CBSE board exams are very important in a student’s academic life as it paves a path for the future studies and entry to good higher education institutions. The students are often faced with doubts as to how to prepare for the boards that ensure they score well. Often popular advice tells them that it’s tough to score well in the boards, therefore students many times go for multiple reference books and materials to find the perfect study material so that they don’t miss out on any aspect of the syllabus and can achieve high marks. However, scoring well in CBSE boards is not that tough. All you need is a good strategy for completion of the syllabus and ample time for revision. In this article, you can find how you can prepare a strategy for scoring 80% and more in CBSE Class 12 Chemistry. You can find practical tips and tricks that will ensure you cover the syllabus on time and go confident for the exam.
Syllabus of Class 12 CBSE Chemistry
The prescribed study resources for the CBSE exams are the NCERT books. They are designed to teach the students the fundamentals and how to apply them to different problems. While preparing for the board exams students must first go through the entire syllabus. Also, the marks weightage for each chapter should be considered so they can adopt a strategy and focus on chapters that can gain them more marks.
Although marks are important from the exam point of view, reading the NCERT thoroughly will help students in making their subject foundation strong, which will help them answer any indirect questions that may be asked in other competitive exams. It will also help them in their future study courses if they pursue their higher education in the subject.
The entire syllabus comprises 16 chapters, which are divided into two books- Part 1 and Part 2. Part 1 consists of 9 chapters. Part 1 mainly covers the inorganic and physical chemistry chapters. Chapters 1-5 of Part 1 cover the physical chemistry units and hold 23 marks of weightage in total. Chapters 6-9 of Part 1 cover the inorganic chemistry units and hold 19 marks weightage. Part 2 of the book contains chapters 10-16, which cover the organic chemistry units. This part holds 28 marks of total weightage.
Let’s see the detailed chapter-wise syllabus of Chemistry Part 1 and the important topics which students should focus on first-
Chapter 1- The Solid State
This chapter describes the characteristics of solid-state. It helps students distinguish between the amorphous and crystalline types of solids and classify them on the nature of the binding forces. It also covers the topic of packing of particles and different kinds of voids and close-packed structures. Students learn about the imperfections in solids and how they affect their properties. They will also learn the correlation between the electrical and magnetic properties of solids and their structure. The end-of-chapter exercise contains 26 questions along with 17 intext questions.
Chapter 2- Solutions
This chapter deals with the formation of different types of solutions. Students learn about expressing the concentration of solutions in different units. Important laws related to solutions, such as Henry’s law and Raoult’s law are discussed here. Numericals related to calculations of molarity and molality are important in this chapter. Students will also learn the different colligative properties and their deviations from normal behaviour. There are 12 intext questions along with 41 exercise questions.
Chapter 3- Electrochemistry
This chapter deals with the study of electricity that is produced when spontaneous chemical reactions take place and its use in bringing non-spontaneous chemical transformations. Students will learn about different types of cells. There are a lot of numerical-based questions from this chapter that students should practice from the topics like Nernst equations, Gibbs energy, electrolytic and electronic conductivity, Kohlrausch law, etc. They will also learn the process of corrosion as an electrochemical process. There are a total of 15 intext questions and 18 exercise questions.
Chapter 4- Chemical Kinetics
This chapter has mainly numerical-based questions and therefore students should practice the exercise questions thoroughly from this chapter. This chapter is also important from a competitive exam point of view. Students will learn about the concepts like average and instantaneous rate of reaction, rate constant, order of reaction, etc. It has a total of 9 intext questions and 30 exercise questions which are mostly numerical.
Chapter 5- Surface chemistry
In this chapter, students will be introduced to chemical reactions that occur at the interfaces. Important concepts like adsorption and its different types will be covered here. An important topic here is enzymes and catalysis. Another important concept is the colloids and their different properties and types. There are 8 intext questions and 27 exercise questions in this chapter.
