Unit-wise marks
| Unit | Chapters | Marks | Answered in |
|---|---|---|---|
| I. Chemical Substances – Nature and Behaviour | Chemical Reactions and Equations, Acids, Bases and Salts, Metals and Non-metals, Carbon and its Compounds | 25 | Section B Chemistry |
| II. World of Living | Life Processes, Control and Coordination, How do Organisms Reproduce?, Heredity | 25 | Section A Biology |
| III. Natural Phenomena | Light – Reflection and Refraction, The Human Eye and the Colourful World | 12 | Section C Physics |
| IV. Effects of Current | Electricity, Magnetic Effects of Electric Current | 13 | Section C Physics |
| V. Natural Resources | Our Environment | 5 | Section A Biology |
| Total | 13 chapters | 80 |
In all four papers studied (the 2026-27 sample paper and the board papers of 2025, February 2026 and the May 2026 second board exam):
- Chemistry carried exactly 25 marks and Biology exactly 30.
- Physics carried 25, always split as 12 for Light (Reflection and Refraction plus the Human Eye) and 13 for Electricity and Magnetic Effects.
- Our Environment got 5 marks in three papers and 4 in February 2026, when the other Biology chapters made up the difference.
Inside a section, marks move between chapters from paper to paper; the section totals do not.
Chapter-wise marks and the questions each chapter gets
"Range" is the lowest and highest marks the chapter got across the four papers. An OR is counted under the chapter of its first option.
| Section | Chapter | SQP 2026-27 | Range in the 4 papers | What is usually asked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Biology (30) | Life Processes | 11 | 7-11 | Two to four MCQs and often an Assertion-Reason; 2- and 3-mark questions on nutrition, respiration, transport and excretion; the 5-marker in the sample paper and February 2026, with a diagram (heart, stomata, nephron, breathing) |
| Control and Coordination | 5 | 4-8 | MCQs on the brain, hormones and plant movements; a 2-mark question (often with an OR); a 3-mark question; a case study on tropisms (February 2026) or the 5-marker with a reflex-arc flow chart (May 2026) | |
| How do Organisms Reproduce? | 4 | 4-8 | MCQs on flower parts, contraception and reproductive health; an Assertion-Reason; a 2-mark question (budding, fission, uterus after implantation); the 5-marker in 2025 | |
| Heredity | 5 | 5-7 | MCQs on Mendel's ratios and chromosome numbers in gametes; a case study or a 3-mark question on a mono- or dihybrid cross | |
| Our Environment | 5 | 4-5 | MCQs and an Assertion-Reason on food chains, the 10% law and biological magnification; a 2- or 3-mark question on energy flow or waste | |
| B Chemistry (25) | Chemical Reactions and Equations | 7 | 4-7 | MCQs on types of reaction, electrolysis of water, rancidity; an Assertion-Reason; a 3-mark 'account for these observations' question; the Chemistry 5-marker in the sample paper (who is right, and correcting equations) |
| Acids, Bases and Salts | 4 | 4-8 | MCQs on indicators, pH, water of crystallisation and the chlor-alkali process; sometimes an Assertion-Reason; often a 2-mark question; the Chemistry case study in all three board papers (pH, common salts, brine) | |
| Metals and Non-metals | 7 | 5-10 | MCQs on reactivity, properties and alloys; a 3-mark 'give reasons' or extraction and refining question; a case study on an experiment (sample paper) or the 5-marker (May 2026) | |
| Carbon and its Compounds | 7 | 5-7 | MCQs on functional groups, isomers and soaps; 2- and 3-mark questions on ethanol and ethanoic acid reactions with conditions; the 5-marker in 2025 and February 2026 | |
| C Physics (25) | Light – Reflection and Refraction | 7 | 4-11 | MCQs on mirrors and lenses, and an Assertion-Reason; a 2-mark question (Snell's law, refractive index); a 3-mark lens or mirror numerical or ray-diagram question; a case study (telescope) or the 5-marker (2025) |
| The Human Eye and the Colourful World | 5 | 1-8 | Sometimes MCQs on the eye and its defects; a 3-mark question, often with a diagram (rainbow, myopia and its correction, Tyndall effect); the 5-marker in the sample paper with a ray diagram | |
| Electricity | 6 | 6-9 | Sometimes an MCQ on power or current; a 2-mark question with an OR (Joule's heating, resistivity); a circuit numerical in every paper studied, at 2, 3 or 5 marks, sometimes as one option of an OR; the 5-marker in both 2026 papers | |
| Magnetic Effects of Electric Current | 7 | 4-7 | An MCQ or Assertion-Reason on field lines and solenoids; a 3-mark question (right-hand thumb rule, fuse and earth wire, force on a conductor); a case study on a device (door lock, domestic circuit) |
Patterns worth knowing:
- Long answers (5 marks) rotate. In Biology they came from Life Processes, Control and Coordination or Reproduction; in Chemistry from Chemical Reactions, Metals or Carbon; in Physics from Light, the Human Eye or Electricity.
