ISC syllabus class 12: subjects, units and marks

ISC syllabus class 12, full form and how the course is built

ISC stands for Indian School Certificate. It is the class 12 certificate of CISCE, the same council that runs the ICSE exam at class 10. The ISC course is a two year course: class 11 lays the foundation, and the board exam at the end of class 12 tests the class 12 syllabus of each subject.

• English: compulsory for every candidate, with a language paper and a literature paper
• Electives: the science side offers Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Biology and Computer Science, and others include Accounts, Commerce, Business Studies, Economics, History, Political Science, Geography, Psychology, Sociology and Legal Studies, along with Indian and foreign languages
• Internal requirements: Socially Useful Productive Work (SUPW) and community service, assessed by the school

Your school decides which combinations it can offer, so the subject list on your admission form is the one that counts.

Theory and practical marks by subject

In the sciences, the 30 non theory marks are made up of a practical exam plus project work and the practical file. Theory papers in most subjects run for three hours. For commerce and humanities subjects, the split between paper and project is given in each subject's syllabus file, so check it for every elective you take.

ISC class 12 physics and chemistry units

Physics, nine units

1. Electrostatics: Coulomb's law, electric field and flux, Gauss's theorem, potential, capacitors and dielectrics
2. Current electricity: Ohm's law, resistivity, Kirchhoff's rules, the Wheatstone bridge and metre bridge, potentiometer
3. Moving charges and magnetism: Biot Savart and Ampere laws, force on moving charges, the moving coil galvanometer, magnetic materials
4. Induction and AC: Faraday and Lenz laws, self and mutual inductance, LCR series circuits, the transformer
5. Electromagnetic waves and the spectrum
6. Optics: reflection and refraction, lenses, the prism, microscopes and telescopes, interference, diffraction, polarisation
7. Photoelectric effect and matter waves
8. Atomic models, the Bohr picture, nuclear binding energy, fission and fusion
9. Semiconductor devices: diodes, rectifiers, the junction transistor idea and logic gates

Chemistry, three branches

• Physical chemistry: colligative properties of solutions, electrochemical cells and conductance, rates and order of reactions
• Inorganic chemistry: transition metals and lanthanoids, coordination compounds with their naming and bonding
• Organic chemistry: halogen derivatives, compounds with the hydroxyl group, carbonyl compounds and carboxylic acids, amines and other nitrogen compounds, biomolecules such as carbohydrates and proteins

Mathematics and biology at a glance

Mathematics

• Section A (all candidates): functions and relations, inverse trigonometry, matrix algebra with determinants, calculus, where continuity leads into derivatives, rate and tangent problems, integrals and simple differential equations,, then probability
• Section B: vectors, three dimensional geometry and areas through integration, usually chosen by science students
• Section C: calculus used in commerce and economics, regression lines and linear programming, usually chosen by commerce students

You answer Section A plus either B or C, not both.

Biology

• Reproduction: flowering plants, the human reproductive system and reproductive health
• Mendelian inheritance, DNA and gene expression, evolution
• Health and disease, improving food production, useful microbes
• Biotechnology: tools, processes and uses in medicine and farming
• Ecology: populations, ecosystems, biodiversity and conservation, environmental issues

English papers and other electives

English Paper 1 (Language) tests composition, directed writing such as letters and emails, comprehension and grammar. Paper 2 (Literature) is based on the prescribed drama, prose and poetry texts, which CISCE lists in the English syllabus for each examination year.

Commerce students usually take Accounts, Commerce or Business Studies, Economics and Mathematics or another elective. Humanities combinations often include History, Political Science, Geography, Psychology, Sociology and Legal Studies. Computer Science pairs a theory paper with a practical on Java programming. CISCE has also added newer technology electives, robotics among them, at this level.

Pass rules and the improvement exam

• You must pass at least four subjects, and English must be one of them.
• The minimum pass mark is 35 percent in a subject; in subjects with practical work, theory and practical are also assessed separately, so check the rule in each subject file.
• SUPW and community service must be completed and passed.
• Results are declared as Qualified or Not Qualified.
• The old compartment exam has been replaced by an improvement exam in up to two subjects, where the better of the two scores is kept.

These rules sit in the ISC regulations that CISCE publishes with the syllabus, so read them along with your subject files.

Planning your class 12 year

Because 30 marks in each science come from practical work, finish your projects and practical file by the end of the first term instead of leaving them for the pre boards. Then split the theory year into three blocks: cover every unit by October, revise with the specimen papers CISCE releases, and spend the last weeks on timed three hour papers.

• Use the CISCE specimen paper for each subject to see question types and section choices.
• For entrance tests, compare the ISC science units with the JEE Main syllabus, the NEET syllabus or the CUET syllabus; most chapters overlap.
• NCERT books are a useful second reference for science chapters, while your prescribed ISC textbooks remain the base.

Switching boards or comparing courses? See the CBSE class 12 syllabus, the earlier ICSE class 10 syllabus, or the school boards hub.