Tamil

The paper at a glance

Tamil carries the subject code 111. The syllabus described here is the one published for 2026-27.

The document is short: a cover page and one page of topics. The list opens with a deliberate caveat: questions will be from the following topics but are not limited to. Treat the headings below as the guaranteed core, not as the outer boundary.

How the syllabus is organised

A language paper is not organised by units of content the way a domain subject is. The document is laid out in two skill areas — Reading Comprehension and Verbal Ability. There is no list of prescribed texts, authors or grammar chapters: the paper tests how you read and handle the language, not what you have read in it.

The syllabus itself is a list of skills only. It does not print question counts, marks, negative marking or timing, and it does not say how many questions come from each skill area. Read it alongside the exam pattern.

Reading Comprehension

Reading Comprehension is where the syllabus is most specific. It fixes the kinds of passages and puts a word limit on each. It does not say how many questions follow a passage, or whether the questions test vocabulary, inference or the writer's tone.

Verbal Ability

Verbal Ability is a short list of four task types. They are the familiar objective formats: putting jumbled parts back in order, matching items across two columns, filling in the correct word, and recognising words of the same or opposite meaning.

What this syllabus does not tell you

The document is a skill list and nothing more. From it you cannot learn:

• which Tamil authors, texts, periods or literary forms the passages draw on; the document names none and describes passages only by type;
• how many questions come from Reading Comprehension and how many from Verbal Ability, or the marks, negative marking and duration — those are on the exam pattern;
• how many questions follow each passage, or what those questions test;
• the level of vocabulary and grammar expected, or how difficult the passages will be;
• which books to use; the syllabus names no textbook;
• how much weight a university gives this paper once you qualify — the programmes that accept it are listed below, but the marks or ranking rule each one applies sits in its own admission bulletin.

For anything about attempt rules or numbers of questions, go to the NTA information bulletin and the exam pattern rather than to this list.