Subject Profile — Hindi Course A (Code 002)

Note on Course B: CBSE also offers Hindi Course B (Code 085) as an alternative, generally regarded as a comparatively less advanced literature/language paper (different prescribed books — Sparsh and Sanchayan). This handbook section is scoped only to Course A as requested; do not mix textbooks/rules across the two courses.

Technical caveat carried forward: The source curriculum/SQP/MS PDFs were extracted through a non-standard font/glyph encoding. Even in UTF-8 extraction, some Devanagari conjuncts systematically substitute characters (e.g., मात्राएँ/जोड़ाक्षर shift position) — a known PDF-font artifact, not a translation error. Structure, marks, and the officially-excluded-lesson list below are solidly verified from the text; only fine orthography (exact spelling of lesson titles/author names) carries residual uncertainty and should be cross-checked by the reader against the printed Kshitij Bhag-2 / Kritika Bhag-2 textbooks.

1. Marks Structure

Official (from the 2026-27 curriculum document):

Theory (Annual Board Exam): 80 marks
Internal Assessment: 20 marks
Grand Total: 100 marks
Duration of theory exam: 3 hours (निर्धारित समय — 3 घंटे; अधिकतम अंक — 80), confirmed identically on the 2025-26 SQP cover page.

Passing marks: CBSE's long-standing policy (general CBSE rule, not something confirmed inside this specific curriculum/SQP/MS text) is that a candidate must score a minimum of 33% in Theory + Internal Assessment combined for each subject to be declared pass. Treat this as Estimated/Inferred general policy carried over from established CBSE practice, not a line quoted from the Hindi-A document itself.

2. Question Paper Pattern (Official, from SQP 2025-26 "General Instructions")

The paper has four sections: क (A), ख (B), ग (C), घ (D).
15 questions total, all compulsory ("इस प्रश्नपत्र में कुल 15 प्रश्न हैं। सभी प्रश्न अनिवार्य हैं").
Internal choices are provided within the paper ("प्रश्नपत्र में आंतरिक विकल्प दिए गए हैं") — mainly in Section C (3-of-4 / 2-of-3 choice sets) and Section D (either/or creative-writing options).
Candidates must follow the specific instructions given with each question (word limits, "अथवा" options, etc.).

3. Section/Unit-wise Marks Distribution (Official, from curriculum)

Section	Name	Marks
क (A)	अपठित बोध (Unseen Comprehension)	14
ख (B)	व्यावहारिक व्याकरण (Practical Grammar)	16
ग (C)	पाठ्यपुस्तक एवं पूरक पाठ्यपुस्तक (Textbook + Supplementary Reader)	30
घ (D)	रचनात्मक लेखन (Creative Writing)	20
Theory Total		80
Internal Assessment	Periodic + Multiple Assessment + Portfolio + Listening-Speaking	20
Grand Total		100

Within Section C: Gadya Khand (Prose) 11, Kavya Khand (Poetry) 11, Poorak Pathyapustak (Kritika) 8. Within Section D: Anuchched Lekhan 6, Patra Lekhan 5, Swavritt/E-mail 5, Vigyapan/Sandesh 4.

4. Competency-Based Question Framing

Official: The curriculum explicitly frames the redesign under NEP 2020 + NCF-SE 2023, emphasizing दक्षता आधारित शिक्षा (competency-based education), कला समेकित अधिगम (art-integrated learning), and अनुभवात्मक अधिगम (experiential learning), stating the goal is testing "सीखने के प्रतिफल और विषय में विशेष दक्षता" (learning outcomes and subject-specific competency) rather than rote recall, with explicit stress on उच्च-स्तरीय चिंतन कौशल (higher-order thinking skills).

Estimated/Inferred (from how this plays out in the SQP): Competency framing shows up concretely as:

Assertion–Reason ("कथन–कारण") style MCQs embedded inside ordinary comprehension/textbook MCQ sets — verified present at Q1(ख), Q2(ग), Q7(ग), Q9(ग) of the 2025-26 SQP, each with the standard four options ("कथन ग़लत है किंतु कारण सही है" / "कथन और कारण दोनों ग़लत हैं" / "कथन सही है और कारण कथन की सही व्याख्या है" / "कथन सही है किंतु कारण कथन की सही व्याख्या नहीं है").
Multi-statement selection MCQs ("कथन (I) और (II) सही हैं" style) — seen at Q1(ग), Q7(क), Q7(घ), Q9(ख).
Both formats test inference and discrimination, not just factual recall — a direct competency-based signature.

5. MCQ / Objective-Type Share

Official (computed directly from the SQP's own mark-scheme, arithmetic only — not an invented weightage):

Section A MCQs: 3 marks (prose) + 3 marks (poetry) = 6 marks
Section C MCQs: Q7 (Gadya) 5 marks + Q9 (Kavya) 5 marks = 10 marks
Total pure MCQ marks = 16 out of 80 theory marks ≈ 20%
Grammar (Section B, 16 marks) is objective/short-format but not strict MCQ — it is direct-response identification/transformation.

6. Short-Answer / Long-Answer / Case-Study / Numerical / Diagram Questions

Very Short Answer (2 marks each): Section A (घ)/(ङ) sub-parts — 4 questions × 2 marks = 8 marks.
Short Answer, 25–30 words (2 marks each, 3-of-4 choice): Q8 (Gadya) and Q10 (Kavya) — 6 marks each.
Short Answer, 50–60 words (4 marks each, 2-of-3 choice): Q11 (Kritika) — 8 marks.
Long-format Creative Writing (4–6 marks each): Section D — paragraph (~120 words), letter (~100 words), resume/e-mail (~80 words), advertisement/message (~40 words).
Case-study questions: Not applicable — Hindi is a language paper; no case-study format exists in this design.
Diagram-based / Numerical questions: Not applicable to this subject.

