ISC EXAM LATEST UPDATE

The Class 11 exams depend on the schools, as they decide when to conduct the exams. Usually, the Class 11 exams are held a few months before the final board exams. This gives you the opportunity to prepare for the final board exams and also mentally prepare for them. Therefore, it is better to contact your school regarding the Class 11 exams, and also take advantage of the complete information provided here for the final board exam.

The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) has officially released the date sheet for ISC (Class 12) board examinations for 2025. This year class 12th board exam will be started from 13 February 2025 and will last upto 05 April 2025, it will take around 52 days to complete the class 12th board exam. The first exam will be held on 13 February 2025 for Environmental Science subject and the last exam will be held on 05 April 2025 for Art subject. The Indian School Certificate Examination results will be declared in the month of May.

Official Syllabus

There will be two papers in the subject:

Paper I: Theory of 3 hours and of 70 marks

Paper II: Practical of 3 hours and of 30 marks

PAPER I –THEORY – 70 MARKS

Paper I will be of 3 hours duration and be divided into two parts.

Part I (20 marks): This part will consist of compulsory short answer questions, testing knowledge, application, and skills relating to the entire syllabus.

Part II (50 marks): This part will be divided into three Sections, A, B, and C. Candidates will be required to answer two questions out of three from Section A (each carrying 10 marks) and two questions out of three from Section B (each carrying 10 marks) and two questions out of three from Section C (each carrying 5 marks). Therefore, a total of six questions are to be answered in Part II.

SECTION A

Basic Computer Hardware and Software

1. Numbers

Representation of numbers in different bases and interconversion between them (e.g. binary, octal, decimal, hexadecimal). Addition and subtraction operations for numbers in different bases.

Introduce the positional system of representing numbers and the concept of a base. Discuss the conversion of representations between different bases using English or pseudo code. These algorithms are also good examples for defining different functions in a class modelling numbers (when programming is discussed).  For addition and subtraction(1’s complement and 2’s complement)use the analogy with decimal numbers, emphasize how carry works (this will be useful later when binary adders are discussed).

2. Encodings

(a) Binary encodings for integers and real numbers using a finite number of bits (sign-magnitude,2’s complement, mantissa-exponent notation).

Signed, unsigned numbers, least and most significant bits. Sign-magnitude representation and its shortcomings (two representations for 0, addition requires extra step); two’s-complement representation. Operations (arithmetic, logical, shift), discuss the basic algorithms used for the arithmetic operations. Floating point representation: normalized scientific notation, mantissa-exponent representation, binary point (discuss trade-off between size of mantissa and exponent). Single and double precision.

(b) Characters and their encodings (e.g. ASCII, ISCII, Unicode).

Discuss the limitations of the ASCII code in representing characters of other languages. Discuss the Unicode representation for the local language. Java uses Unicode, so strings in the local language can be used (they can be displayed if fonts are available) – a simple table lookup for local language equivalents for Latin (i.e. English) character strings may be done.

3. Propositional logic, Hardware implementation, Arithmetic operations

(a) Propositional logic, well-formed formulae, truth values and interpretation of well-formed formulae, truth tables.

Propositional variables; the common logical connectives ((not)(negation),

ISC EXAM LATEST UPDATE

The Class 11 exams depend on the schools, as they decide when to conduct the exams. Usually, the Class 11 exams are held a few months before the final board exams. This gives you the opportunity to prepare for the final board exams and also mentally prepare for them. Therefore, it is better to contact your school regarding the Class 11 exams, and also take advantage of the complete information provided here for the final board exam.

The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) has officially released the date sheet for ISC (Class 12) board examinations for 2025. This year class 12th board exam will be started from 13 February 2025 and will last upto 05 April 2025, it will take around 52 days to complete the class 12th board exam. The first exam will be held on 13 February 2025 for Environmental Science subject and the last exam will be held on 05 April 2025 for Art subject. The Indian School Certificate Examination results will be declared in the month of May.

Official Syllabus

There will be two papers in the subject:

Paper I: Theory of 3 hours and of 70 marks

Paper II: Practical of 3 hours and of 30 marks

PAPER I –THEORY – 70 MARKS

Paper I will be of 3 hours duration and be divided into two parts.

Part I (20 marks): This part will consist of compulsory short answer questions, testing knowledge, application, and skills relating to the entire syllabus.

