Best Offline Course for JEE 2026 | Get IIT in First Attempt | Limited Seats

CBSE Previous Year Question Papers Class 12 Physics - PDF Download

JEE Mains & Advanced

CBSE Class 12 Physics is an important element of the Class 12 curriculum since it covers many concept-based chapters, practicals, and formulae. This subject discusses the links between matter and energy, as well as Dimension, Time, Space, and Motion. Studying for the Class 12 Board test is never simple, and students sometimes struggle to understand the exam design and mark distribution. That is why it is difficult to routinely practice the CBSE Previous Year's Exam in order to understand the kind of questions presented and the grading pattern.

Here, we have given free PDFs of Class 12 Physics Previous Year Question Papers. You can also take a look at the preparation tips that we have provided mentioned down below. 

eSaral is a complete Physics solutions provider. Get to know the important concepts of Class 12 Board Exam Physics through this page Class 12 Physics PDFs that cover all the parts of Physics including Mechanics, Electricity, Magnetism, Thermal Physics, Optics, and modern physics. Apart from PDFs. 

The Class 12 Board Exam  plays a very important role in every student’s career. Physics is one of the most important and difficult subjects as far as the Class 12 CBSE Board Exam  is concerned. Physics paper is a time-bounded subject and finishing it in time is not an easy task to perform. So, students are suggested to practice the Previous Year Question Paper Class 12 Physics rigorously. Solving the papers on your own will enhance your skills and help you score better in the exam. 

We provide a variety of options to prepare for your Physics final exams including previous year question papers, sample papers, and NCERT question papers along with complete solutions. These sample papers and NCERT question papers will help you to understand the exam pattern so that you can tackle the exams with confidence. Our team provides previous year's question paper Class 12 Board Exam Physics in PDF format which is easy to download, print, and share.

How to Solve Class 12 Physics Previous Year Question Papers?

Given below are some of the preparation tips that students should follow while preparing for Class 12 Physics:

  • You should concentrate on developing your conceptual clarity. Because the questions asked in the Class 12 Physics exam are very tricky and are based on both theoretical concepts and applications concepts.

  • Make a note of all the formulas given in the book. Understanding, Practicing, and Revising all the formulas play a vital role in scoring good marks in your board exam.

  • All of the formulas and topics in the Class 12 Physics syllabus must be learned, and you must practice multiple questions on each of these topics.

  • Give equal time and importance to each chapter.

  • You must refer to CBSE Class 12 Physics Previous Year's Question Papers and solve each of them regularly.

  • It is difficult to remember the concepts and formulas, due to the large number of topics, hence, one must do multiple revisions of these chapters

Benefits of Solving CBSE Class 12 Physics last Year Question Papers 

Solving the CBSE Previous Year Question Paper plays a vital role to score good marks in the Class 12 Board Exams. Following are the importance of solving Previous Year Question Papers:

  • Solving CBSE Class 12 Previous Year Question Papers will help the candidate to understand the pattern of questions that can be asked in the examination.

  • It helps you to improve your accuracy rate and time-management skill for exams.

  • Solving the CBSE Last Year Papers for Class 12 Physics will help you to boost your confidence and self-analyze your mistakes during the practices.

  • The previous year’s papers will help you to know all the important questions that were asked in the CBSE Board examinations. Thus, you can give more importance to those topics.

  • Solving the Previous Year Question Papers will prepare you for the main examination as you will get a clear idea about the marking pattern and the level of difficulty of the examination.

Class 12 Physics Question Paper Important Topics 

Chapter 1 Electric Charges and Field

Important Topics:

  • Coulomb’s Law
  • Forces between multiple charges electric field due to system of charges
  • Electric dipole’s electric field on the axial and equatorial point
  • Electric dipole in an external electric field
  • Gauss’s law applications

Chapter 2 Electrostatic Potential and Capacitance

Important Topics:

  • Potential and Electric potential energy due to electric dipole and system of charges
  • Equipotential surfaces
  • Effect of dielectric on capacitors
  • Combinations of capacitors
  • Energy stored in capacitors

Chapter 3 Current Electricity

Important Topics:

  • Ohm’s Law
  • Limitations of ohm’s law
  • Resistivity of different materials
  • Combination of resistors
  • Combination of cells
  • Kirchhoff’s law
  • Meter bridge
  • Potentiometer

Chapter 4 Moving Charges and Magnetism

Important Topics:

  • Magnetic force on a current-carrying wire
  • Motion in a magnetic field
  • Velocity selector
  • Cyclotron
  • Magnetic field on the axis of a circular current carrying loop 6. Ampere’s circuital law
  • Force between two parallel current-carrying wires
  • Torque on current-carrying loop in a magnetic field
  • Moving coil galvanometer

Chapter 5 Magnetism and Matter

Important Topics:

  • Axial magnetic field of a bar magnet as solenoid
  • Electric dipole in a uniform magnetic field
  • Diamagnetic, Paramagnetic, Ferromagnetic Substances
  • Hysteresis Loop

Chapter 6 Electromagnetic Induction

Important Topics:

  • Magnetic flux
  • Faraday’s law of induction
  • Lens law
  • Motional EMF
  • Self-inductance and mutual-inductance
  • Self-inductance and mutual-inductance

Chapter 7 Alternating Current

Important Topics:

  • RC, LC, LR, and LCR Circuits
  • LC oscillations
  • Power factor
  • Resonance and Sharpness
  • Transformers

Chapter 8 Electromagnetic Waves

Important Topics:

  • Displacement Current
  • EM waves
  • Nature of EM waves

Chapter 9 Ray Optics and Optical Instruments

Important Topics:

  • Image formation by spherical mirrors
  • Image formation by spherical lenses
  • Total internal reflection
  • Power and combination of lenses
  • Refraction through a Prism
  • Natural phenomenons due to light
  • Eye
  • Telescope
  • Microscope