7. Expected Writing / Answer Style

Grammar answers (Section B) must show the complete transformation/identification, not just the final word — e.g., Pad Parichay answers in the Marking Scheme require multiple grammatical attributes per word (e.g., "व्यक्तिवाचक संज्ञा, स्त्रीलिंग, एकवचन, कर्मकारक" for one underlined word) — a single attribute earns partial/no credit.
Textbook short answers (25–30 / 50–60 words) must be point-wise and content-specific; the Marking Scheme repeatedly notes "केवल दो बिंदु अपेक्षित" (only two points expected) or "किन्हीं चार बिंदुओं का उल्लेख अपेक्षित" — confirming that examiners award marks per valid point up to a cap, not for verbose paraphrase.
Creative writing (Section D) must follow the prescribed format skeleton exactly as scored in the MS (see Sample Question Paper Analysis below for the exact break-up: भूमिका/विषयवस्तु/निष्कर्ष/भाषा शुद्धता for paragraphs; प्रारूप/विषयवस्तु/भाषा शुद्धता for letters, resumes, e-mails, messages).
The curriculum's लेखन कौशल (writing skills) list explicitly calls for: correct/standard script use, proper punctuation, natural and effective style, paragraphing, and avoiding rote-learned ("रटे-रटाए") sentences in favour of original, situation-based, higher-order responses.

8. Frequently Tested Competencies

बोध (comprehension), चिंतन (reflection/thinking), विश्लेषण (analysis), सराहना (appreciation) — stated explicitly in the curriculum for both unseen passages.
Grammatical application in context (not isolated rule recall) — Vakya Bhed, Vachya, Pad Parichay, Alankar are all tested via extracted sentences from the prescribed lessons themselves, e (SQP Q3–Q6 sentences are drawn from Netaji Ka Chashma, Balgobin Bhagat, Naubatkhane Mein Ibadat etc.) — so grammar cannot be studied divorced from the textbook.
Textual/critical understanding of prescribed prose and poetry, and reflective/personal-response writing for the supplementary reader (Kritika).
Functional/creative writing for real-life communicative situations (letters to editors, job-application resumes, e-mails to authorities, advertisements, festival messages).
Listening and Speaking (oral competency) — assessed separately under Internal Assessment.

9. Common Mistakes (cited from the Marking Scheme's own general instructions and answer-key patterns)

General MS Instructions (Official, quoted):

"अंक योजना का उद्देश्य मूल्यांकन को अधिकाधिक वस्तुनिष्ठ बनाना है" — the scheme exists specifically to reduce subjective under-marking.
"अंक योजना में दिए गए वर्णनात्मक प्रश्नों के उत्तर बिंदु अंतिम नहीं हैं" — the given points are illustrative, not exhaustive; a valid alternative answer must still get credit. Estimated/Inferred implication: students frequently lose marks unfairly because their (correct) phrasing doesn't match the model answer verbatim — examiners are explicitly instructed against this, but it remains a common source of student grievance.
"एक ही प्रकार की अशुद्धि पर बार-बार अंक न काटा जाए" — the same type of language error (spelling/grammar slip) should not be penalized repeatedly through the script. Common student error implied: students often make one recurring spelling/grammar mistake throughout an answer, unnecessarily worrying it will be deducted every time it appears.
"मूल्यांकन में संपूर्ण अंक पैमाने – 0 से 80 का प्रयोग अभीष्ट है" — examiners are told to use the entire 0–80 scale, implying scripts should not be clustered artificially; students should attempt every question fully rather than assuming a "safe middle score."

Specific answer-key patterns showing common errors:
Q1(घ)/(ङ) and Q2(घ)/(ङ) 2-mark short answers are capped at "only two points expected" even though students often write three or four — extra content beyond the cap earns no additional credit, so time is wasted; a common error is not prioritizing quality over quantity.
Q5 (Pad Parichay) model answers show every part requires all grammatical attributes (word class + gender + number + case/tense as applicable) — a very common student error is supplying only one attribute (e.g., writing just "संज्ञा" instead of "व्यक्तिवाचक संज्ञा, स्त्रीलिंग, एकवचन, कर्मकारक").
Q3 shows the MS itself offering an alternate correct transformation via "अथवा" for one sentence — signaling that grammar transformation questions can have more than one valid correct restructuring, and examiners are primed to accept it, but students often assume only one "textbook" answer exists and avoid attempting alternate correct restructurings out of fear.

10. Examiner Expectations & Presentation Tips

Point-wise, exact-word-limit answers for Sections A and C — exceeding or badly under-shooting the word limit (25–30 / 50–60 / 100–150 words per task) risks losing content marks even if quality is high.
For Section D, use the format skeleton exactly as scored: intro–body–conclusion for paragraphs; correct opening/closing formalities for letters/e-mails; clearly labelled personal-detail fields for the resume (name, DOB, address, qualification, experience, interests, contact — confidentiality of real personal data must be maintained in the exam, per curriculum's स्ववृत्त लेखन guidance).
Maintain शुद्ध वर्तनी और विराम-चिह्न (correct spelling and punctuation) — this is a scored component (भाषा शुद्धता) in every Section D sub-question per the Marking Scheme.
Avoid rote-memorized paragraphs; the curriculum explicitly wants original, situation-based responses ("रटे-रटाए वाक्यों के स्थान पर अभिव्यक्तिपरक/स्थिति आधारित/उच्च चिंतन क्षमता वाले प्रश्नों पर सहजता से अपने मौलिक विचार").
In grammar, always show the complete rule application (e.g., name the specific alankar, not just "there is an alankar here"; give complete pad-parichay, not partial).

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