CBSE Class 12 History Question Papers - Free

Class 12 History Marks Distribution
Units	Marks
Themes in Indian History Part-I(Units 1 – 4)	24
Unit 1: The Story of the First Cities: Harappan Archaeology
Unit 2: Political and Economic History: How Inscriptions tell a story
Unit 3: Social Histories: using the Mahabharata
Unit 4: A History of Buddhism: Sanchi Stupa
Themes in Indian History Part-II (Units 5 – 9)	25
Unit 5: Medieval Society through Travellers’ Accounts
Unit 6: Religious Histories: The Bhakti-Sufi Tradition
Unit 7: New Architecture: Hampi
Unit 8: Agrarian Relations: The Ain-i-Akbari
Unit 9: The Mughal Court: Reconstructing Histories through Chronicles
Themes in Indian History Part-III (Units 10 – 15)	25
Unit 10: Colonialism and Rural Society: Evidence from Official Reports
Unit 11: Representations of 1857
Unit 12: Colonialism and Indian Towns: Town Plans and Municipal Reports
Unit 13: Mahatma Gandhi through Contemporary Eyes
Unit 14: Partition through Oral Sources
Unit 15: The Making of the Constitution
Map Work	6
Total	80
Project work (Internal Assessment)	20
Total	100

CBSE Class 12 History Syllabus : Course Content

PART – I

BRICKS, BEADS AND BONES The Harappan Civilization:Broad overview: Early urb an centers

• Story of discovery: Harappan civilization
• Excerpt: Archaeological report on a major site
• Discussion: How it has been utilized by archaeologists/ historians

KINGS, FARMERS AND TOWNS: Early States and Economies (c. 600 BCE-600 CE)Broad overview: Political and economic History from the Mauryan to the Gupta period

• Story of discovery: Inscriptions and the Decipherment of the script. Shifts in the Understanding of political and economic history.
• Excerpt: Ashokan inscription and Gupta period land grant
• Discussion: Interpretation of inscriptions by historians.

KINSHIP, CASTE AND CLASS Early Society Societies (C. 600 BCE-600 CE)

• Social Histories: Using the Mahabharata Issues in social history, inclu ding caste, class, kinship and gender
• Story of discovery: Transmission and publications of the Mahabha rat
• Excerpt: from the Mahabharata, illustrating how it has been used by historians.
• Discussion: Other sources for reconstructing social history.

THINKERS, BELIEFS AND BUILDINGS Cultural Developments (c. 600 BCE – 600 CE)Broad overview: A History of Buddhism: Sanchi Stupa

• A brief review of religious histories of Vedic religion, Jainism, Vaishnavism, Shaivism (Puranic Hinduism)
• Focus on Buddhism.
• Story of discovery: Sanchi stupa.
• Excerpt: Reproduction of sculptures from Sanchi.
• Discussion: Ways in which sculpture has been interpreted by historians, other sources for reconstructing the history of Buddhism.

PART-II

THROUGH THE EYES OF TRAVELLERS Perceptions of Society (c. tenth to seventeenth century)Broad Overview: Outlines of social and cultural life as they appear in traveller’s account.

• Story of their writings: A discussion of where they travelled, what they wrote and for whom they wrote.
• Excerpts: from Al Biruni, Ibn Battuta, Francois Bernier.
• Discussion: What these travel accounts can tell us and how they have been interpreted by historians.

BHAKTI –SUFI TRADITIONS: Changes in Religious Beliefs and Devotional Texts (c. eighth to eighteenth centuries)Broad overview: Outline of religious developments during this period saints.

• Ideas and practices of the Bhakti-Sufi
• Story of Transmission: How Bhakti-Sufi compositions have been preserved.
• Excerpt: Extracts from selected Bhakti-Sufi works.
• Discussion: Ways in which these have been interpreted by historians.

AN IMPERIAL CAPITAL: VIJAYANAGARA (c. fourteenth to sixteenth centuries)Broad Over View: New Architecture: Hampi

• Outline of new buildings during Vijayanagar period-temples, forts, irrigation facilities.
• Relationship between architecture and the political system
• Story of Discovery: Account of how Hampi was found.
• Excerpt: Visuals of buildings at Hampi
• Discussion: Ways in which historians have analyzed and interpreted these structures.

PEASANTS, ZAMINDARS AND THE STATE: Agrarian Society and the Mughal Empire (c. sixteenth-seventeenth centuries)Broad overview: The Aini-Akbari

• Structure of agrarian relations in the 16th and 17th centuries.
• Patterns of change over the period.
• Story of Discovery: Account of the compilation and translation of Ain I Akbari
• Excerpt: from the Ain-iAkbari.
• Discussion: Ways in which historians have used texts to reconstruct history.

PART-III

COLONIALISM AND THE COUNTRYSIDE: Exploring Official ArchivesBroad overview: Colonialism and Rural Society: Evidence from Official Reports

• Life of zamindars, peasants and artisans in the late18thcentury
• Permanent Settlement, Santhals and Paharias
• Story of official records: An account of why official Investigations into rural societies were undertaken and the types of records and reports produced.
• Excerpts: From Fifth Report
• Discussion: What the official records tell and do not tell, and how they have been used by historians.

REBELS AND THE RAJ: 1857 Revolt and its RepresentationsBroad overview: The events of 1857-58.

• Vision of Unity
• How these events were recorded and narrated.
• Focus: Lucknow
• Excerpts: Pictures of 1857. Extracts from contemporary accounts.
• Discussion: How the pictures of 1857 shaped British opinion of what had happened.

MAHATMA GANDHI AND THE NATIONALIST MOVEMENT: Civil Disobedience and BeyondBroad overview: The Nationalist Movement 1918 -48.

• The nature of Gandhian politics and leadership.
• Focus: Mahatma Gandhi and the three movements and his last days as “finest hours”
• Excerpts: Reports from English and Indian language newspapers and other contemporary writings.
• Discussion: How newspapers can be a source of history

FRAMING THE CONSTITUTION: The Beginning of a New EraBroad overview: The Making of the Constitution an overview:

• Independence and then new nation state.
• The making of the Constitution
• Focus: The Constituent Assembly Debates
• Excerpts: from the debates
• Discussion: What such debates reveal and how they can be analyzed. 

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In order to access the level of preparation done by any particular student he or she needs to solve Previous Year Question Papers. These papers act as perfect tools to practise for the final board exam. If one wants to get a clear look and feel of how final exam papers are framed in terms of level of difficulty, time and other aspects then , all students must make sure that they attempt these papers once their course revision is finished. Few benefits of solving Previous Question Papers are given below:

• Revising the subject is very good practice but until and unless one Solves the past question papers in the lookalike environment as in board exam or final class room exam, there is most likely that student may not be able to identify and check whether the understanding of all concepts of the subject are complete or not. It is only after students attempt the question paper in the same time frame he or she is able to judge the capability of solving the paper in the stipulated time frame. It highlights the weak areas if any and gives students ample amount of time to work on those areas and be better prepared before exams.
• Knowing everything is great but it is of no use unless the implementation and results are not matching with that. There is always a risk of the case in which in spite of knowing everything a student falls short of time to complete the entire question paper and thus loses marks. Generally CBSE Board papers and previous year questions are generally of 3 hour duration. So while practicing such papers it is imperative to create a final exam or board like environment at home and ensure that the Question paper is attempted only in 3 hours and then check whether it was possible to complete the paper in the desired amount of time. Often at first students take longer than expected, and thus they get early warning to practice more and increase the speed.
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