Top 50 CBSE Class 12 English Core MCQs for Pre-Board Exam 2026 with Answer Key

Getting ready for your Class 12 English Core Pre-Board test is a big deal, and the innovative way to prepare is by rehearsing the kind of questions you will face in the examination. This collection of 50 Multiple Choice Questions( MCQs) is designed to be your quick and effective study companion. We have hand- picked these questions straight from your NCERT textbooks for both Flamingo( Prose and Poetry) and lookouts. Suppose this as a focused practice session covering all the important chapters and runes you need to know. 

These are not just arbitrary questions; they're grounded on common themes, important erudite bias, and recreating generalities set up in once CBSE Sample Papers and former Year Question Papers( PYQs). By working through these MCQs, you wo n't only test your memory of the stories and runes but also edge your understanding of the subtle meanings and critical ideas within them. Use this tool to snappily review the crucial assignments, identify any chapters you need to readdress, and feel more confident as you head into your Pre-Board examination.

CBSE Class 12 Exam Pattern 2025-26: Key Highlights

CBSE class 12 exam pattern 2025-26 highlights can be checked from the table below:

CBSE Class 12 English Core: Top 50 MCQs for Pre-Board 2026

The MCQ are picked straight from your NCERT textbooks, previous year papers and sample papers. Suppose this as a focused practice session covering all the important chapters and runes you need to know.

1. What does the notice on the bulletin board in 'The Last Lesson' signify?

(A) A celebration for the French language

(B) An order to teach only German in Alsace and Lorraine

(C) The arrival of a new teacher

(D) A recruitment notice for the army

2. Why was Franz able to understand the grammar lesson so easily on the last day?

(A) He was more receptive and focused

(B) M. Hamel explained it in German

(C) The lesson was exceptionally short

(D) He had studied the night before

3. What is the irony in the name 'Saheb-e-Alam'?

(A) It means 'Lord of the Universe', but he is a poor ragpicker

(B) It means 'King of Ragpickers'

(C) He is actually a wealthy boy in disguise

(D) He dislikes his own name

4. What does the word 'canister' symbolize in 'Lost Spring'?

(A) Freedom and joy

(B) Loss of freedom and the weight of responsibility

(C) Wealth and status

(D) A passion for tea-making

5. In 'Deep Water', why did Douglas's father laugh at the beach in California?

(A) He was happy to be at the beach

(B) He found the waves funny

(C) To mock Douglas's fear of the water

(D) He thought Douglas was playing

6. "I crossed to oblivion, and the curtain of life fell." What does this line from 'Deep Water' imply?

(A) Douglas became a famous swimmer

(B) Douglas fainted and thought he was dying

(C) Douglas decided to quit swimming

(D) Douglas forgot his past

7. Why did the peddler think the world was a 'rattrap'?

(A) He was a professional philosopher

(B) His own life was miserable and devoid of kindness

(C) He wanted to sell more rattraps

(D) He had read about it in a book

8. What was the 'bait' offered by the world according to the peddler?

(A) Cheese and pork

(B) Riches, joys, shelter, and food

(C) Iron and coal

(D) Friendship and love

9. Why did the crofter show his thirty kronors to the peddler?

(A) To boast about his wealth

(B) Because he was lonely and trusted the peddler

(C) To tempt the peddler to stay

(D) To ask the peddler to count it for him

10. What did Gandhiji realize was the real problem in Champaran?

(A) Lack of legal aid

(B) Fear among the peasants

(C) The low price of Indigo

(D) The lack of British supporters

Also Check: 

CBSE Class 12 English Syllabus 2025-26

CBSE Class 12 English Elective Syllabus 2025-26

11. Why did the servants at Rajendra Prasad’s house think Gandhi was another peasant?

(A) He was wearing a suit

(B) He was accompanied by Rajkumar Shukla

(C) He looked poor and spoke their language

(D) He sat on the floor

12. "Trees sprinting, merry children spilling." What literary device is used here?

