries the message from the receptor to the CNS
(c) It is a sensory neuron that carries the message from the CNS to the effector
(d) It is a motor neuron that carries the message from the CNS to the effector

Ans. (a) It is a sensory neuron that carries the message from the receptor to the CNS
12. The least distance of distinct vision for a young adult with normal vision is about
(a) 25m
(b) 2.5cm
(c) 25cm
(d) 2.5m

Ans. (a) 25m

13. Inside the magnet, the field lines move—

(a) from north to south
(b) from south to north
(c) away from south pole
(d) away from north pole

Ans. (b) from south to north

14. Every food chain in the ecosystem begins with.......... which is the original source of
food.
(a) Saprophytes
(b) Parasites
(c) Producers
(d) Herbivores

Ans. (c) Producers

15. At the time of short circuit, the current in the circuit

(a) Reduces substantially
(b) Does not change
(c) Increases heavily
(d) Vary continuously

Ans. (c) Increases heavily

16. A metallic wire of resistance 12Ω is bent to form a square. The resistance between
two diagonal points would be
(a) 12 Ω
(b) 24 Ω
(c) 6 Ω
(d) 3Ω

Ans. (d) 3Ω

Question No. 17 to 20 consist of two statements – Assertion (A) and Reason (R). Answer
these questions selecting the appropriate option given below:
(a) Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A.
(b) Both A and R are true, and R is not the correct explanation of A.
(c) A is true but R is false.
(d) A is false but R is true.

17. Assertion (A) : When HCl is added to zinc granules, a chemical reaction occurs.
Reason (R) : Evolution of a gas and change in colour indicate that the chemical reaction is
taking place.

Ans. (a) Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A.

18. Assertion(A) : Variations are seen in offspring produced by sexual reproduction.

Reason (R) : DNA molecule generated by replication is not exactly identical to original DNA.

Ans. (a) Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A.

19. Assertion (A): When pea plants (pureline) having round yellow seeds are crossed with
pureline plants having wrinkled green seeds, then all pea plants obtained in F, generation bear
wrinkled green seeds.
Reason (R): Round and yellow seeds are dominant to wrinkled and green seeds.

Ans. (d) A is false but R is true.

20. Assertion (A): Accumulation of harmful chemicals is higher in case of organisms at higher
trophic level.
Reason (R): Food chain normally can’t reduce beyond 3 or 4 trophic level.

Ans. (b) Both A and R are true, and R is not the correct explanation of A.

Section-B (2 marks each)

21. Write two differences between real and virtual image.

Ans.

22. Why red colour is selected for danger signal lights?

Or
Give reason-The sky appears dark instead of blue to an astronaut.
Ans. Wavelength of red colour is more and so, it is least scattered. It can be easily seen through
a large distance.
Or
The sky appears dark to the astronaut as scattering does not take place at very high altitude
due to the absence of atmosphere.

23. Consider the following food chain which occurs in a forest:

Grass → Deer → Lion If 10000 J of solar energy is available to the grass, how much
energy would be available to the deer to transfer it to the lion?
Or
Give an example to illustrate that indiscriminate use of pesticides may result in the
degradation of the environment.

Ans. According to ten percent law, 10% of the energy of producer will be available to primary
consumer, and 10% of this energy will be available to secondary consumer and so on. Hence,
100 J of energy will be available to the secondary consumer to transfer it to tertiary consumer.
Or
Pesticides are the chemicals used to kill plant and animal pests. They are non-biodegradable
and toxicants. For example, excessive use of DDT resulted in reduced population of fish-eating
birds. DDT accumulated in such birds through the food chain. It interfered with the egg shell
formation. The shell being thin broke due to weight of the bird during incubation. Hence, their
population declined.

24. Even when we are not doing any apparent activity, we need energy. Justify giving
reason.

Ans. A lot of metabolic activity is continuously occurring even when we are not doing any work,
e.g., heartbeat, breathing, digestion, absorption, blood circulation, etc. All of them require
energy.

25. Recycling is considered as a welcome practice to deal with the environmental

problems. Justify the statement with two arguments?

Ans. Recycling is treatment of waste material so as to make it suitable for reuse, e.g., metallic
articles, broken glass, paper, etc. There will be reduced use of resources. There will be little
pollution from these wastes as they are picked up for recycling as soon, they are produced.

26. What is ozone? How does it protect the organisms on the earth?

Ans. Ozone is triatomic form of oxygen, O3. It forms a protective ozone layer in the
stratosphere. Ozone layer absorbs the very harmful component of ultraviolet radiations (100 –
320 nm) and thus protect the organisms on the earth.

