Physical education class 12 syllabus: CBSE units and marking scheme

Unit-wise weightage in the physical education class 12 syllabus

The board curriculum lists each unit with its teaching periods and marks. Some units show an extra figure marked b*, which stands for concept-based items such as tactile diagrams, data interpretation or case studies set for a visually impaired candidate in place of a regular question. Read the table as the weight each unit carries in the question paper.

The figures add up to more than 70 because the paper offers internal choice; you answer only part of some sections, so the final paper is still out of 70.

How the 70 mark paper is set

The board's sample paper splits the theory exam into five sections with 37 questions in all. Use this as your class 12 physical education marking scheme guide, then compare it with whatever specimen paper and answer key CBSE posts for your session.

Topics in each unit

Units 1 and 2: events, children and women

• Functions of sports event management: planning, organising and staffing, plus directing and controlling; committees before, during and after an event
• Fixtures: knock-out with bye and seeding, league by staircase, cyclic and tabular methods, combination tournaments
• Intramural and extramural tournaments; community programmes such as sports day, health run and run for unity
• WHO activity guidelines by age, postural deformities (knock knees, flat foot, round shoulders, lordosis, kyphosis, bow legs, scoliosis) with corrective measures
• Women in sport, menarche and menstrual dysfunction, the female athlete triad

Units 3 and 4: yoga and inclusive sport

• Asanas and pranayama for obesity, diabetes, asthma, hypertension and back pain or arthritis, each with procedure, benefits and contraindications
• Special Olympics, Paralympics and Deaflympics; classification and divisioning; inclusion and ways to make activity accessible for children with special needs

Units 5 to 7: nutrition, testing and physiology

• Balanced diet, macro and micro nutrients, nutritive and non-nutritive parts of food, eating for weight control, pre, during and post competition diet
• Fitness tests for school age groups (BMI, 50 m speed, 600 m run or walk, sit and reach, strength items), Harvard step test, computing BMR, senior citizen fitness test, motor educability test
• Physiological factors behind fitness, effects of exercise on muscles and the heart and lungs, changes with ageing, soft tissue and bone or joint injuries

Units 8 to 10: biomechanics, psychology and training

• Newton's laws in sport, levers, equilibrium and centre of gravity, friction, projectiles
• Personality types, motivation, exercise adherence, aggression, self-esteem, mental imagery, self-talk and goal setting
• Talent identification, micro, meso and macro cycles, methods for strength, endurance, speed, flexibility and coordination, circuit training

The exact asana list under each lifestyle disease has changed between sessions, so learn the ones printed in your current curriculum.

Practical exam: where the 30 marks come from

The record file has three practicals: administering the fitness test, procedure and benefits of two asanas for each lifestyle disease, and one sport with a labelled diagram of the field, equipment, rules, terms and skills. Students with special needs can choose a para sport in place of yogic practices, as long as it differs from the sport shown for proficiency.

Where students lose and gain marks

Fixtures in unit 1 are pure method. Once you can draw a knock-out bracket for any number of teams, with byes placed correctly, and work out the number of matches in a league, that question is close to full marks. Biomechanics looks like physics but asks only for simple applications: name the lever class in a bicep curl, explain why a long jumper leans forward at take-off. Test and measurement rewards memory of each test's procedure and what it measures.

Psychology answers improve when you name the theory, for example the Big Five traits, then link one trait to a sports situation.

A ten week plan alongside your main subjects

1. Weeks 1 and 2: units 1 and 2, with fixtures practised on graph paper.
2. Weeks 3 and 4: yoga for lifestyle diseases and the CWSN unit; make a one page chart of asanas with benefits and contraindications.
3. Weeks 5 and 6: nutrition and test and measurement; memorise each test in a fixed format of purpose, equipment, procedure and scoring.
4. Weeks 7 and 8: physiology, injuries and biomechanics, drawing lever and projectile diagrams.
5. Week 9: psychology and training.
6. Week 10: two timed sample papers and a final check of the record file.

Give the subject three or four focused hours a week. Most of your heavy lifting should go to core subjects listed in the full CBSE class 12 syllabus.

Books and official material

Use the textbook your school prescribes for class 12 along with the curriculum PDF and sample paper on the CBSE academic website. If you studied the subject in class 11, the fitness concepts and yoga basics from the CBSE class 11 syllabus carry forward. Solve past board papers from the class 12 previous year papers page, and browse other subjects through the school boards hub.