The word ‘question’ immediately brings to mind some kind of enquiry, query or an answer usually solicited by a questioner through an interrogative sentence. It calls for a matter of debate, discussion, controversy, doubt, difficulty, and an act of inquiring or a challenge. It is a unit task in an examination, a problem, a tool of questioning or an instrument of testing. It seeks answers to the science of existence and being (ontology) and the science or theory of knowledge
(epistemology).
Higher – order questions requiring students to exercise higher mental processes would ultimately lead to higher – level thinking leading them to put questions of higher order thinking in return.
Every question unless constructed or formulated scientifically, keeping in view the desired content element and the intended competency to be developed or tested, cannot serve the purpose.
In teaching the purpose of a question could be to test the pre-requisite learning or to motivate the students. During instruction, purpose of a question could be to seek attention of pupils; develop, elaborate or clarify a concept; diagnose the students’ difficulties; judge the pupils’ learning; provide direction etc. At post-instructional stage a question may be used to review the lesson, reinforce concepts or evaluate the students’ achievements. Likewise in a test a question may be used to make judgment, diagnose difficulties and certify achievement.
The quality of question is determined by the relevance, clarity and wording of the question formulated by the questioner and the skill in questioning.
A good question helps in more sound judgements during assessment and, above all, in creating or generating dynamic interactions among students, teachers, peers, administrators, evaluators, parents and all others who are interested in or entrusted with the improvement of educational practices as well as performance standards.
Using questions is one of the most effective tools of measurement used for judging the impact of transaction of teaching learning process.
The Central Board of Secondary Education proposes to develop Multiple Choice Question Banks in different subjects in Class IX and Class X with the active involvement of school teachers with the objectives to

Create a wide variety of Multiple Choice Questions to test higher order objectives like application, analysis, synthesis revaluation.

Help them develop parallel questions for formative and summative assessment in their respective classrooms on different topics of the syllabus.
 Help them in diagnosing student’s learning difficulties and implement effective methods of teaching thus enriching the instructional process in schools.

Match to the curriculum that is taught and thus influence curriculum updation and development.


Impart training to teachers to develop as good test item writers.
A Question Bank is a systematic collection of a number of questions pooled through the cooperative efforts of teachers and vetted by the CBSE’s course team members and other experts for quality. It is expected that the questions will be used by the teachers, students and paper setters in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the teaching learning process. It is a utility service with an inbuilt feedback mechanism for improvement of its questions. Question banks if properly designed, developed and empirically validated by expert teachers can indeed be an excellent source of learning for learners.
Multiple Choice Questions are selection type items wherein students are given three or more possible answers and are asked to choose the correct or the best answer. What type of questions make up the bank depends entirely on the frame of reference as outlined below –
01.
They should be based on small points of content , called learning points and related to the different levels of mental processes from recall to comprehension and application.
02.
Questions in a Question Bank must offer a variety in terms of different attributes of assessment like recalling (minimum), understanding, applying, etc
03.
The stem of a multiple Choice Question should be meaningful, provide a definite problem, be stated simply and positively (avoid using negative words like never, no, except, etc).
04.
The alternatives should be plausible, brief, of approximately the same length, presented in logical order, and fit the stem in number (singular/plural) and grammatically. They should include only one correct or clearly best answer.
05.
The alternatives should not use “none of the above” and “all of the above” frequently.
“None of the above” is still preferable to “all of the above”. If a student knows that two of the alternatives are correct, s/he knows that “all of the above” is the correct answer. But for “none of the above”, each of the remaining responses will have to be analyzed to arrive at the correct answer.
06.
Each question should be supported by a scheme of marking along with the reasoning for both wrong and right answers to give a more reliable picture of the student’s performance.
07.
The difficulty level of the question depends on the difficulty level of the content and the intricacy of the thought process involved. So a question should be simple and direct in language but quality be controlled through factors such as depth of the content and level of mental process involved.
08.
The Questions sent to the Board will be vetted by the CBSE’s group of teachers. The
Sahodaya Schools Complexes may also organize a competition among the students on framing good and innovative questions for the Board.
09.
The Questions must accompany name, designation and the complete school address of the teacher.

