Most Class 10 students spend the bulk of their English preparation time on Literature — reading and re-reading First Flight and Footprints without Feet — while treating the Reading Comprehension section as something they'll "just handle on the day." This gets the priorities backwards. Reading is worth 20 full marks and tests skills that transfer directly from practice, with zero content to memorise. Literature is worth more (40 marks) but rewards familiarity, not memorisation either — and Writing and Grammar reward format precision as much as language ability.
This guide covers exactly where every mark comes from, why Reading deserves more preparation time than it typically gets, how grammar is actually tested (not the way most students assume), the specific writing formats CBSE expects, and a chapter-by-chapter guide to the Literature syllabus.
20 Marks Reading. 20 Marks Writing & Grammar. 40 Marks Literature.
Reading Comprehension
Unseen passages — discursive and case-based. Zero content to memorise.
Writing Skills & Grammar
Letter writing, paragraph writing, and grammar tested in context
Literature
First Flight (prose + poetry) and Footprints without Feet (supplementary reader)
The Reading section breaks down into two specific passages:
10 marks
Discursive Passage
400–450 words. Tests comprehension, interpretation, analysis, inference, evaluation, and vocabulary through MCQs and short answers (30–40 words).
10 marks
Case-Based Factual Passage
200–250 words, with a visual input — statistical data, a chart, or similar — that you interpret alongside the text.
Reading Is the Most Reliably Scorable Section — Here's Why Most Students Under-Invest In It
The core insight this guide is built around
Literature requires familiarity with specific prescribed texts. Writing requires format precision. But Reading is based entirely on passages provided fresh in the exam — there is nothing to have memorised in advance. A student who has genuinely practised comprehension strategy (skimming for structure, identifying keywords, distinguishing fact from opinion in a discursive passage) can perform consistently well on any unseen passage, regardless of topic. This makes Reading the highest-return section for the time invested — yet it's routinely the most neglected, because it doesn't feel like "content" to revise.
The practical fix: treat Reading as a skill to drill, not a section to leave until exam day. Practise timed, unseen passages weekly — both discursive and case-based-with-visual-data formats — rather than only practising Literature and Grammar and assuming Reading will "just work out."
Grammar Tests Application in Context — Not Rule Recitation
CBSE Class 10 grammar is assessed through Filling, Editing, and Transformation exercises embedded in a passage or sentence — not through isolated "define the past perfect tense" style questions. This distinction matters enormously for how you should practise.
❌ How most students practise grammar
Memorising grammar rules in isolation — reading a list of tense rules or modal usage without practising spotting errors in an actual sentence or passage.
✅ How the exam actually tests it
Given a passage or sentence with a grammatical error, you identify and correct it — or given a sentence, you transform it into a different structure (active to passive, direct to reported speech) while preserving meaning.
Core grammar topics: Tenses, Modals, Reported Speech, and Active-Passive Voice. Practise editing and transformation exercises specifically — recognising an error in context is a genuinely different skill from being able to recite the rule that governs it, and the exam only tests the former.
Writing Formats: Where Structure Compliance Is Worth as Much as Language
Writing tasks in Class 10 English are evaluated on format, content, and language expression as separate, weighted components — meaning a well-written letter in the wrong format loses marks independent of how well it's phrased. Know the exact expected structure for each format before the exam, not just the general idea of what to write.
| Format | What it requires |
|---|---|
| Formal Letter | Correct address format, subject line, formal salutation and closing — used for complaints, enquiries, requests, and applications |
| Informal Letter | Personal, conversational tone with correct informal address and closing conventions |
| Email Writing | Subject line, appropriate greeting, concise body, professional or personal closing depending on context |
| Paragraph / Analytical Writing | Clear topic sentence, supporting points, and a concluding line — within the specified word limit |
Literature: What's Actually in First Flight & Footprints Without Feet
Literature carries the highest weightage in the paper — 40 marks — covering both First Flight (the main reader, containing prose and poetry) and Footprints without Feet (the supplementary reader). Here's what each book covers:
First Flight
Main reader — prose and poetry
- A Letter to God
- Nelson Mandela — Long Walk to Freedom
- Two Stories about Flying
- From the Diary of Anne Frank
- Glimpses of India
- Mijbil the Otter
- Madam Rides the Bus
- The Sermon at Benares
- The Proposal (a play)
Footprints without Feet
Supplementary reader — 9 chapters
- A Triumph of Surgery
- The Thief's Story
- The Midnight Visitor
- A Question of Trust
- Footprints without Feet
- The Making of a Scientist
- The Necklace
- Bholi
- The Book that Saved the Earth
First Flight's poetry section (around 10 poems including titles such as Fire and Ice, A Tiger in the Zoo, The Ball Poem, Amanda!, The Trees, Fog, The Tale of Custard the Dragon, and For Anne Gregory) is confirmed across multiple sources, though exact chapter counts can vary slightly by edition — confirm your current textbook's full contents directly.