Chapter 6- General principles and processes of isolation of elements
This chapter describes the metallurgical processes and the extraction of metals since ancient times. Students will learn important terms like minerals, ores, calcination, roasting, refining, etc. Important topics here are the oxidation and reduction involved in extraction procedures and the different processes of refining metals. There are 4 intext and 27 exercise questions in this chapter.
Chapter 7- The p-block elements
This chapter describes the general trends seen in groups 15-18 of the periodic table. Students need to focus on the topics like the preparation, properties and uses of some of the most important elements from these groups like Nitrogen, Oxygen, Sulphur. Also important are the halogens, noble gases, and their properties. There are 34 intext questions and 40 exercise questions in this chapter. Students should focus on understanding the structures of different elements and the important reaction equations from this chapter.
Chapter 8- The d and f block elements
This chapter describes the transition elements of the periodic table. Students need to focus on the general trends of these elements and their characteristics. Also important are their electronic configurations. Elements of these blocks form some of the very important compounds and students should thoroughly practice these reaction equations. There are 10 intext and 38 exercise questions in the chapter.
Chapter 9- Coordination compounds
This chapter introduces coordination compounds and the rules of their nomenclature. Important terms here are the coordination entity, ligand, coordination sphere, oxidation number, etc. Students will also learn the isomers in coordination compounds and the different types of bonding in these compounds. They should thoroughly practice the structure of these compounds. There are10 intext and 32 exercise questions.
Part 2 of the book covers the organic chemistry chapters-
Chapter 10- Haloalkanes and Haloarenes
Students are introduced to the halogenated compounds and their IUPAC nomenclature. Important topics here are the different reactions involved in their preparation and the different chemical reactions they take part in. Students must practice the reaction equations thoroughly and also understand the structural changes during reactions. There are 6 intext and 22 exercise questions in this chapter.
Chapter 11- Alcohols, phenols, and ethers
Students will learn what are alcohols, phenols, and ethers and their nomenclature. Important reactions involved in their preparation should be practised by students. Another important topic is the chemical reactions of these compounds based on their functional groups. There are 11 intext and 33 exercise questions in this chapter.
Chapter 12- Aldehydes, ketones, and carboxylic acids
This chapter will introduce students to these classes of compounds and their nomenclature. Students will learn the structures and functional groups of these compounds. Important topics to focus on are the reactions and their mechanisms and the factors affecting the acidity of carboxylic acids and their reactions. There are 8 intext and 2 exercise questions in this chapter.
Chapter 13- Amines
This chapter deals with the class of compounds called amines and their nomenclature. Important topics here are the classification of amines, methods of their preparation, and the properties of amines. There are 9 intext and 14 exercise questions in this chapter.
Chapter 14- Biomolecules
This chapter describes the different characteristics of biomolecules and their classification. Also, students will learn about the difference between DNA and RNA and the roles of biomolecules in biological systems. There are 8 intext and 25 exercise questions in the chapter.
Chapter 15- Polymers
This chapter entails the different types of polymers and their importance. Students will learn the difference between classes of polymers and their polymerization processes. Important concepts are the preparation of some synthetic polymers and their industrial importance. There are 5 intext and 20 exercise questions in the chapter.
Chapter 15- Chemistry in everyday life
This chapter describes the importance of chemistry in everyday life. Students will be introduced to the concept of drugs, their classification, mechanism of action, and uses. They will also learn about food preservatives and other chemical products we use in day-to-day life. There are 5 intext and 27 exercise questions in this chapter.
This was the detailed topic breakup of the Chemistry Class 12 Syllabus. Students should practice the topics mentioned above thoroughly along with the intext and exercise questions. If a student prepares the chapters by making notes and practicing all the exercise questions given he or she can easily score well in the exam. Students should also refer to previous year’s question papers to get a feel of the kind of questions asked in the exam. Solution books can also help students in clearing their doubts and help in preparation. The most important thing to ace the board exams is clarity of concepts and enough practice of questions.