Code Key
Each Question must have a supporting code key for easy identification and quick retrieval for use with the following components
1.
Class
2.
Subject
3.
Unit of the syllabus- learning point
4.
Specific learning Objective
 Recall: match, identify, list, etc
 Understanding: compare, distinguish, etc
 Applying: convert, construct, etc.
 Analyzing: transform, determine etc.
 Evaluating: defend argue, interpret, verify, test etc.
 Creating: arrange, organize, plan, predict etc.
 Synthesizing: Combine, Integrate
5.
Difficulty level
 A: High
 B: Average
 C: Easy
6.
Author
Subjects
Initially the Question Banks are proposed to be developed in following subjects:
Class IX and X
Sl no. Subjects
01.
Hindi Course ‘A’
02.
Hindi Course ‘B’
Code No.
(002)
(085)
03.
English-Communicative (101)
04.
English-Language and literature (184)
05.
Mathematics
06.
Science
07.
Social Science
(041)
(086)
(087)
Example:
If a particular question of high difficulty level by Savita Mehta is on data interpretation taken from Unit II of the Social Science syllabus of Class X, then its Code would be
Code X/087/II/ Data Interpretation/A/ Savita Mehta
Following format may be adopted by the teachers:
Question Bank in Social Science (Subject) Class X
Name and designation of the Teacher with complete school address.
Shri S. S. Rastogi………………………………………….
Retd Principal, Delhi Directorate of Education

Sl.
No.
1
Code
X/087/2
Lifelines
S. Rastogi
(Geography)- of national economy/Application/B/S.
Question
Which one of the following seaports is different from the other three with reference to its location? a) Mumbai b) Chennai c) Kochi d) Kolkata
IV. Examples of Good and Bad Multiple Choice Questions
English
Miss Menaxi Jain, A.E.O.
CBSE, Shiksha Sadan,
17, Institutional Area,
Rouse Avenue, Delhi 110002
Question Sl.
N o.
Code
1 X/101/Reading comprehension
/B/Menaxi Jain
Long-haul Flights get longer
Long haul flights have just got longer, with a non-stop flight from Singapore to New York now in operation.
But 18 hours in the air creates its own challenges. A lot of preparation goes into the ultra long haul flight. The aircraft is specifically designed for the journey with more space and extensive entertainment services. The flight crew is also specially trained.
The seasoned traveler is also more aware of the health risks associated with a flight that covers as much as 16,600 kilometers in distance.
Exposure to lower oxygen levels for up to 18, maybe 20 hours is abnormal for the human body. With deep thrombosis (DVT) the problem really stars occurring after 12 hours (in flight).
Question 1: Read the passage given and answer the questions that follow: a)Why are longer flights potentially harmful to passengers and crew?
Because- isn’t as much oxygen in the air.
Expected answer and the
Marking Scheme including reasoning
(d) Because Kolkata is an inland riverine port.
Mumbai is the largest port
(size), Chennai as the oldest artificial port (type) and Kochi is the southernmost seaport (but
Kolkata is the northern most port also) so a), b), c) cannot be the correct seaport in terms of location.
Expected answer and the
Marking Scheme including reasoning
(a) as t he passage specifically mentions ‘ Exposure to lower oxygen levels …… is abnormal for the human body ’. The student will have to read