Part II (50 marks): This part will be divided into three Sections, A, B, and C. Candidates will be required to answer two questions out of three from Section A (each carrying 10 marks) and two questions out of three from Section B (each carrying 10 marks) and two questions out of three from Section C (each carrying 5 marks). Therefore, a total of six questions are to be answered in Part II.

SECTION A

Basic Computer Hardware and Software

1. Numbers

Representation of numbers in different bases and interconversion between them (e.g. binary, octal, decimal, hexadecimal). Addition and subtraction operations for numbers in different bases.

Introduce the positional system of representing numbers and the concept of a base. Discuss the conversion of representations between different bases using English or pseudo code. These algorithms are also good examples for defining different functions in a class modelling numbers (when programming is discussed).  For addition and subtraction(1’s complement and 2’s complement)use the analogy with decimal numbers, emphasize how carry works (this will be useful later when binary adders are discussed).

2. Encodings

(a) Binary encodings for integers and real numbers using a finite number of bits (sign-magnitude,2’s complement, mantissa-exponent notation).

Signed, unsigned numbers, least and most significant bits. Sign-magnitude representation and its shortcomings (two representations for 0, addition requires extra step); two’s-complement representation. Operations (arithmetic, logical, shift), discuss the basic algorithms used for the arithmetic operations. Floating point representation: normalized scientific notation, mantissa-exponent representation, binary point (discuss trade-off between size of mantissa and exponent). Single and double precision.

(b) Characters and their encodings (e.g. ASCII, ISCII, Unicode).

Discuss the limitations of the ASCII code in representing characters of other languages. Discuss the Unicode representation for the local language. Java uses Unicode, so strings in the local language can be used (they can be displayed if fonts are available) – a simple table lookup for local language equivalents for Latin (i.e. English) character strings may be done.

3. Propositional logic, Hardware implementation, Arithmetic operations

(a) Propositional logic, well-formed formulae, truth values and interpretation of well-formed formulae, truth tables.

Propositional variables; the common logical connectives ((not)(negation), (and)(conjunction), (or)(disjunction), ? (implication), ? (equivalence)); definition
of a well-formed formula (wff); representation of simple word problems as wff; (this can be used for motivation); the values true and false; interpretation of a wff; truth tables; satisfiable, unsatisfiable, and valid formulae.

(b) Logic and hardware, basic gates (AND, NOT, OR) and their universality, other gates (NAND, NOR, XOR, XNOR), half adder, full adder.

Show how the logic in (a) above can be realized in hardware in the form of gates. These gates can then be combined to implement the basic operations for arithmetic. Tie up with the arithmetic operations on integers discussed earlier in 2 (a).

SECTION B

The programming element in the syllabus is aimed at algorithmic problem solving and not merely rote learning of Java syntax. The Java version used should be 5.0 or later. For programming, the students can use any text editor and the javac and java programs or any other development environment: for example, BlueJ, Eclipse, NetBeans etc. BlueJ is strongly recommended for its simplicity, ease of use and because it is very well suited for an ‘objects first’ approach.

4. Introduction to Object Oriented Programming using Java

Note that topics 5 to 12 should be introduced almost simultaneously along with Classes and their definitions.

5. Objects

(a) Objects as data (attributes) + behaviour (methods or methods); object as an instance of a class.

Difference between object and class should be made very clear. BlueJ (www.bluej.org) and Greenfoot (www.greenfoot.org) can be used for this purpose.

(b) Analysis of some real-world programming examples in terms of objects and classes.

Use simple examples like a calculator, date, number etc. to illustrate how they can be treated as objects that behave in certain welldefined ways and how the interface provides a way to access behaviour. Illustrate behaviour  changes by adding new methods, deleting old methods or modifying existing methods.

(c) Basic concept of a virtual machine; Java Virtual Machine (JVM); compilation and execution of Java programs (the javac and java programs).

The JVM is a machine but built as a program and not through hardware. Therefore it is called a virtual machine. To run, JVM machine language programs require an interpreter. The advantage is that such JVM machine language programs (.class files) are portable and can run on any machine that has the java program.

(d) Compile time and run time errors; basic concept of an exception, the Exception class, try-catch, throw, throws and finally.

Differentiate between compile time and run time errors. Run time errors crash the program. Recovery is possible by the use of exceptions. Explain how an exception object is created and passed up until a matching catch is  found. This behaviour is different from the one where a value is returned by a deeply nested method call.

