CBSE Class 12 Physics Exam Rated Moderately Difficult

The Central Board of Secondary Education conducted the Class 12 Physics board examination on February 20, 2026, across India, with students and educators describing the paper as moderately difficult and well-aligned with the NCERT syllabus. The three-hour test, held from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., featured 33 compulsory questions worth 70 marks, divided into five sections that emphasized conceptual understanding and analytical skills over rote memorization.

The exam structure included Section A with one-mark multiple-choice and assertion-reason questions, Section B with five two-mark questions offering internal choices, Section C with three-mark questions including numericals, Section D with four-mark case-based questions, and Section E with three five-mark long-answer questions, also with internal options. No overall choice was provided. Topics spanned electrodynamics, optics, modern physics, semiconductors, and nuclei, with a focus on derivations, multistep numericals, and real-world applications.

Students emerged from the centers with mixed reactions. Many found the paper balanced but lengthy, particularly in Sections B and C, where numerical problems on topics like Gauss's...