Geography question insights
What 11 years of ICSE Class 10 Geography papers actually asked — by chapter, question length, type, difficulty and diagrams. Every figure is computed from the 971 questions in this bank.
These are descriptive statistics of past papers, not predictions. A chapter appearing often historically does not guarantee it will appear again.
Which chapters carry the most weight
A prominence index combining how many papers a chapter appeared in and its share of total marks.
Chapter prominence index (0–100)
- Map Study: Interpretation of Topographical Maps95/100Appeared in 91% of papers (10/11) · 12.7% of all marks (150) · 110 Qs
- Mineral and Energy Resources83/100Appeared in 91% of papers (10/11) · 9.0% of all marks (106) · 92 Qs
- Soil Resources82/100Appeared in 91% of papers (10/11) · 8.6% of all marks (102) · 92 Qs
- Climate82/100Appeared in 91% of papers (10/11) · 8.6% of all marks (102) · 90 Qs
- Maps of India81/100Appeared in 91% of papers (10/11) · 8.5% of all marks (100) · 100 Qs
- Water Resources81/100Appeared in 91% of papers (10/11) · 8.6% of all marks (101) · 81 Qs
- Natural Vegetation81/100Appeared in 91% of papers (10/11) · 8.6% of all marks (101) · 78 Qs
- Transport79/100Appeared in 91% of papers (10/11) · 7.8% of all marks (92) · 62 Qs
- Agriculture in India—II74/100Appeared in 91% of papers (10/11) · 6.2% of all marks (73) · 68 Qs
- Waste Management—II72/100Appeared in 91% of papers (10/11) · 5.4% of all marks (64) · 52 Qs
- Manufacturing Industries: Mineral-based71/100Appeared in 91% of papers (10/11) · 5.3% of all marks (63) · 56 Qs
- Manufacturing Industries: Agro-based71/100Appeared in 91% of papers (10/11) · 5.3% of all marks (62) · 43 Qs
Index = 60% appearance frequency + 40% marks share, across all available papers. Historical, not predictive.
Map Study: Interpretation of Topographical Maps leads: it appears in 91% of papers (10 of 11) and carries 12.7% of all marks (150) across 110 questions.
Most questions asked
Share of all questions, by chapter.
- Map Study: Interpretation of Topographical Maps11%110 Qs
- Maps of India10%100 Qs
- Mineral and Energy Resources9.5%92 Qs
- Soil Resources9.5%92 Qs
- Climate9.3%90 Qs
- Water Resources8.3%81 Qs
- Natural Vegetation8.0%78 Qs
- Agriculture in India—II7.0%68 Qs
- Transport6.4%62 Qs
- Manufacturing Industries: Mineral-based5.8%56 Qs
Percentages are of the full 971-question bank.
Most marks asked
Share of total marks, by chapter.
- Map Study: Interpretation of Topographical Maps13%150 marks
- Mineral and Energy Resources9.0%106 marks
- Soil Resources8.6%102 marks
- Climate8.6%102 marks
- Water Resources8.6%101 marks
- Natural Vegetation8.6%101 marks
- Maps of India8.5%100 marks
- Transport7.8%92 marks
- Agriculture in India—II6.2%73 marks
- Waste Management—II5.4%64 marks
Percentages are of the 1,180 marks across all papers.
Short vs long questions
Short = less than 2 marks (recall / one-liners). Long = 2 marks or more (explanations, diagrams, reasoning).
Overall split
- Short (<2 marks)779(80%)
- Long (≥2 marks)192(20%)
Short vs long by chapter
How each chapter's questions divide between short and long.
- Short (<2 marks)
- Long (≥2 marks)
- Map Study: Interpretation of Topographical Maps64% short (70) · 36% long (40)
- Maps of India100% short (100) · 0% long (0)
- Mineral and Energy Resources87% short (80) · 13% long (12)
- Soil Resources90% short (83) · 10% long (9)
- Climate88% short (79) · 12% long (11)
- Water Resources78% short (63) · 22% long (18)
- Natural Vegetation74% short (58) · 26% long (20)
- Agriculture in India—II93% short (63) · 7% long (5)
- Transport60% short (37) · 40% long (25)
- Manufacturing Industries: Mineral-based88% short (49) · 13% long (7)
- Waste Management—II81% short (42) · 19% long (10)
- Manufacturing Industries: Agro-based56% short (24) · 44% long (19)
Most short-answer-heavy chapters
Best for quick recall and one-mark practice.
- Maps of India100%100/100100 of 100 are short (under 2 marks)
- Agriculture in India—II93%63/6863 of 68 are short (under 2 marks)
- Soil Resources90%83/9283 of 92 are short (under 2 marks)
- Climate88%79/9079 of 90 are short (under 2 marks)
- Manufacturing Industries: Mineral-based88%49/5649 of 56 are short (under 2 marks)
Most long-answer-heavy chapters
Where higher-mark, explanation-type questions cluster.
- Manufacturing Industries: Agro-based44%19/4319 of 43 are long (≥2 marks)
- Transport40%25/6225 of 62 are long (≥2 marks)
- Agriculture in India—I38%9/249 of 24 are long (≥2 marks)
- Map Study: Interpretation of Topographical Maps36%40/11040 of 110 are long (≥2 marks)
- Waste Management—I30%7/237 of 23 are long (≥2 marks)
How questions are framed
Question types
Share of all questions, by format.
- Short answer54%528
- Reasoning23%221
- Diagram10%101
- MCQ8.2%80
- Numerical2.2%21
- Difference2.1%20
By marks
Share of all questions, by weight.
- 1 mark80%777
- 1.5 marks0.2%2
- 2 marks18%176
- 3 marks1.6%16
By difficulty
Share of all questions, by rating.
- Easy97%943
- Moderate2.9%28
Diagram load
Chapters where diagram-based questions are most concentrated.
Most diagram-heavy chapters
Share of the chapter's questions that include a diagram.
Year-by-year trends
Shown as a share of each paper, so years stay comparable even though 2021 and 2022 used the reduced semester format with fewer questions.
Short-answer share by year
Percentage of the paper's questions worth less than 2 marks.
Diagram share by year
Percentage of the paper's questions that include a diagram.
Chapter coverage by year
How many questions each chapter contributed to each paper. Darker = more questions.
Chapter × year heatmap
| Chapter | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture in India—I | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | |
| Agriculture in India—II | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 7 | |
| Climate | 9 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |
| Manufacturing Industries: Agro-based | 7 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 4 | |
| Manufacturing Industries: Mineral-based | 9 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 5 | |
| Map Study: Interpretation of Topographical Maps | 10 | 10 | 11 | 15 | 16 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |
| Maps of India | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | |
| Mineral and Energy Resources | 9 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 10 | |
| Natural Vegetation | 8 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 10 | |
| Soil Resources | 8 | 6 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 11 | |
| Transport | 2 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 9 | |
| Waste Management—I | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ||
| Waste Management—II | 3 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 5 | |
| Water Resources | 7 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 10 |
Most frequently tested topics
Recurring topics across chapters.