6. Primitive values, Wrapper classes, Types and casting

Primitive values and types: byte, int, short, long, float, double, boolean, char. Corresponding wrapper classes for each primitive type. Class as type of the object. Class as mechanism for user defined types. Changing types through user defined casting and automatic type coercion for some primitive types.

Ideally, everything should be a class; primitive types are defined for efficiency reasons; each primitive type has a corresponding wrapper class. Classes as user defined types. In some cases types are changed by automatic  coercion or casting – e.g. mixed type expressions. However, casting in general is not a good idea and should be avoided, if possible.

7. Variables, Expressions

Variables as names for values; named constants (final), expressions (arithmetic and logical) and their evaluation (operators, associativity, precedence). Assignment operation; difference between left-hand side and right-hand side of assignment.

Variables denote values; variables are already defined as attributes in classes; variables have types that constrain the values it can denote. Difference between variables denoting primitive values and object values–variables denoting objects are references to those objects. The assignment operator = is special. The variable onthe LHS of = denotes the memory location while the same variable on the RHS denotes the contents of the location e.g. i = i + 2.

NOTE: Library functions for solving expressions may be used as and when required.

8. Statements, Scope

Statements; conditional (if, if else, if else if, switch case) ternary operator, looping (for, while, do while), continue, break; grouping statements in blocks, scope and visibility of variables.

Describe the semantics ofthe conditional and looping statements in detail. Evaluation of the condition in conditional statements.

Nesting of blocks. Variables with block scope,methodscope, class scope. Visibility rules when variables with the same name are defined in differentscopes.

9. Methods and Constructors

Methods and Constructors (as abstractions for complex user defined operations on objects), methods as mechanisms for side effects; formal arguments and actual arguments in methods; Static methods and variables. The this operator. Examples of algorithmic problem solving using methods (number problems, finding roots of algebraic equations etc.).

Methods are like complex operations where the object is implicitly the first argument. Operator this denotes the current object. Methods typically return values. Illustrate the difference between primitive values and object values as arguments (changes made inside methods persist after the call for object values). Static definitions as class variables and class methods visible and shared by all instances. Need for static methods and variables. Introduce the main method–needed to begin execution. Constructor as a special kind of method; the new operator; multiple constructors with different argument structures; constructor returns a reference to the object.

10. Arrays, Strings

Structured data types – arrays (single and multidimensional), strings. Example algorithms that use structured data types (searching, finding maximum/minimum, sorting techniques, solving systems of linear equations, substring, concatenation, length, access to char in string, etc.).

Storing many data elements of the same type requires structured data types–like arrays. Access in arrays is constant time and does not depend on the number of elements. Sorting techniques (bubble, selection,  insertion), Structured data types can be defined by classes–String. Introduce the Java library String class and the basic operations on strings (accessing individual characters, various substring operations, concatenation, replacement, index of operations).

SECTION C

11. Basic input/output Data File Handling (Binary)

(a) Basic input/output using Scanner and Printer classes.

Input/output exceptions. Tokens in an input stream, concept of whitespace, extracting tokens from an input stream (String Tokenizer class). The Scanner class can be used for input of various types of data (e.g. int, float, char etc.) from the standard input stream. Similarly, the Printer class handles output. Only basic input and output using these classes should be covered.

Discuss the concept of a token (a delimited continuous stream of characters that is meaningful in the application program – e.g. words in a sentence where the delimiter is the blank character). This naturally leads to the idea of delimiters and in particular whitespace and user defined characters as delimiters. As an example show how the StringTokenizer class allows one to extract a sequence of tokens from a string with user defined delimiters.

(b) Data File Handling

Need for Data file, Input Stream, Output Stream, Byte Stream (FileInputStream and FileOutputStream), Character Stream (FileReader, FileWriter), Operations- Creation, Reading, Writing, Appending, and Searching.

12. Recursion

Concept of recursion, simple recursive methods (e.g. factorial, GCD, binary search, conversion of representations of numbers between different bases).

Many problems can be solved very elegantly by observing that the solution can be composedof solutions to ‘smaller’ versions of the same problem with the base version having a known simple solution. Recursion can be initially motivated by using recursive equations to define certain methods. These definitions are fairly obvious and are easy to understand. The definitions can be directly converted to a program. Emphasize that any recursion must havea base case. Otherwise, the computation can go into an infinite loop.

13. Implementation of algorithms to solve problems

The students are required to do lab assignments in the computer lab concurrently with the lectures. Programming assignments should be done such that each major topic is covered in at least one assignment. Assignment problems should be designed so that they are sufficiently challenging and make the student do algorithm design, address correctness issues, implement and execute the algorithm in Java and debug where necessary.