- Acids, Bases and Salts was the Chemistry case study in all three board papers.
- A circuit numerical (equivalent resistance, current, potential difference across one part) came in every paper studied, at 2, 3 or 5 marks, sometimes as one option of an OR.
- Physics numericals also include the lens and mirror formulae with magnification, power of a lens, with energy in kWh, and resistivity. Biology numericals are Mendel's ratios and the 10% law. Chemistry has no true numericals, but many marks for balanced and corrected equations.
- Light and the Human Eye trade marks within a fixed 12. Light got 4-11 and the Eye 1-8 across the four papers, but the two always added up to 12. Prepare both fully.
Deleted or not assessed in 2026-27
Older guide books still carry these topics. Do not study them for the board exam. Some are still taught in school for internal assessment only.
| Chapter or topic | Not in the 2026-27 board exam |
|---|---|
| Periodic Classification of Elements | The whole chapter: Döbereiner's triads, Newlands' octaves, Mendeléev's and the modern periodic table (internal assessment only) |
| Evolution (from Heredity) | Acquired and inherited traits, speciation, evolution and classification, fossils, evolution by stages, human evolution (internal assessment only). Heredity keeps Mendel's laws and a brief idea of sex determination |
| Magnetic Effects of Electric Current | Electric motor, electromagnetic induction, electric generator (internal assessment only) |
| Sources of Energy | The whole chapter |
| Sustainable Management of Natural Resources | The whole chapter. The Natural Resources unit is now only Our Environment |
| The Human Eye and the Colourful World | Why the sun looks reddish at sunrise and sunset |
| Acids, Bases and Salts | The definition of pH in terms of logarithms |
| Light: Reflection and Refraction | Derivation of the mirror formula (using the formula is in) |
| Every chapter | Information given in the textbook's boxes is not assessed in the year-end exam |
Easy to miss, but still in: corrosion and basic metallurgy; soaps and detergents; naming carbon compounds with halo, alcohol, aldehyde, ketone and acid groups; power of a lens; direct and alternating current and domestic circuits; reproductive health and family planning; a brief idea of sex determination.
Where the easy marks are
The 1-mark questions. There are 20 of them, worth 20 marks, and 9 are in Biology. They reward careful reading more than anything else.
Chapters with a small set of ideas that come back every year:
| Chapter | Marks (range) | What to master |
|---|---|---|
| Our Environment | 4-5 | Food chains and trophic levels, the 10% law, biological magnification, ozone, biodegradable waste |
| Heredity | 5-7 | Mendel's monohybrid and dihybrid crosses with ratios (3 : 1, 9 : 3 : 3 : 1), chromosome numbers in gametes, sex determination |
| Chemical Reactions and Equations | 4-7 | The five types of reaction with one equation each, balancing, oxidation and reduction, corrosion and rancidity |
| Electricity | 6-9 | Ohm's law, series and parallel, , , , kWh; one circuit numerical every year |
| The Human Eye and the Colourful World | 1-8 | The eye's parts, myopia and hypermetropia with correction diagrams, dispersion, rainbow, Tyndall effect |
These five chapters carried between 23 and 33 marks in the four papers.
Diagrams are the other steady source. The same few come back again and again: human heart, nephron, stomata, alveoli and the breathing mechanism, the digestive system, a flower's section, pollen germinating on the stigma, the human male and female reproductive systems (identifying parts), budding in Hydra, the reflex arc; lab set-ups such as the electrolysis of water; ray diagrams for mirrors, lenses, the glass slab, the prism and eye defects; field lines of a bar magnet, a straight wire and a solenoid; electron-dot structures of simple molecules. Learn to draw each one well, and a 2- or 5-mark question becomes safe marks.