CBSE Class 12 Physics chapter-wise weightage
What the 2023–2026 board papers actually asked, chapter by chapter.
CBSE gives marks to units, not to chapters. Each unit below shows the marks CBSE’s 2025-26 syllabus gives it, and under it how the marks in the 2023–2026 papers actually split between its chapters.
| Chapter | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit-I Electrostatics + Unit-II Current ElectricityCBSE: 16 of 70 marks (22.9%) · in the papers: 23.6% | |||||
| Electric Charges and Fields | 7.4% | 3.2% | 4.7% | 3.2% | 4.6% |
| Electrostatic Potential and Capacitance | 3.7% | 11.4% | 6.0% | 9.9% | 7.7% |
| Current Electricity | 12.0% | 11.7% | 12.5% | 8.6% | 11.2% |
| Unit-III Magnetic Effects of Current and Magnetism + Unit-IV Electromagnetic Induction and Alternating CurrentsCBSE: 17 of 70 marks (24.3%) · in the papers: 25.4% | |||||
| Moving Charges and Magnetism | 10.0% | 11.4% | 10.7% | 8.1% | 10.1% |
| Magnetism and Matter | 2.1% | 1.4% | 1.5% | 0.9% | 1.5% |
| Electromagnetic Induction | 7.9% | 6.5% | 8.1% | 7.9% | 7.6% |
| Alternating Current | 7.6% | 7.0% | 4.4% | 6.1% | 6.3% |
| Unit-V Electromagnetic Waves + Unit-VI OpticsCBSE: 18 of 70 marks (25.7%) · in the papers: 24.1% | |||||
| Electromagnetic Waves | 4.4% | 6.1% | 4.6% | 6.7% | 5.4% |
| Ray Optics and Optical Instruments | 12.0% | 10.1% | 14.3% | 15.5% | 13.0% |
| Wave Optics | 5.1% | 5.2% | 7.8% | 4.7% | 5.7% |
| Unit-VII Dual Nature of Radiation and Matter + Unit-VIII Atoms and NucleiCBSE: 12 of 70 marks (17.1%) · in the papers: 19.6% | |||||
| Dual Nature of Radiation and Matter | 8.3% | 7.8% | 9.0% | 9.2% | 8.5% |
| Atoms | 5.6% | 6.9% | 5.1% | 4.3% | 5.5% |
| Nuclei | 5.8% | 4.7% | 4.7% | 7.0% | 5.6% |
| Unit-IX Electronic DevicesCBSE: 7 of 70 marks (10.0%) · in the papers: 7.3% | |||||
| Semiconductor Electronics: Materials, Devices and Simple Circuits | 8.1% | 6.5% | 6.6% | 7.9% | 7.3% |
How this is counted
From all 1,194 questions in the 2023–2026 CBSE Class 12 Physics papers we hold: every region and set, with a question printed in several sets counted once. A chapter’s share is its marks divided by all the marks of that year’s questions, and the average gives each year equal weight. These are observed shares, not an official CBSE weightage. 2022 is left out: it was the Term-II exam, which covered only part of the syllabus (see the 2022 paper).
Unit marks are CBSE’s own, from the 2025-26 syllabus. Where CBSE groups units under one figure, so does this table.