The National Institute of Open Schooling is the Board of education for the open schools in India. It was established by the ministry of Human resource development to help the students from remote areas to obtain education in an inexpensive way. It encourages education amongst all classes of people irrespective of their financial standing and location. The paper is based on the entire curriculum. The candidates might even feel the paper to be difficult but with a little understanding it can be simplified the whole lot.

Importance of the paper

Sociology in essence is the study of the human relations and the society in whole. With the society evolving every day the social relations have become complex. Thus sociology is a very important area of study. The whole plethora of the different human relations with the different aspects of the society is the major portion the paper stresses on. It puts an important emphasis on the different social customs popular in the different parts of the society.

Format

The whole paper is of 100 marks and the marks allotted for each question are indicated in the brackets against them.

Paper pattern

The paper consists of the five long answer questions, eight short answer questions and ten very short answer questions. The whole question paper is divided into two halves. In the section A the questions are all compulsory however in the section B there are optional questions and the candidate may choose between the two options given.

Marking

There are no negative marks awarded. The candidate is expected to write the answers to the point in a simplified manner to score the most.

Some questions from the question paper

The questions that most frequently feature in the question paper are

What does environment refer to?

Illustrate any two teachings of Kabir.

Explain the concept of the unity in diversity in the Indian subcontinent.

Time allotted

A total of three hours is allotted to complete the paper which is about adequate.

Recommended books

The most popular books are the National Institute of Open Schooling Sociology from the Jiwan Publishing house, TOP Guide Sociology from Top Publication and Sociology Guide for the NIOS from the Neeraj Publication.