DU Emotional Intelligence (VAC): Most Repeated Questions from 29 PYQ Papers

Emotional Intelligence (UPC 6967000005) is a Value Addition Course that students from any stream can take in semesters 1 to 4. It has no calculations, so the exam is about knowing the models and writing structured answers with examples.

We collected every paper we have for this code, from the Nov-Dec 2022 sitting to May-June 2026. That is 29 question papers. Many of them come in pairs: the 70-mark paper reuses the 30-mark paper as its Part A. Counting each pair once leaves 23 different question sets, and the counts below use those 23.

All of them are free on the Emotional Intelligence VAC PYQ page. Open a few alongside this post.

A note on the counts: "13 of 23" means 13 of the 23 question sets mention that topic somewhere (a short note, a 10-mark question or part of one), not 13 exam sittings. Years are the labels on our paper pages: some college-library scans are labelled with the year they were scanned, so a paper marked 2024 may be from the sitting before.

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What the paper looks like

There are two versions:

Short notes ("Write short notes on any two of the following") appear in every one of the 23 sets. That is your guaranteed 10 marks, so prepare all the commonly asked notes (below) in 5 to 6 lines each.

What gets asked most

If you only have a week: define and significance of EI, strategies to develop EI, the four-domain model (Goleman) and the Ability model, self-awareness, self-management, empathy and social competence, conflict management. Then short notes on anger, communication, stress and Bar-On.

Questions that were repeated across papers

These are the same question (sometimes word for word), found in papers from different years.

• "Explain the importance of self-awareness in EI. Give examples." is in a May-June 2024 paper, again in Nov-Dec 2025 (Part B) and again in May-June 2026 (Part B).

• "How do teamwork and collaboration facilitate our social competence? Discuss." is in May-June 2024, May-June 2025, Nov-Dec 2025 and May-June 2026. Four sittings, same question.

• The mixed model and social competence. "How does the 'Mixed model of Emotional Intelligence' contribute to our understanding of social competence?" is in Nov-Dec 2025 and May-June 2026. "What is the Mixed Model of EI, and how does it differ from the Ability Model?" is in May-June 2024 and May-June 2025.

• "How knowing one's strengths and areas of development can enhance personal competence" goes back to Nov-Dec 2022 and comes back in 2024, 2025 and 2026.

• "Define emotional intelligence and discuss the various conflict management styles in detail" is in May-June 2025 and May-June 2026.

• "Discuss the role of EI in managing professional relationships. Explain using any one model of EI" is in a 2025 paper and a May-June 2026 paper, along with "Can emotional intelligence help in managing stressful life situations?" and "Explain any two techniques of relationship management." Three questions from the 2025 set were reused in the 2026 papers.

• "Explain how empathy and compassion play a role in the development of social awareness." is in Nov-Dec 2023 and Nov-Dec 2024 (it appears in two of the Nov-Dec 2024 sets).

• "The management of our emotions is critical to success. Justify this statement" is in Nov-Dec 2023 and Nov-Dec 2024.

• "Socially competent persons communicate effectively and are skilled at conflict management. Elaborate" is in Nov-Dec 2023 and Nov-Dec 2024.

• "Dealing with conflicts constructively is an important dimension of EI. Comment" is in May-June 2025 and Nov-Dec 2025.

• "Define Emotional Intelligence. Describe any two models" is in Nov-Dec 2022 and Nov-Dec 2024.

The pattern: the questions are rotated within a small pool. Practise the ones above and you have most of the question space covered.

Short notes that keep coming back

Short notes are the same handful again and again:

• Anger management (four sets), managing fear or anxiety, stress management

• Effective communication (four sets)

• Significance of self-management (three sets), significance of EI

• Empathy, compassion, mindfulness

• Bar-On's model, Goleman's model, Ability-based model

• Measurement of EI

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The models in one table (for 10-mark answers)

Model questions come up often ("Describe any two models", "Compare the Ability and Trait models", "Explain using any one model"), so learn this table.

Use the table to answer "compare ability and trait models" and "how does the mixed model differ from the ability model" in one sentence each, then add an example.

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How to use this for your exam

1. Write one clean answer for each question in the repeated list above. That is about 12 answers, and they cover most 10-mark questions.

2. Prepare short notes on anger, communication, stress, empathy and Bar-On. Any two are asked in nearly every paper.

3. Always add an example. Many questions say "give examples" or "with suitable examples", and answers without one lose marks.

4. In the 70-mark paper, don't skip Part B. Several Part B questions (self-awareness, teamwork, the mixed model) repeat from earlier years.

Past repetition does not guarantee what comes next. Use this list to decide what to revise first.

Get the papers: Emotional Intelligence VAC PYQs · all Value Addition Course papers

Also read: Financial Literacy (VAC): most repeated questions · Best VAC courses in DU