Section-C (3 marks each)

27. What happens when an aqueous solution of sodium sulphate reacts with an aqueous
solution of barium chloride ? State the physical conditions of reactants in which the
reaction between them will not take place. Write the balanced chemical equation for the
reaction and name the type of reaction.

Ans. A white precipitate of barium sulphate is immediately formed when the two aqueous
solutions are mixed in a test tube. No reaction will be possible if the two reactants are in the
solid state. The balanced chemical equation for the double displacement reaction is:

28. A ray of light is incident obliquely on a glass slab. Draw a ray diagram showing the
path of the light ray. Clearly, mark angle of incidence, angle of refraction, angle of
emergence and lateral displacement of the ray. Give a formula to find the refractive index
of glass slab in terms of angle of incidence and angle of refraction.

Ans. When a ray passes from optical rarer to denser

medium, it bends towards the normal and vice versa.
<i = angle of incidence
<r = angle of refraction
<e = angle of emergence
d = lateral displacement.
n= sini
----------
Sinr

29. What do you mean by double circulation of blood ? Why is it necessary ?

OR
What are stomata ? Draw a labelled diagram of stomata. Write any two functions of
stomata.
Ans. Double circulation is the passage of same blood twice through heart, first from right side to
lungs and back to left side for passage to rest of the body to be returned to right side. It consists
of two components, pulmonary circulation (from heart to lungs and back) and systemic
circulation (from heart to different parts of body and back). In pulmonary circulation
deoxygenated blood is converted into oxygenated blood. In systemic circulation oxygenated
blood is supplied to all parts of the body. It gets changed into deoxygenated form.

(b) Importance. Double circulation ensures supply of oxygenated blood to all body parts for
efficient release of energy to ensure higher physical activity and thermoregulation of body. It
also provides for direct passage of all deoxygenated blood to lungs for oxygenation.
Or

(a) Stomata. They are pores regulated by two chloroplast containing guard cells that occur in
the epidermis of leaves and young stems for exchange of gases and transpiration.

(b)

(c) Functions of Stomata

Exchange of gases
Transpiration.

30. Take 3 g of barium hydroxide in a test tube, now add about 2 g of ammonium chloride
and mix the contents with the help of a glass rod. Now touch the test tube from outside.
(i) What do you feel on touching the test tube?
(ii) State the inference about the type of reaction occurred.
(iii) Write the balanced chemical equation of the reaction involved.

Ans. (i) When barium hydroxide is added into ammonium chloride, the bottom of test tube is
found to be cooler.
(ii) It is an endothermic reaction.

31. Rohan joined the gym and after the first day exercise he felt pain and cramps in
muscles. Explain the cause of cramps after excessive physical exercise.

Ans. During excessive physical exercise, aerobic respiration produces energy in our muscles.
Anaerobic respiration provides muscles with some extra energy required under excessive
physical activity. Glucose is broken down into lactic acid due to anaerobic respiration. The
accumulation of lactic acid causes muscle cramps.

32. What is overloading? State the causes of overloading.

Ans. If more electrical appliances of high-power rating like electric iron box, electric cooker,
electric heater, air conditioner etc., are switched on at the same time, they draw an extremely
large current from the circuit is called overloading.

33. State in brief two ways in which nonbiodegradable substances would affect the
environment. List two methods of safe disposal of the nonbiodegradable waste.

Ans. Effects on Environment:

Dumping Area: Dumping of non-biodegradable substances on a piece of land converts the

same into barren land. It is also called landscape pollution.
Biological Magnification: Pesticides, heavy metals and other chemicals enter water and food
chains. They accumulate in toxic proportions and harm all kinds of living organisms. Their
concentration also increases with rise in trophic level. Human beings are harmed the most
because man lies at the top of every food chain.
Safe Disposal:
Recycling: Metal, plastic and glass articles can be sent for recycling,
Sanitary Landfills: The nonrecyclable articles are dumped in specially prepared low-lying area,
compacted and covered by a layer of earth, lime and bleaching powder.

Section-D (5 marks each)

34. (i) What is a homologous series? Explain with an example.

(ii) What will be the formula and electron dot structure for cyclopentane?
Or
(i) Compound x is reacting with y and give compound z which is sweet in smell. Identify
the x, y and z and name the reaction.

(ii) Identify the mechanism showing in the following diagram and explain the steps.

Ans. (i) A sequence of compounds with the same functional group substitutes for hydrogen in a
carbon chain is called homologous series. The difference between the formulae of any two
successive members is −CH2 and the difference between the molecular formula is 14 u.
(ii) Formula of cyclopentane is C5H10.
Or
(i) x= Alcohol, y=Ethanoic acid, z=Ester and Reaction= Esterification
(ii) The reaction is soapification. Soaps are sodium or potassium salt of fatty acids. Soap
molecules have two ends. One end is hydrophilic and another end is hydrophobic. Two
molecular ends behave differently. This ionic end is hydrophilic and is oriented towards the
water. The other hydrocarbon end is hydrophobic and is oriented towards dirt which is oily in
nature. A micelle formation around the oily dirt takes place. The cleaning of clothes etc takes
place when flushed with excess water; the micelle containing the dirt is removed.

