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Eight weeks is enough time to make a real difference to your board marks, if you spend it testing yourself rather than rereading. This plan uses the free material CBSE itself publishes, so you practise exactly the format you will face.
What official resources does CBSE provide?
The CBSE Academic website posts sample question papers (SQPs) and marking schemes for Class XII, 2026-27, subject by subject. It also hosts a Class XII question bank.
Look at the 2026-27 Physics sample paper as an example. It is a 3-hour paper for 70 marks with 33 compulsory questions in five sections:
Section A: 16 one-mark questions (12 MCQs and 4 assertion-reasoning).
Section B: 5 two-mark questions.
Section C: 7 three-mark questions.
Section D: 2 four-mark case-study questions.
Section E: 3 five-mark long-answer questions.
Some questions have an internal choice, and calculators are not allowed. The paper notes that there is no change in the question paper design and assessment pattern for 2026-27. Each SQP has a matching marking scheme, such as the Physics marking scheme. Check the SQP for each of your subjects, because the structure differs from subject to subject. For exam dates, use only the official date sheet on cbse.gov.in.
Why test yourself instead of rereading?
A large review of study techniques by Dunlosky and colleagues (2013) rated practice testing and distributed practice (spacing) as "high utility". It rated rereading and highlighting as low utility, and suggested practice testing instead of rereading. The plan below is built on those two ideas: test, and spread the testing out.
Weeks 8 and 7: diagnose and map
Write one SQP per main subject under timed conditions, early in week 8.
Mark it strictly with the official marking scheme. Note where you lost marks: missing steps, wrong units, unlabelled diagrams, or not knowing the content.
Make a one-page chapter list per subject and rate each chapter red, amber or green from the sample paper and your own sense.
Start with red chapters, two per subject per week.
Weeks 6 to 4: chapter cycles with spaced retrieval
Each study session follows the same shape:
Recall first (10 minutes): close the book and write everything you remember about the chapter: definitions, derivations, diagrams.
Check and fill gaps (20 minutes): open NCERT and correct what you wrote.
Practise (30 minutes): answer questions from the question bank or past papers, in the board's style.
Revisit: come back to the same chapter three days later and again a week later, starting with recall each time.
Our spaced revision schedule shows how to lay out these revisits across four weeks.
A sample day in weeks 6 to 4
For a science student with three main subjects:
Morning (90 minutes): one red chapter, recall then gap-filling then practice.
Afternoon (60 minutes): a second subject, revisiting a chapter from three days ago.
Evening (45 minutes): questions from the question bank, then marking.
Weeks 3 and 2: full papers
Write two full papers per subject: the SQP if you have not used it yet, plus past board papers.
Use the real time slot. Check your exam timings on the official date sheet and practise at the same time of day.
Mark each paper with the marking scheme within 24 hours and add every repeated error to a short "watch list".
Practise presentation: diagrams with labels, units in every final answer, derivations with each step shown.
If you are also preparing for JEE, our guide to balancing boards with JEE preparation covers how to divide the weeks.
The final week: consolidate, do not cram
One last timed paper early in the week, then stop full papers.
Each day, a short recall session on formulas, definitions and diagrams, and a read of your watch list.
No new reference books.
Protect sleep. Our post on why sleep before an exam beats an all-nighter explains why.
If a numerical or derivation keeps tripping you up, the Fermi Problem Library has worked problems with a step-by-step solver that explains the reasoning rather than printing an answer. Compare its steps with how the marking scheme awards marks.
Next step: download this year's sample paper and marking scheme for each of your subjects, and book a 3-hour slot this week to write the first one.