Self-explanatory.

14. Packages

Definition, creation of packages, importing user defined packages, interactionof objects across packages.

Java Application Programming Interface (API), development of applications using user defined packages.

15. Trends in computing and ethical issues

(a) Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. Brief understanding of the above and their impact on Society.

(b) Cyber Security, privacy, netiquette, spam, phishing. Brief understanding of the above

(c) Intellectual property, Software copyright and patents and Free Software Foundation.

Intellectual property and corresponding laws and rights, software as intellectual property.

Software copyright and patents and the difference between the two; trademarks; software licensing and piracy. free Software Foundation and its position on software, Open Source Software, various types of licensing (e.g. GPL, BSD).

Social impact and ethical issues should be discussed and debated in class. The important thing is for students to realise that these are complex issues and there are multiple points of view on many of them and there is no single ‘correct’ or ‘right’ view.

PAPER II:

PRACTICAL – 30 MARKS

This paper of three hours duration will be evaluated internally by the school. 

The paper shall consist of three programming problems from which a candidate has to attempt any one. The practical consists of the two parts:

(1) Planning Session

(2) Examination Session

The total time to be spent on the Planning session and the Examination session is three hours. A maximum of 90 minutes is permitted for the Planning session and 90 minutes for the Examination session.

Candidates are to be permitted to proceed to the Examination Session only after the 90 minutes of the Planning Session are over.

Planning Session

The candidates will be required to prepare an algorithm and a hand-written Java program to solve the problem.

Examination Session

The program handed in at the end of the Planning session shall be returned to the candidates. The candidates will be required to key-in and execute the ,Java program on seen and unseen inputs individually on the Computer and show execution to the examiner. A printout of the program listing, including output results should be attached to the answer script containing the algorithm and handwritten program. This should be returned to the examiner. The program should be sufficiently documented so that the algorithm, representation and development process is clear from reading the program. Large differences between the planned program and the printout will result in loss of marks. Teachers should maintain a record of all the assignments done as part of the practical work throughout the year and give it due credit at the time of cumulative evaluation at the end of the year. Students are expected to do a minimum of twenty assignments for the year and ONE project based on the syllabus.

List of Suggested Projects:

PRESENTATION / MODEL BASED/ APPLICATION BASED

1. Creating an expert system for road-traffic management (routing and re-routing of vehicles depending on congestion).

2. Creating an expert system for medical diagnosis on the basis of symptoms and prescribe a suitable treatment.

3. Creating a security system for age-appropriate access to social media.

4. Simulate Adders using Arduino Controllers and Components.

5. Simulate a converter of Binary to Decimal number systems using Arduino Controllers and Components.

6. Develop a console-based application using Java for Movie Ticket Reservation.

7. Develop a console-based application using Java to encrypt and decrypt a message (using cipher text, Unicode-exchange, etc).

8. Develop a console-based application using Java to find name of the bank and branch location from IFSC.

9. Develop a console-based application using Java to calculate taxable income (only direct tax).

10. Develop a console-based application using Java to develop a simple text editor (text typing, copy, cut, paste, delete).

EVALUATION

Marks (out of a total of 30) should be distributed as given below:

Continuous Evaluation 

Candidates will be required to submit a work file containing the practical work related to programming assignments done during the year and ONE project.

1. Programming assignments done throughout the year (10 Marks)

2. Project Work (based on any topic from the syllabus) (5 Marks)

Terminal Evaluation

1. Solution to programming problem on the computer (15 Marks)

(Marks should be given for choice of algorithm and implementation strategy, documentation, correct output on known inputs mentioned in the question paper, correct output for unknown inputs available only to the examiner).

TO KNOW MORE

For Official Website: click here

For Time Table: click here

ISC EXAM LATEST UPDATE

The Class 11 exams depend on the schools, as they decide when to conduct the exams. Usually, the Class 11 exams are held a few months before the final board exams. This gives you the opportunity to prepare for the final board exams and also mentally prepare for them. Therefore, it is better to contact your school regarding the Class 11 exams, and also take advantage of the complete information provided here for the final board exam.

The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) has officially released the date sheet for ISC (Class 12) board examinations for 2025. This year class 12th board exam will be started from 13 February 2025 and will last upto 05 April 2025, it will take around 52 days to complete the class 12th board exam. The first exam will be held on 13 February 2025 for Environmental Science subject and the last exam will be held on 05 April 2025 for Art subject. The Indian School Certificate Examination results will be declared in the month of May.