(A) Simile

(B) Metaphor

(C) Personification and Imagery

(D) Oxymoron

13. What does the "ashen" face of the poet's mother signify in 'My Mother at Sixty-Six'?

(A) She was covered in ash

(B) She was pale like a corpse, nearing death

(C) She was sleeping peacefully

(D) She was angry at her daughter

14. What does the poet want from the governors and inspectors in 'An Elementary School Classroom'?

(A) To provide better mid-day meals

(B) To open the world of books and nature to the children

(C) To close the school down

(D) To build a new stadium

15. In 'Keeping Quiet', what does the poet mean by "victory with no survivors"?

(A) A war where everyone dies

(B) A game of chess

(C) Success achieved at the cost of humanity and nature

(D) A race where no one wins

16. What will "quietness" help us achieve according to Pablo Neruda?

(A) Better physical health

(B) Mutual understanding and introspection

(C) More wealth

(D) Scientific progress

17. "A thing of beauty is a joy forever." Why is it a joy forever?

(A) Because it is expensive

(B) Because its loveliness increases and never passes into nothingness

(C) Because it can be sold for profit

(D) Because it is rare

18. What does 'pall' refer to in the poem 'A Thing of Beauty'?

(A) A bright light

(B) A dark covering of sadness or gloom

(C) A beautiful flower

(D) A royal robe

19. Why are the tigers called 'Aunt Jennifer's Tigers'?

(A) She owns them in a zoo

(B) She created them on the tapestry

(C) They are her pets

(D) They symbolize her children

20. What is the 'ordeal' Aunt Jennifer is surrounded by?

(A) Her heavy household chores

(B) The constraints and unhappiness of her married life

(C) A dangerous illness

(D) A legal battle

21. In 'The Third Level', what did Sam's letter to Charley state?

(A) That the third level did not exist

(B) That he had found the third level and was happy in 1894

(C) That he was coming to visit Charley

(D) That Louisa was missing

22. What was the 'First Day Cover' Charley found in his collection?

(A) An empty envelope sent to his grandfather

(B) A letter from Sam dated July 18, 1894

(C) A rare stamp from London

(D) A photograph of Galesburg

23. Why was the 'Tiger King' so named?

(A) He looked like a tiger

(B) He was brought up by a tiger

(C) He killed ninety-nine tigers to change his destiny

(D) He was as brave as a tiger

24. What was the ultimate cause of the Tiger King's death?

(A) A real tiger

(B) A wooden toy tiger

(C) An infection from a British officer

(D) Old age

25. In 'Journey to the End of the Earth', what does Tishani Doshi mean by "Students on Ice"?

(A) A skating competition

(B) A program to take students to Antarctica to understand climate change

(C) Students living in igloos

(D) A documentary film

26. Why is Antarctica the place to go to understand the earth’s present, past, and future?

(A) It has a lot of gold

(B) It contains half-million-year-old carbon records in its ice cores

(C) It is the most beautiful place on Earth

(D) It is the only continent without humans

27. Why did Dr. Sadao's father send him to America?

(A) To find a wife

(B) To learn surgery and medicine

(C) To settle there permanently

(D) To study Western culture

28. Why did the General not send the assassins to kill the American soldier?

(A) He felt sorry for the soldier

(B) He was selfish and forgot about it due to his own illness

(C) He wanted Dr. Sadao to be caught

(D) The soldier had already escaped

29. What was Mr. Lamb's reaction when Derry entered his garden?

(A) He shouted at him

(B) He welcomed him and told him not to be afraid

(C) He called the police

(D) He ignored him

30. What happened to Mr. Lamb at the end of the story?

(A) He went back to the city

(B) He fell from a ladder and died

(C) He adopted Derry

(D) He became a famous gardener

31. In 'Memories of Childhood', what does Zitkala-Sa compare the cutting of her hair to?

(A) A fashion trend

(B) The loss of her spirit and dignity (the fate of a coward)

(C) A medical necessity

(D) A rite of passage

32. Why did Bama's brother tell her to study hard?

(A) To earn a lot of money

(B) Because only education could win them respect and equality

(C) To leave the village

(D) To become a teacher

33. What did M. Hamel write on the blackboard at the very end of the class?

(A) Vive La France!