35. AB and CD, two spherical mirrors, from parts of a hollow spherical ball with its centre
at O as shown in the diagram. If arc AB = 12 arc CD, find out the ratio of their focal
lengths? State which of the two mirrors will always form virtual image of an object placed
in front of it and why?

Or
Draw ray diagrams for the following cases when a ray of light:
(i) passing through center of curvature of a concave mirror is incident on it.
(ii) Parallel to principal axis is incident on convex mirror.

Ans. Focal length of a mirror is given by

Focal length = radius of curvature/2
Since both the mirrors have same radius of curvature, therefore focal length of the two mirrors
will be same, i.e. F1/F2=1
Since virtual image is always formed by convex mirror. The mirror AB will always form virtual
image.
Or
(i) Ray of light passing through center of curvature of concave mirror, after reflection

(ii) Ray of light parallel to the principal axis is incident on a convex mirror after reflection appear
to diverge from the principal focus of a convex mirror.

36. a. The figure below shows three cylindrical copper conductors along with their face
areas and lengths. Which of the conductors will have the highest resistance and why?

b. There are two resistors R1 and R2 having resistance equal to 20Ω and 30Ω
respectively are connected in parallel in an electric circuit. If the potential difference
across the electric circuit is 5 V, find the electric current flowing through the circuit and
the total resistance of the resistors.

Ans. The conductor with the longest length and smallest cross sectional area will have the
highest resistance.
R1=20Ω
R2=30Ω
Potential difference across the resistors: V=5V
1/Rtotal=1/R1+1/R2
1/Rtotal=1/20+1/30
1/Rtotal=3/60+2/60=5/60
Rtotal=60/5=12Ω
I=V/Rtotal
I=5/12A≈0.417A

SECTION - E (4 marks each)

37. All metals do not react with oxygen with the same speed. Different metals show
different reactivity towards oxygen. For example, potassium and sodium react so
vigorously that they catch fire even if kept in the open air.They are therefore kept under
kerosene or paraffin oil. Metal oxides are solids. They are basic in nature. Metal oxide
being basic, turns red litmus to
blue. The metal oxides such as Aluminium oxide, Zinc oxide etc show both acidic as well
as basic behaviour.
i. Name two metals that react violently with cold water.
ii. An element X forms an oxide X2 O3 which is basic in nature. What type of element is
X?
iii. What happens to the red litmus when it is treated with the solution of ash obtained
after burning magnesium ribbon in air?
iv. Name the gas evolved during the reaction in question no.1.

Ans. i. Sodium and Potassium

ii. As element X forms an oxide which is basic in nature, element X is a metal.
iii. The ash obtained after burning magnesium ribbon in air is magnesium oxide which is basic in
nature. So it turns red litmus blue.
iv. Hydrogen

38. Observe the given line diagram of electric circuit and answer the following questions.

1. What is the total resistance of R1 and R2 only.

(a) 10/3Ω
(b) 3/10Ω
(a) 15Ω
(b) 2Ω
2. What will be total resistance if all the resistance readjust to joint in a series form.
(a) 15Ω
(b) 12Ω
(a) 17Ω
(b) 25Ω
3. Calculate the total resistance of the circuit if resistance R1 and R3 exchanged to each
other.
Or
Calculate the total resistance of the circuit if resistance R2 and R3 exchanged to each
other.

Ans. 1. (a) 10/3Ω

2. (b) 25Ω
3. Calculate the resistance after put the value R1=10Ω and R3=5Ω. The calculated answer is
10Ω.
Or
Calculate the resistance after put the value R2=10Ω and R3=10Ω. The calculated answer is
25/3Ω.

39. The following diagram explains the CO2 gas required for photosynthesis in plant.
Answer the following questions.

1. Which leaf will show black purple colour when reacting with iodine solution.
(a) Leaf A
(b) Leaf B
(c) Leaf A and B both
(d) None of Leaf A and B

2. Presence of KOH results into the absence of which gas

(a) CO2
(b) O2
(c) NO2
(d) SO2

3. Leaf B turned pale yellow soon after the experiment start. Give the reason.

Ans. 1. (a) Leaf A

2. (a) CO2
3. In absence of CO2 the leaf cannot perform photosynthesis and the chlorophyll start to decay
and the leaf turned into pale yellow.