UP Board Class 12 Physics Syllabus 2026-27 (2027 Exam)

Marks distribution

Total: 100 marks — 70 marks written exam, 30 marks practical (minimum passing: 23 + 10 = 33).

Section A (35 marks):

Unit	Topic	Marks
1	Electrostatics	8
2	Current Electricity	7
3	Magnetic Effects of Current and Magnetism	8
4	Electromagnetic Induction and Alternating Currents	8
5	Electromagnetic Waves	4

Section B (35 marks):

Unit	Topic	Marks
1	Optics	13
2	Dual Nature of Matter and Radiation	6
3	Atoms and Nuclei	8
4	Electronic Devices	8

Topics covered

Electrostatics (8): electric charge and conservation, Coulomb’s law, superposition principle, electric field and field lines, electric dipole, Gauss’s law and its applications, electric potential, capacitors and capacitance, series/parallel combinations, dielectrics and polarization, energy stored in a capacitor.

Current Electricity (7): electric current, drift velocity, Ohm’s law, V-I characteristics, electrical energy and power, resistivity, temperature dependence of resistance, internal resistance of cells, EMF, series/parallel cell combinations, Kirchhoff’s laws, Wheatstone bridge.

Magnetic Effects of Current and Magnetism (8): magnetic field concept, Oersted’s experiment, Biot-Savart law, Ampere’s law, force on a moving charge and current-carrying conductor, force between parallel conductors, moving coil galvanometer and its conversion to ammeter/voltmeter, magnetic dipole moment, bar magnet, magnetic field lines, Gauss’s theorem in magnetism, diamagnetic/paramagnetic/ferromagnetic materials.

Electromagnetic Induction and AC (8): Faraday’s laws, induced EMF and current, Lenz’s law, self and mutual inductance, alternating current, peak and RMS values, reactance and impedance, LCR series circuit resonance, power in AC circuits, power factor, wattless current, AC generator and transformer.

Electromagnetic Waves (4): need for displacement current, characteristics of EM waves (qualitative only), transverse nature, the EM spectrum (radio, microwaves, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, X-rays, gamma rays) and their uses.

Optics (13): reflection, spherical mirrors, mirror formula, refraction, total internal reflection and applications, optical fibres, refraction at spherical surfaces, lenses, lens maker’s formula, magnification, power of a lens, combination of thin lenses, refraction through a prism; wave optics — microscopes and telescopes, Huygens’ principle, interference, Young’s double-slit experiment, diffraction (qualitative), polarization, Malus’s law.

Dual Nature of Matter and Radiation (6): photoelectric effect, Hertz and Lenard’s observations, Einstein’s photoelectric equation, particle nature of light, wave nature of matter, de Broglie relation.

Atoms and Nuclei (8): alpha-particle scattering, Rutherford’s model, Bohr model, energy levels, hydrogen spectrum, nuclear structure and size, mass-energy relation, mass defect, binding energy, nuclear fission and fusion, radioactivity, nuclear force, stellar energy.

Electronic Devices (8, qualitative treatment only): energy bands in solids, conductors, insulators, semiconductors (intrinsic and extrinsic — n-type, p-type), p-n junction diode, I-V characteristics in forward and reverse bias, diode as a rectifier.

Practical exam (30 marks)

Split between external evaluation (15 marks: two experiments worth 5 marks each, one from each section, plus a 5-mark viva) and internal evaluation (15 marks: practical record 4, project work plus viva 8, sessional/continuous assessment 3).

The practical syllabus lists 20 prescribed experiments across two sections, including refractive index measurement (microscope, mirror-lens combinations, prism), focal length determination for mirrors and lenses, Ohm’s law verification, meter bridge resistance measurement, potentiometer experiments (comparing EMFs, internal resistance), galvanometer conversion to ammeter/voltmeter, and characteristic curves for p-n junction and Zener diodes.