Class 12 Physics and Chemistry Board Plan (70 + 30 Marks)

CBSE assesses Class 12 Physics and Chemistry as 70 marks of theory and 30 of practical work, so a good board plan runs two tracks: theory chapters backed by a derivation tracker, a reaction tracker and numerical practice, and a smaller practical track with its own protected hours. From early October, with most chapters already solid or taught (17 of 24 in the example below), that comes to roughly 160 hours for both subjects, or eight to nine hours a week, as a worked estimate.

The usual Class 12 science plan has one line per subject ("Physics: revise") and no idea how many hours that line contains. It treats the practical file as something to finish the night before it is due, and it discovers in January that the derivations "you understood in class" will not come out on a blank page. The plan below makes each of those visible early, when there is still time to fix them.

The hours are estimates for the worked example below; your own figures come from your chapter triage.

How are Class 12 Physics and Chemistry marks split, and why does it matter?

Physics and Chemistry are each 70 marks theory and 30 marks practical, according to CBSE's Senior Secondary curriculum for 2026-27. Biology and Computer Science follow the same 70 plus 30 pattern, while Mathematics, Accountancy and most languages are 80 marks theory plus 20 internal.

This matters for planning in two ways. First, the theory paper is worth 70, not 100, so the time pressure per mark in the written exam is different from Maths, and you should time your sample papers on the actual Physics and Chemistry papers, not a generic one. Second, 30 marks sit outside the theory paper entirely. Students who pour every hour into theory and leave practical preparation to the week before are betting nearly a third of the subject on a rushed record file and an unprepared viva.

The curriculum document also sets out the unit-wise marks for the theory paper and the components of the practical assessment for each subject. Read those pages for your two subjects before planning; they tell you where the marks actually sit, and they change from time to time.

How many hours do Physics and Chemistry need between now and the boards?

Count rather than guess. Sort every chapter into solid, taught but not practised, or not yet taught, then attach an hours estimate to each status and add it up.

Check your chapter list against the 2026-27 syllabus. The current rationalised NCERT textbooks have 14 chapters in Class 12 Physics and 10 in Class 12 Chemistry; use whatever the curriculum lists for your year. Here is a worked example for a student in early October:

The per-chapter hours are estimates to calibrate against your first two weeks, not rates to trust. "Not yet taught" chapters still get school teaching; the six hours are your own practice and notes on top. Add about 50 hours for sample papers (five full papers per subject at about five hours each, including marking and correction) and about 14 hours for practical work, and you reach roughly 158 hours.

If your first paper is in mid-February, early October to then is about 19 weeks, so 158 hours is about 8.3 hours a week for the two subjects together. That leaves room for Maths or Biology, English and a fifth subject in a normal board-year week. If your own total comes out at 250 hours, the plan needs cuts or more weekly hours, and it is far better to discover that in October than in January. Check cbse.gov.in for the 2027 date sheet and recompute once it is published.

How should you track Physics derivations?

In a tracker that records whether you can write each derivation unaided, not whether you have read it. "I understood it in class" is the most common false comfort in Class 12 Physics.

Build the list from your NCERT chapters and the 2026-27 sample paper. A partial example:

The rows are illustrations; build the complete list for your syllabus. The method is simple:

1. Write it on a blank page, no book, no notes, with a labelled diagram where the derivation needs one.
2. Check against NCERT and mark it unaided, with hints, or not yet.
3. Retest the weak ones after three or four days, and again about a week later. Spacing retests out improves retention compared with massing them, according to the review by Cepeda and colleagues in 2006 (summary).
4. Learn the starting idea and the key step, not every line. If you know that the dipole field comes from adding the fields of two point charges and then using the approximation for a large distance, the algebra follows.

Two or three derivations a day, ten minutes each, clears a 30-item list in under two weeks and leaves time for retests.

How should you learn Chemistry reactions without rote?

Group reactions by what they do, record each one in a tracker, and practise them inside short conversions rather than as a list. A list of thirty named reactions read the night before the exam is the least reliable thing you can carry into the hall.

Group them by function. Some add or remove a carbon atom, some reduce a carbonyl group, some introduce or replace an amino group, some form a carbon-carbon bond. The NCERT chapters on haloalkanes and haloarenes; alcohols, phenols and ethers; aldehydes, ketones and carboxylic acids; and amines contain most of them. Then keep a tracker:

Fill in the rest from NCERT. Once a group is in the tracker, practise two- and three-step conversions that use it (for example, getting from a given starting compound to a product with one carbon fewer). Writing conversions from memory is retrieval practice, and the review of learning techniques by Dunlosky and colleagues in 2013 (summary) rated practice testing far above rereading.

If you are also preparing for JEE or NEET, the organic chemistry study plan built on a reagent sheet goes deeper into mechanisms; the board version needs the same understanding written out more fully.

Physical chemistry (solutions, electrochemistry, chemical kinetics) is numerical work and behaves like Physics; inorganic chemistry (the d- and f-block elements and coordination compounds) is recall work. Give inorganic short daily recall slots with self-made question cards, not long weekly reading sessions; a spaced repetition revision timetable shows how to schedule those cards.

How do you practise numericals in both subjects?

Little and often, mixed across chapters, with units written every time. A daily set of four to six numericals across Physics and physical chemistry keeps the skill alive better than one long session at the weekend.

Three habits save marks in board numericals:

• Write the formula before substituting. The marking scheme often gives a mark for the correct relation even if the arithmetic goes wrong later.
• Carry units through the working and box the final answer with its unit.
• Mix chapters within a set once a chapter is finished, so you practise choosing the method, which is what the paper asks of you.