1
2 X/101/Reading comprehension
/B/Menaxi Jain
Which of these preparations is not made while planning an ultra long haul flight? a)More spaciously designed aircraft b) Specially trained flight crew. c) The traveler is given more training for a long haul flight.
Hindi
Al Hilal Ahmed
Assistant Education Officer
CBSE, Shiksha Sadan, 17, Institutional Area,
Rouse Avenue, Delhi 110002
S
No.
Code Question
X/002/ knowledge/B/Al
Hilal Ahmed b) Long period of sitting still creates uneasiness in the passengers. c) Long periods of inactivity will damage their bones.
2 X/002/ knowledge
/B/Al Hilal Ahmed
critically and weigh his options before selecting the appropriate answer.
This is a good multiple choice question as it gives plausible sounding alternatives which are supposed to be clearly wrong but might sound right to most of the students.
Answer: ©
As the passage includes preparations mentioned in the remaining three options. This question is not a good MCQ as

Negative has been used in the stem of the question.

The answer is obvious and the other options are not good distracters.
Expected answer and the
Marking Scheme including reasoning

1
1
2
Mathematics
Smt. S. Das
Education Officer
CBSE, Shiksha Sadan, 17, Institutional Area,
Rouse Avenue, Delhi 110002
Sl.
No.
Code Question
X/041/1(Decimal representation of Real
Numbers)/B/S. Das
X/041/3/Trigonometric identity)/B/S.Das
The decimal representation of 93/1500 will be a) terminating b) non-terminating c) non- terminatingrepeating d) non-terminating-nonrepeating
The equation 6 sin
²
ө- 5 sinө+1=0 is satisfied by a) b) c) d) ө= π/2 ө=
π/3 ө= π/4 ө=
π/6
Expected answer and the
Marking Scheme including reasoning
Answer is (a) as the factors of denominator are 2 and 5. This is a good MCQ as it is testing the concept of the students. The distracters are good.
Answer is (d). The reason being that the solution has to be in the first quadrant. For first quadrant, the ө satisfies the value π/6 for this equation.
This is not a good MCQ as it does not test the concept. The student has to calculate and arrive at the answer.
Science
Shri R. P. Sharma,
Consultant,
CBSE, Shiksha Sadan, 17, Institutional Area,
Rouse Avenue, Delhi 110002
No. Code Question
X/086/Light/Interpretation/
A/R.P.Sharma
The figure shows positions of object O and its diminished image I.
Expected answer and the Marking
Scheme including reasoning
Answer is (b) as the image formed by a convex mirror is always smaller than

2 IX/086/Work and
Energy/Application/
B/R.P.Sharma
Q.
No.
1
Social Science
Shri S. S. Rastogi,
Retd. Principal,
Delhi Directorate of Education
Code
X/087/2 (Geography) -
Lifelines of national economy/Application/B/S.
S. Rastogi the object, on the other side of the mirror and it’s virtual.
This is a good MCQ because it involves
This is possible only if a) b) c)
O
I.
I
Principal Axis application of the concept, ‘image formation by mirrors a convex mirror is placed to the right of I. a convex lens is placed to the right of I. and lenses’. It requires a student to choose distracters from which have the potential of d) a concave lens is placed between O and I. being selected as the correct answer
Certain force acting on a body of mass 2 kg. increases its velocity from 6m/s to 15 m/s in 2 S.
The work done by the force during this interval is a) b) c) d)
27 J
54 J
94.5 J
189 J
Answer is (d) as force= mass x acceleration
Acceleration or
= change in velocity / time.
This question cannot be termed as a good
MCQ because it involves a student to directly apply the above formulas mentioned without application of any reasoning.
Question
Which one of the following seaports is different from the other three with reference to its location? a) Mumbai b) Chennai c)Kochi
Expected answer and the Marking
Scheme including reasoning
Answer: (d) because Kolkata is an inland riverine port. The distracters are good as the student may be tempted to give Mumbai as the largest port, Chennai as the oldest artificial port and Kochi as the southernmost seaport. But the correct answer is only one i.e., (d).