TIME TABLE - COMPUTER SCIENCE

TIME TABLE - ALL SUBJECTS

ISC EXAM LATEST UPDATE

The Class 11 exams depend on the schools, as they decide when to conduct the exams. Usually, the Class 11 exams are held a few months before the final board exams. This gives you the opportunity to prepare for the final board exams and also mentally prepare for them. Therefore, it is better to contact your school regarding the Class 11 exams, and also take advantage of the complete information provided here for the final board exam.

The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) has officially released the date sheet for ISC (Class 12) board examinations for 2025. This year class 12th board exam will be started from 13 February 2025 and will last upto 05 April 2025, it will take around 52 days to complete the class 12th board exam. The first exam will be held on 13 February 2025 for Environmental Science subject and the last exam will be held on 05 April 2025 for Art subject. The Indian School Certificate Examination results will be declared in the month of May.

TIME TABLE - COMPUTER SCIENCE

TIME TABLE - ALL SUBJECTS

TO KNOW MORE

For Official Website: click here

For Time Table: click here

ISC EXAM LATEST UPDATE

The Class 11 exams depend on the schools, as they decide when to conduct the exams. Usually, the Class 11 exams are held a few months before the final board exams. This gives you the opportunity to prepare for the final board exams and also mentally prepare for them. Therefore, it is better to contact your school regarding the Class 11 exams, and also take advantage of the complete information provided here for the final board exam.

The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) has officially released the date sheet for ISC (Class 12) board examinations for 2025. This year class 12th board exam will be started from 13 February 2025 and will last upto 05 April 2025, it will take around 52 days to complete the class 12th board exam. The first exam will be held on 13 February 2025 for Environmental Science subject and the last exam will be held on 05 April 2025 for Art subject. The Indian School Certificate Examination results will be declared in the month of May.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS OF THE BOARD EXAM

TIME TABLE

This year Class 12th ISC Final exams will be conducted for the following subjects:

ISC EXAM LATEST UPDATE

The Class 11 exams depend on the schools, as they decide when to conduct the exams. Usually, the Class 11 exams are held a few months before the final board exams. This gives you the opportunity to prepare for the final board exams and also mentally prepare for them. Therefore, it is better to contact your school regarding the Class 11 exams, and also take advantage of the complete information provided here for the final board exam.

The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) has officially released the date sheet for ISC (Class 12) board examinations for 2025. This year class 12th board exam will be started from 13 February 2025 and will last upto 05 April 2025, it will take around 52 days to complete the class 12th board exam. The first exam will be held on 13 February 2025 for Environmental Science subject and the last exam will be held on 05 April 2025 for Art subject. The Indian School Certificate Examination results will be declared in the month of May.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS OF THE BOARD EXAM

TIME TABLE

This year Class 12th ISC Final exams will be conducted for the following subjects:

IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS

1. In addition to the duration indicated on the timetable for writing the paper, 15 minutes time is given for reading the Question Paper.

2. The Indian School Certificate Year 2025 Examination results will be declared in the month of May 2025.

3. The results will be made available on the official website of the CISCE.

4. For ISC, the marks of the Practical/Project work Of the subject, already awarded to the candidate in the main examination, Will be carried forward. However, if the candidate was absent earlier either in Practical or during assessment of Project Work of the subject, then, the candidate, in addition to taking the Theory examination, is permitted to submit the Project Work and/or for Practical. which should then be assessed, and marks awarded and submitted.

5. CISCE will not retain answer scripts of the candidates later than 60 days from the day of the declaration of results. The same shall be destroyed thereafter.

7. All candidates who appear for the ISC Main Examination, are eligible to take the Improvement Examination' conducted in the same year of Examination.

HOW TO CHECK TIME TABLE

Students who are planning to appear for the ISC Class 12th exam can download their complete timetable by following these simple steps:

Step 1: Visit the official CISCE website: cisce.org

Step 2: On the homepage, find and click on the link for “ISC Class 12th Time Table”

Step 3: A new page will open displaying the ISC exam date sheet in PDF format.

Step 4: Carefully review the date sheet to get all the necessary details regarding the ISC exam.

Step 5: Download and save the timetable. It is also recommended to take a printout for future reference.

TO KNOW MORE

For Official Website: click here

For Time Table: click here