Chapter 10 Wave Optics

Important Topics:

  • Reflection and refraction of plane waves using Huygen principle
  • Incoherent and coherent waves addition
  • Interference and Young’s double-slit experiment
  • Diffraction of light
  • Resolving power of optical Instruments
  • Polarization by scattering

Chapter 11 Dual Nature of Radiation and Matter

Important Topics:

  • Photoelectric effect
  • Einstein photoelectric equation
  • de Broglie hypothesis
  • Davisson and Germer experiment

Chapter 12 Atoms

Important Topics:

  • Electron Orbits
  • Atomic spectra
  • Bohr Model of Hydrogen atom
  • Line spectra of the Hydrogen atom
  • de-Broglie explanation of Bohr’s postulate

Chapter 13 Nuclei

Important Topics:

  • Nuclear binding energy
  • Radioactivity
  • Radioactive decays

Chapter 14 Semiconductor Electronics: Materials, Devices, and Simple Circuits

Important Topics:

  • Intrinsic semiconductors
  • Extrinsic semiconductors
  • p-n Junction diode
  • p-n Junction in forward bias and reverse bias
  • Junction diode as a rectifier
  • Zener diode as a voltage regulator
  • n-p-n and p-n-p transistor
  • Transistor as an amplifier
  • Logic gates

Chapter 15 Communication Systems

Important Topics:

  • Elements of communication system
  • Basic terminologies of electronic communication system
  • Propagation of EM waves
  • Amplitude modulation

Class 12 Physics Question Paper Exam Pattern

There are 33 questions in the question paper and all questions are mandatory.

This question paper has five sections which are Section A, Section B, Section C, Section D, and Section E and all the sections are compulsory.

Section A contains 16 questions, 12 MCQ and 4 Assertion Reasoning based of 1 mark each, Section B holds 5 questions of 2 marks each, Section C contains 7 questions of 3 marks each, Section D contains 2 case study based questions of 4 marks each and Section E contains  3 long answer questions of 5 marks each.

There is no overall choice in this question paper. However, an internal choice has been given in one question in Section B, one question in Section C, one question in each CBQ in Section D and all three questions in Section E. Students have to attempt only one of the choices in such questions.

Section

Type of Question

No of Questions

Total Marks

A

Multiple-Choice Questions (MCQs)/ Assertion-Reasoning

16

 

1 x 16 = 16

B

Short Answer Questions

5

2 x 5 = 10

C

Short Answer Questions

7

3 x 7 = 21

D

Case-based Questions



2

4 x 2 = 8

E

Long Answer Questions

3

5 x 3 = 15

Here is the Structure for CBSE Class 12 Physics that has been presented to students and teachers. This will ensure the timely completion of the curriculum, leaving sufficient space for revision for students. You can prepare for your examinations accordingly. Chapters with the highest marks should be on priority in the decreasing order.

Unit Name

Chapter Name

Marks

Electrostatics


Current Electricity

Electric Charges and Fields


Electrostatic Potential and Capacitance

16

Magnetic Effects of Current and Magnetism



Electromagnetic Induction and Alternating Currents



Moving Charges and Magnetism

Magnetism and Matter


Electromagnetic Induction

Alternating currents

17

Electromagnetic Waves

Optics

Electromagnetic Waves

Ray Optics and Optical Instruments

Wave Optics

18

Dual Nature of Radiation and Matter

Atoms and Nuclei

Dual Nature of Radiation and Matter

Atoms

Nuclei

12

Electronic Devices

Semiconductor -Electronics: Materials, Devices and Simple Circuits

7

Preparation Tips for CBSE Class 12 Physics Examination

Focus on Electromagnetism: Give proper attention to topics like electrostatics, current electricity, magnetic effects of current, and electromagnetic induction. Understand the concepts of electric and magnetic fields, Gauss’s law, and Faraday’s law, as they are the basis of many questions.

Modern Physics: Delve into the concepts of modern physics, which has dual nature of radiation and matter, atoms and nuclei, and semiconductor electronics. These topics are crucial and carry proper weightage in the CBSE Class 12 Physics exam.

Optics: You should master the principles of ray optics and wave optics and understand the behavior of light, reflection, refraction, and the formation of images by lenses and mirrors. Moreover, focus on wave nature, interference, and diffraction of light.

Mechanics: Strengthen your understanding of mechanics, covering topics such as rigid body dynamics, work, energy, and power, and rotational motion because these topics are fundamental and require thorough practice to solve numerical problems effectively.

Practice Numerical Questions: Physics is such a subject that demands a strong command over numerical problem-solving. Every day practice numerical questions from all topics to enhance your problem-solving skills and speed.

Understand Derivations: Pay extra attention to understanding and learning the derivations of various laws and principles in physics. Derivations not only help in concept clarity but also help in answering theoretical questions effectively.

Previous Years’ Question Papers: Solve previous years’ question papers to make yourself familiar with the exam pattern and the types of questions asked. It will also help in identifying important topics and focusing your preparation accordingly.

Conceptual Clarity: Focus on building a strong conceptual foundation in all topics given in the syllabus. Physics is a subject that demands a clear understanding of fundamental principles, so ensure that you are well-versed with the underlying concepts.

Frequently Asked Questions

Question 1: Is Class 12 Physics really tough?

Answer: Physics is a conceptual subject and you have to understand all the concepts thoroughly. The first and most important step is to thoroughly prepare your NCERT book. Most of the questions asked are from there. For that, you should refer to the previous year's question papers and also the sample papers. eSaral has all the papers available with solutions for free, you can also refer to them. Before the exam, students must revise all your concepts thoroughly. Practice these previous year's papers and question papers will be of great help.