The answer structure that scores well: Long answers should open with a brief introduction directly addressing the question, followed by clear explanation supported by specific points and details from the chapter — avoid including plot details unrelated to the specific question asked. For character-based questions, focus on internal motivation — why a character behaves a certain way — rather than only summarising events. This is what "justify the statement" style higher-order questions specifically reward.
One English Score Hides Three Very Different Skill Gaps
An English test score of 66 out of 80 doesn't tell you whether the lost marks came from comprehension errors in Reading, format mistakes in Writing, or content gaps in Literature. Each requires a completely different fix.
What a Genelis weak area map looks like after an English mock test
Next session: formal letter format (34%) — not First Flight prose (already 82%). Genelis builds this map automatically and distinguishes comprehension errors from format errors.
Genelis is an AI-powered personalized learning platform built on Adaptive Personalized Intelligence. The Genelis learning system tracks your accuracy separately across Reading, Writing, Grammar, and Literature — distinguishing comprehension gaps from format errors and content gaps. Every wrong answer is logged to your wrong-question notebook and queued for reattempt.
Learn smarter. Practice deeper. Improve continuously.
Genelis combines Adaptive Personalized Intelligence, AI-generated notes, targeted practice, mock tests, analytics, and personalised revision to help students improve every study session.
Questions Students Commonly Ask
Quick answers to the most common questions related to this guide.
How are marks distributed in CBSE Class 10 English Language and Literature?
The 80-mark theory paper splits into three sections: Reading Comprehension (20 marks), Writing Skills and Grammar (20 marks), and Literature (40 marks), plus 20 marks of internal assessment for a 100-mark total. The Reading section itself divides into a discursive passage of 400-450 words (10 marks) and a case-based factual passage with visual input like statistical data or a chart, of 200-250 words (10 marks).
Which textbooks are prescribed for CBSE Class 10 English Literature?
CBSE prescribes two NCERT books for Class 10 Literature: First Flight, the main reader containing both prose and poetry, and Footprints without Feet, the supplementary reader containing short prose pieces. Footprints without Feet contains 9 chapters, well-corroborated across multiple sources. First Flight contains approximately 9 prose chapters and around 10 poems, though students should confirm the exact current chapter list against the official NCERT textbook, since minor syllabus deletions have applied to some editions.
Why is the Reading section considered the most scorable part of Class 10 English?
Unlike Literature, which requires familiarity with specific prescribed texts, and Writing, which requires format precision, the Reading section is based entirely on unseen passages provided in the exam itself. It tests comprehension, interpretation, analysis, inference, evaluation, and vocabulary — skills that transfer directly from consistent practice with any unseen passage, not memorised content. Because nothing needs to be recalled from memory, a student who has genuinely practised comprehension strategy can reliably score close to full marks here, making it one of the highest-return sections for preparation time invested.
How is grammar tested in CBSE Class 10 English, and how should I prepare for it?
CBSE Class 10 grammar is assessed through context-based Filling, Editing, and Transformation exercises rather than isolated rule-based questions — meaning you're tested on whether you can apply grammar correctly within a passage or sentence, not on reciting a grammar rule in the abstract. Core topics include Tenses, Modals, Reported Speech, and Active-Passive Voice. The most effective preparation is regular practice with editing and transformation exercises specifically, since recognising an error in context is a different skill from knowing the rule that governs it.
What is the best way to structure a long answer in Class 10 English Literature?
Long answers should begin with a brief introduction that directly addresses the question, followed by a clear explanation supported by specific points and details from the chapter, and should avoid including unrelated plot details not relevant to the question asked. For character-based questions, focusing on a character's internal motivation — why they behave a certain way — rather than only summarising what happens tends to score better on higher-order 'justify the statement' style questions.