Assertion and reason questions have been part of major competitive exams in India and globally. CBSE, in its recent notification, has changed the pattern of question paper for board exams and has included 20 objective/VSA type questions. There would be various types of objective questions like fill in the blanks, true/false, MCQ, and Assertion – Reason type questions. Among all these types of objective questions, the most complicated one is the Assertion – Reason type.
Word “Assertion” means a confident and forceful statement of fact or belief. In this type of question, students are provided with two statements named “Assertion” and “Reason”. Assertion represents a fact or belief. The other statement is the reason, which may or may not be the explanation of assertion.
What do A-R questions mean for CBSE Class 10 students?
The new pattern that has been introduced gives a heavy 25% weightage to objective type questions in all subjects. That means, Out of 80 marks, 20 marks will be assigned to this new bracket of questions i.e Multiple Choice Questions, Assertion-Reason Based, Case study based questions, Fill in the Blanks, etc. Till 2019, this was not the case. Subjective questions where students need to write a detailed answer will carry only 60 marks under the new pattern. The long answer type questions have reduced in number and weightage. Hence, it has become necessary to study between and lines with minute details to answer objective type questions.
Why are A-R questions difficult to crack?
In this type of questions, the student has to read the Assertion and Reason statements carefully and choose the correct option from the following:
A. Both the Assertion and the Reason are correct and the Reason is the correct explanation of the Assertion.
B. The Assertion and the Reason are correct but the Reason is not the correct explanation of the Assertion.
C. Our Assertion is true but the Reason is false.
D. The statement of the Assertion is false but the Reason is true.
E. Both the statements are false.
There isn’t much difficulty in the cases where either assertion or reason is false. The real challenge is when both are true and you have to predict if the reason is the correct explanation of assertion or not!
You give the correct answer only if you are not only confident about the correctness of the assertion but also know its proper explanation.
EXAMPLE.
Assertion: Aryl halides are less reactive than alkyl halides for nucleophilic substitution reactions.
Reason: There is a partial double bond character between halogen and benzene ring.
For predicting the right answer:
Read the assertion carefully and see if the statement is correct or not. In this case, we know that it is a true statement. Now ask yourself what is the reason for this statement to be true?
Here we know that this statement is true because there is resonance in aryl halides due to which there is a partial double bond character which makes it more difficult to remove halogen from the benzene ring.
Now see if a similar statement is given in the reason or not. If yes then it would be the correct explanation of assertion else not.
How to score well in A-R questions?
Certain things that you can do to score well in these new types of questions are:
Read thoroughly
A lot of students skip this utterly important part, making it as easy, but always read the question carefully to understand the assertion statement. Then, figure out whether the reason statement is true or not. Once you feel you have found the correct answer, read both the given statements once more. Then select the option that you think is right.
2. Think of each statement independently
Evaluate the given statements independently to figure out the correct answer. In certain questions, the reason provides the correct explanation for the given assertion statement, while in others it does not. If your concepts are clear, you will be able to quickly spot the inaccuracy in the explanation and select the correct answer. You need to think logically and use your conceptual understanding to analyze the scenario before answering assertion questions.
3. Practicing assertion questions with CBSE Class 10 practice tests
Assertion questions can be confusing. You need to know the meaning of the options available to get the answer right. Here, practice tests can be useful. Just reading tips on answering may not be effective. Tips are great for developing your own strategies to tackle the exam questions. If you practice CBSE Class 10 assertion questions, you will improve your thinking abilities. Once your practice test results are available, check whether you happen to lose marks due to lack of conceptual knowledge, overconfidence, or lack of focus resulting from nervousness.
You can start by practicing a few that we have created from Class 10 Physics chapters of Light and Human Eye
Select the correct answer to these questions from the codes (i), (ii), (iii), and (iv) as given below:
i) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of the assertion.
ii) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of the assertion.
iii) A is true but R is false.
iv) A is false but R is true.
Assertion: An object placed in front of a convex lens forms an image of the same size.
Reason: Object is placed between the center of curvature and focus
Assertion: Dentists use a concave mirror. Reason: Concave mirrors are converging mirrors.
Assertion: Danger and warning signs are red in color. Reason: Red light has a larger wavelength.