2
X/087/2 (Geography)-
Lifelines of national economy/Application/B/S.
S. Rastogi d)Kolkata
Kanniyakumari is the southern most terminus of which one of the following highways? a) Golden Quadrilateral b) North-South
Corridor c) East-West Corridor d) National Highway 7
Answer: This is not a good MCQ as there is no clear cut answer. Both (b) and (d) are national highways with
Kanniyakumari as the southern most terminus. By changing highways to
Superhighways in the stem of the question, the answer becomes clear cut (b).
1.
Questions in complete form should be emailed to the Board by 17 th September 2009 at the following addresses to

Education Officer (Languages) at sadhanap.cbse@nic.in
for

 Hindi Course ‘A’
Hindi Course ‘B’

English-Communicative

English-Language and literature
(002)
(085)
(101)
(184)
 Education Officer (Science) at eoscience@live.com
for

Science

Mathematics
(086)
(041)

Education Officer (Commerce) at sugandh57@hotmail.com
for

Social Science, (087)
2.
Questions may also be sent by post addressed to the respective Education Officers with the envelope bearing the superscript:
QUESTION BANK IN ……………….. (NAME OF THE SUBJECT)
At the following address :
Education Officer….
Central Board of Secondary Education
Shiksha Sadan,
17, Rouse Avenue,
New Delhi- 110002.
3.
Questions can also be directly uploaded on the CBSE’s website at the URL http://www.cbserod.net.in/mcq/profile.asp

The Board will suitably recognize the efforts of the teachers. The Process of developing
Question Bank is a continuous process with inbuilt feedback mechanism for improvement.
The Board wishes to have continued support of its teachers in trying out the questions and sending their feedback to the Board so that further improvements can be carried out in the questions.

Application / Applying
Application objective refers to solution of problem that are new or unfamiliar to students, involving novel situations. If one asks a question on ‘write applications of conduction in daily life’, it is not an application question but the one that demands only ‘knowledge of applications’. Application, according to Harper, involves: (a) Identification of the problem to be solved for which (b) the student must infer or select the correct generalization; to be used
(c) apply the correct method of process and arrive at a solution. Since no subclassification of application objective is given in the taxonomy, one can write application items of many patterns. However, following the Harper’s pattern, the exemplars given below would serve the purpose for framing questions’:
(1) The following question consists of an Assertion and a Reason.
Assertion
If a fresh water species of
Amoeba is transferred to sea water and get adapted it looses its contractile vacuoles .
Reason
Because the concentration of cell sap of Amoeba is lower than the concentra- tion of salt water of the sea.
A, if assertion is correct and reason is a correct explanation of the assertion.
B, if assertion is correct but reason is not the correct explanation of the assertion.
C,
D, if assertion is true but the reason is not a true statement. if assertion is false but the reason is not a true statement.
E, if both assertion and reason are true statements.
(2) If a potted plant is shifted from the open place to a dark room, which of the following organelles would probably stop functioning?
A. Ribosomes B. Chloroplasts
C. Cell membrane D. Mitochondria
(3) In which of the following cases the price of eggs is likely to rise?
(from Harper)
A.
Chicken lay less eggs and people want less eggs.

B.
People want more eggs and chicken lay less.
C.
Chicken lay more eggs and people want less.
D.
People want more eggs and chicken lay more.
(4) In which of the following situations the mustard seeds are likely to germinate, temperature remaining the same between 20 to 30˚ C:
A.
When the seeds are sown deep in the soil.
B.
When seeds are scattered on soil.
C.
When immediately after sowing there is heavy rainfall.
D.
When seeds are sown where temperature is below 10˚ C.
Analysis / Analyzing
In a question on analysis it is necessary that, like the application questions, the situation used for testing is novel or unfamiliar. Analysis according to Bloom’s Taxonomy emphasis: breakdown of material into constituent parts, detection of relationship of the parts and the way they are organized. Therefore, the question that is to be framed on analysis would be: (a) analysis of elements, (b) analysis of relationships, and (c) analysis of organizational principles.
Sample question on each is given below. a) Analysis of Elements
1.
When sliced potatoes were put in plain water, they became turgid but when placed in salt water they became limp (shrunk). The pupil concluded that it was due to endosmosis in the first case and exosmosis in the second case. This inference could be considered correct only when we assume that concentration of the cell sap in potato is:
A.
more than that of plain water and salt water.
B.
less than that of plain water and salt water.
C.
more than that of plain water but less than that of salt water.
D.
less than that of plain water but more than of salt water. b) Analysis of Relationships
I.
On examining a cell under electronic microscope, a number of vacuoles and mitochondria, as well as cell membrane and nucleus were observed by a student, who identified it as a plant cell. Before arriving at this conclusion, he should have looked for another organelle concerned with the ability to:
A.
respire
B.
secrete
C.
reproduce
D.
photosynthesis
II.
Read the given poem by the author and say whether the poem is essentially a:
A.
protest
B.
propaganda
C.
prayer
D.
message