(B) German is the best.

(C) Goodbye students.

(D) Study hard.

34. What was Mukesh’s dream in 'Lost Spring'?

(A) To be a pilot

(B) To be a motor mechanic

(C) To be a ragpicker

(D) To be a politician

35. How did the swimming instructor build a swimmer out of Douglas?

(A) By throwing him into the sea

(B) By teaching him in stages—breathing, leg movements, and strokes

(C) By giving him a manual

(D) By shouting at him

36. Who was Edla Willmansson?

(A) The ironmaster's wife

(B) The ironmaster's daughter

(C) A worker at the mill

(D) A neighbor

37. What was the 'miracle' that happened when the Tiger King was an infant?

(A) He started walking

(B) He spoke ten-day-old intelligent words

(C) He defeated a tiger

(D) He predicted the future

38. In 'Indigo', who was Sir Edward Gait?

(A) A lawyer

(B) The Lieutenant Governor

(C) A British landlord

(D) Gandhi's assistant

39. What is the theme of the poem 'Keeping Quiet'?

(A) The importance of physical exercise

(B) The necessity of quiet introspection and universal brotherhood

(C) The beauty of nature

(D) The horrors of war

40. Why does the poet use the image of 'sprinting trees' in 'My Mother at Sixty-Six'?

(A) To show the car's speed

(B) To contrast the lively, fast-moving world with her aging, still mother

(C) To describe the beauty of the forest

(D) Because the trees were actually running

41. What makes the mid-forest brake beautiful in 'A Thing of Beauty'?

(A) Large trees

(B) A sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms

(C) The sound of birds

(D) Fresh running water

42. Why did Charley want to go to Galesburg?

(A) For a business trip

(B) To escape the stress and insecurity of the modern world

(C) To meet his old friends

(D) To see the Grand Central Station

43. What did the author of 'Deep Water' learn from his experience?

(A) That water is dangerous

(B) That there is peace in death and terror only in the fear of death

(C) That swimming is the best sport

(D) That he should never go to California

44. What was the name of the iron mill in the story 'The Rattrap'?

(A) Ramsjo Ironworks

(B) Sweden Steel

(C) Nordic Iron

(D) Stockholm Forge

45. Why did the ragpickers of Seemapuri not wear any footwear?

(A) It was a tradition

(B) They liked being barefoot

(C) They were in a perpetual state of poverty

(D) Shoes were not available in the market

46. What kind of a man was Mr. Lamb?

(A) Optimistic and socially isolated but welcoming

(B) Grumpy and old

(C) A retired soldier who hated children

(D) A rich man who showed off his garden

47. Why was Dr. Sadao in a dilemma regarding the American soldier?

(A) He didn't know how to operate

(B) He was torn between his duty as a doctor and his loyalty as a patriot

(C) He was afraid of his wife

(D) He wanted to join the American army

48. What did Bama see that made her laugh, but later made her sad?

(A) A monkey show

(B) An elder carrying a small packet of vadai by its string

(C) A circus

(D) A school play

49. How many years did the author of 'Journey to the End of the Earth' take to reach Antarctica?

(A) It wasn't about time, but about crossing 9 time zones and 6 checkpoints

(B) Two years

(C) Six months

(D) Ten days

50. What does the poem 'A Thing of Beauty' tell us about the 'mighty dead'?

(A) They are forgotten

(B) Their stories are an "endless fountain of immortal drink"

(C) They were all kings

(D) They were very wealthy

CBSE Class 12 English Core: Top 50 MCQs Answer Key

The table below provides the correct answer choices for all 50 Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) presented above. Use this key to check your responses and identify areas for further study.

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