Use NCERT exercises and examples first, then the questions in CBSE's sample papers. For Physics in particular, a numerical you can solve only when you know which chapter it came from is half-learnt.

How much time should the 30 practical marks get?

About 12 to 15 hours across both subjects, as an estimate, spread from October to your school's practical exam dates. That is less than a tenth of the total plan for nearly a third of each subject's marks, which is exactly why it should not be squeezed into the last week.

Your school will set the practical dates and tell you what the assessment includes; check the practical section of the curriculum for the official components in your subject. Typically the work falls into four parts:

The viva drill is the one students skip. For every experiment, be able to say aloud what you measured, why the method works, one source of error and how you reduced it. Practising aloud with a friend or a parent asking "why?" twice is enough.

What does a 19-week Physics and Chemistry calendar look like?

It runs from early October to a mid-February start, in four phases that move from coverage to written practice. Shift the weeks once the 2027 date sheet and your school's practical and pre-board dates are known.

The sample papers in weeks 7 to 19 are where theory becomes written answers. The CBSE sample paper practice schedule covers how to space and mark them, and the three-month Class 12 board plan covers the whole five-subject picture over the final 90 days.

How do you combine this plan with JEE or NEET preparation?

Keep one chapter order for both and add board-style writing on top, rather than running two separate syllabi. The Physics and Chemistry content overlaps heavily; the formats do not.

Entrance preparation trains speed on objective problems. Board papers reward complete derivations, labelled diagrams, chemical equations written out in full and explained steps. A JEE or NEET aspirant who knows the physics perfectly can still lose board marks by writing a two-line answer to a five-mark question. From about December, add one board-style written session per subject per week, and in the final weeks before the theory papers shift most Physics and Chemistry time to board writing. The guide to preparing for Class 12 boards alongside JEE or NEET covers when to switch modes and how to re-enter entrance preparation afterwards.

How can you set this up in MyStudyPlanner?

In MyStudyPlanner, there is no CBSE or board template, so you would choose the "Other" category and add Physics and Chemistry as subjects (alongside your other board subjects), with a lecture count equal to the study sessions your triage produced and a priority of High for the weaker one so it gets more sessions per cycle. Set the daily window around school and coaching hours, and the target completion date a few weeks before the first paper. Sample papers can go in as a mock-test set placed after each subject completes, and practical tasks as custom tasks. The planner's revision tasks come at one, three, seven and fourteen days after each session if the day has room, which suits the tracker retests. Tasks are named by lecture number, not by chapter, so rename them by hand if you want "Wave Optics" on the calendar.

What if you are already behind in October?

Then triage harder, not longer. Open the unit-wise marks in the curriculum document, rank the not-yet-practised chapters by the marks their unit carries, and work from the top. Do not try to give every chapter the same hours.

Three moves help most when time is short:

1. Protect the practical track. It is the cheapest marks per hour in the subject, and falling behind on the record file creates a second deadline crisis in January.
2. Shrink the trackers to the essentials. Prioritise derivations and reactions that appear in the sample paper and in NCERT exercises.
3. Recompute weekly. Count chapters left and weeks left every Sunday. If the required hours keep rising, cut the lowest-mark chapters deliberately rather than letting the calendar cut them for you.

If the plan has already slipped badly, the guide to catching up on a study plan covers how to rebuild the schedule from what is left rather than carrying a growing overdue list.

Frequently Asked Questions

How are Class 12 Physics and Chemistry board marks divided?

According to CBSE's Senior Secondary curriculum for 2026-27, Physics and Chemistry are each assessed as 70 marks of theory and 30 marks of practical work, as are Biology and Computer Science. Mathematics and most languages follow 80 theory and 20 internal. So nearly a third of each science subject is decided outside the theory paper, and your plan should give the practical track its own time.

How many hours do I need for Class 12 Physics and Chemistry boards?

It depends on how much is already done. In the worked example in this article, a student with most chapters already solid or taught needs roughly 160 hours for both subjects between October and the boards, including sample papers and practicals. That is about eight to nine hours a week. Do your own chapter triage first, then multiply by honest hours per chapter.

How do I remember all the Physics derivations for boards?

Keep a derivation tracker: list every derivation in your NCERT chapters, then write each one from memory on a blank page, without the book, and mark it unaided, with hints, or not yet. Retest the weak ones a few days later and again the next week. Understanding the starting idea and the key step matters more than memorising every line.

How do I learn Class 12 Chemistry named reactions without rote learning?

Group them by what they do rather than learning a list: reactions that add or remove a carbon, reduce a carbonyl group, or make or replace an amino group. For each, record reactant, product and reagent in a tracker, then practise two- or three-step conversions that use them. Writing conversions from memory is retrieval practice, which beats rereading a reaction list.

How much time should I give to Class 12 practicals?

As an estimate, about 12 to 15 hours in total across Physics and Chemistry, spread from October to your school's practical dates: completing the record file, revising each experiment's aim, procedure, observations and sources of error, finishing any project, and preparing for viva questions. Thirty marks per subject is too much to leave to the last week before the practical exam.

Can I prepare for JEE or NEET and Class 12 boards in the same plan?

Yes, because the chapters largely overlap, but the answer formats differ. Boards reward complete written derivations, labelled diagrams and explained steps; entrance exams reward speed and accuracy on objective problems. Keep one chapter order for both, add board-style written practice and sample papers from about December, and shift more time to board writing in the final weeks before the theory papers.

Your next step

Spend 60 minutes on triage today. List every Physics and Chemistry chapter in the 2026-27 syllabus, mark each solid, taught but not practised, or not yet taught, and add up the hours with the estimates above. Then write your first five derivations from memory on blank paper. The total and those five results tell you how big your plan really is.