I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,
When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore –
When he beats his bars and would be free;
It is not a carol of joy or glee;
But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core,
But a plea, that upward to Heaven, he flings—
I know why the caged bird sings !
c) Analysis of Organisational Principles
I.
Same quality seeds were sown in pot A and pot B having the same sample of soil. Student P noticed that seeds did not germinate in pot A. Student Q thought it could be due to deep sowing of seeds in pot A thereby depriving oxygen for respiration of growing embryo. Another student, R, said it could be correct provided both pots were having the same quantity of water in the soil sample used. Students said that seeds do not germinate if all the three conditions air, water and suitable temperature are not met. From these observation, answer:
A.
Which student’s statement is a hypothesis? (Q)
B.
Which student’s statements is a conclusion? (S)
C.
Which student’s statement is a fact? (P)
D.
Which student’s statement is an assumption? (R)
Synthesis / Creating
This category refers to putting together of elements and parts through combination or recombination in more or less integrated whole. The abilities constituting synthesis are given below. a) Production of a plan or proposed set of operation
It is said that in aquatic plants transpiration takes place through upper surface of the leaf. Which of the following procedures would be most suited to test this hypothesis?
Smear a few leaves with vaseline on their :
A.
upper surface and observe if they rot.
B.
lower surface and observe if they rot.
C.
both surface and observe if they rot.
D.
neither surface and observe if they rot. b) Derivation of a set of abstract relations
To test the hypothesis that chlorophyll is necessary for photosynthesis, a variegated leaf was immersed in boiling water and then kept in hot spirit. After washing, when iodine test was applied, it did not show the presence of starch. The most probable inference that can be drawn from this observation is that the leaf used was:
A.
previously exposed to sunlight.
B.
previously kept in dark for some days.

C.
variegated and not totally green.
D.
decolourised by treating with hot spirit.
Evaluation / Evaluating
Evaluation is the last and the highest category in the hierarchy of objectives. It refers to judgement making. Judgement involves values, use of definite criteria as well as standards.
Criteria could be internal or external and these can be determined by the candidates themselves or given to them explicitly for making judgement. Accordingly, two types of judgement are possible, i.e. judgements in terms of internal evidence or judgements in terms of external criteria. a.
Judgements in terms of internal evidences
Some enzymes are functional in acidic medium, whereas others in alkaline medium; this is why pepsin is functional in stomach because it has alkaline juices. In this statement about pepsin:
A.
inference is correct but reasoning is incorrect.
B.
inference is incorrect but reasoning is correct.
C.
inference as well as reasoning are correct.
D.
neither inference nor reasoning is correct. b) A swelling appears just above the cut in a dicot stem when ringed. Which of the following statements is consistent with the biological phenomenon:
A.
Xylem is cut away in ringing, which prevents translocation of food from leaves to roots.
B.
Xylem is cut away and food to leaves from other parts is checked.
C.
Phloem is cut away, which prevents translocation of food from the leaves to other parts.
D.
Phloem is cut away in ringing, which obstructs the upward movement of food.