Q19
4 marksEssaySection B

Attempt ANY ONE of the two (A) or (B) in about 50 words: (A) Your school is organising a career counselling session for students of classes XI and XII to help them make informed decisions about their future career choices. As the Head Girl / Head Boy of M.L.C. School, draft a notice informing them about the session. Include all necessary details. You are Riya/Rohan. Put the notice in a box. OR (B) You are Kavya/Karan Chief Editor of 'Parakh' the school magazine. Draft a notice inviting contributions in the form of articles, stories, poems, artwork etc. for the special annual edition. All contributions are to be submitted to the Chief Editor. Include necessary details. Put your notice in a box.

Writing Skills — Notice Writing (CBSE Class 12 English Core, Section B)
Notice writing
Official Answer

A CBSE notice must be a boxed, formal announcement with heading, date, title, body (What-When-Where-Who-Why) in about 50 words, and an issuing authority's name and designation.


Model Answer (Option A):


> M.L.C. SCHOOL

> NOTICE

>

> 15 July 2026

>

> CAREER COUNSELLING SESSION

>

> All students of Classes XI and XII are informed that a Career Counselling Session will be held on 22 July 2026 (Wednesday), 10 a.m.–1 p.m., in the School Auditorium. Eminent counsellors will guide students on stream and career choices. Attendance is compulsory. Register with your class teacher by 18 July.

>

> Riya

> Head Girl


Model Answer (Option B):


> PARAKH — SCHOOL MAGAZINE

> NOTICE

>

> 15 July 2026

>

> CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

>

> All students are invited to contribute articles, stories, poems and artwork for the special annual edition of 'Parakh'. Entries should be original, neatly written and submitted to the Chief Editor by 30 July 2026. Selected entries will be published with the contributor's name.

>

> Karan

> Chief Editor, Parakh

notice writingboxed formatcareer counsellingHead Girl/Head Boycall for contributions50 wordsdate venue time

Marking Scheme

  • 11 mark: Format — box, heading 'NOTICE', date, title, issuing authority's name and designation.
  • 22 marks: Content — all relevant details (event, date, time, venue, target audience, action required) covered accurately and concisely.
  • 31 mark: Expression — grammatically correct, formal register, within the 50-word limit.

Hint

Box it, title it 'NOTICE', and answer What/When/Where/Who/Why in exactly about 50 words, ending with name and designation.

Quick Oral Answer

A notice must be boxed, titled NOTICE, dated, cover What-When-Where-Who-Why in about 50 words, and end with the name and designation of the person issuing it.

Analysis & Explanation

The notice is the shortest and most rigidly formatted writing task in the CBSE syllabus, so marks are lost far more often on format than on content.


Required elements of a notice:

  • Name of the issuing school/organisation at the top.
  • The word 'NOTICE' centred and underlined/bold.
  • Date of issue (left or right aligned).
  • A clear, bold heading naming the event/purpose.
  • Body answering What, When, Where, Who and Why in about 50 words, written in reported/formal tone (never 'I' as a personal opinion).
  • Writer's name and designation at the bottom right, and the whole notice enclosed in a box as the question demands.

Why this matters for Option A: a notice about a career counselling session must specify audience (Classes XI-XII), date/time/venue, purpose (guidance on career choices), and any action required (registration) — omitting any one of these usually costs a content mark.


Why this matters for Option B: a call-for-contributions notice must specify what may be submitted (articles/stories/poems/artwork), to whom, the deadline, and ideally the incentive (publication) — CBSE examiners specifically check for the submission deadline and recipient.


Exam trap: many students write the notice as a paragraph without a box, without the word 'NOTICE', or exceed 50 words significantly — all of these are format deductions even when the content is accurate.

Common Mistakes

  1. 1Omitting the box, the word 'NOTICE', or the issuing authority's name/designation — each is a separate format deduction.
  2. 2Writing well over or under the 50-word limit, or writing in a narrative/personal tone instead of a formal, impersonal one.
  3. 3Leaving out one of the 5 W's (especially date/venue or the deadline for submissions in Option B), which costs content marks even if the notice looks well-formatted.

Interesting Facts

CBSE dropped and re-included formal notice/invitation writing in different syllabus cycles over the last decade, reflecting ongoing revisions to the Class 12 English Core writing skills component.

The 'box' requirement exists because a real school notice board notice is physically bordered and pinned — the exam format mirrors real institutional practice.

Word-limit compliance (50 ± 10%) is explicitly part of CBSE's official marking scheme tolerance for short-format writing tasks.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is putting the notice in a box compulsory even if not explicitly instructed?

When the question explicitly says 'put the notice in a box', drawing a clear border (or clearly indicating one) around the notice is compulsory and part of the format mark; even when not stated, CBSE convention expects a boxed presentation for notices.

What happens if I exceed the 50-word limit significantly?

CBSE allows a small tolerance (roughly ±10%), but significantly exceeding the limit can lead to a deduction under the expression/format criterion, since conciseness is itself a tested skill in notice writing.