What the board asks

We went through the ISC board papers, question by question, and matched each question to a topic. Here is what was asked, how often, and what was never asked.

Computer Science: 180 topics in the 2027 syllabus, across 10 units. The board has asked 117 of them at least once. 63 were never asked in the papers we checked.

Pick a unit

CS5 Methods

This unit carries about 5 marks in the paper. We split it into 14 topics: each is one thing an examiner can ask, and you can practise it on paper in 5 to 25 minutes. The board has asked 9 of them. 5 were never asked. The top 5 topics make 80% of all the times this unit was asked. Last asked: 2026.

9asked by the board at least once

5in the syllabus, never asked

20times a topic of this unit was asked

3.7hours for one attempt at every topic

What the papers ask most

  • Design a class on a digit-based special number6 times, last 2026
  • Design a class whose method takes or returns an object3 times, last 2026
  • Fill the blanks in a digit-extraction method3 times, last 2025
  • Instance vs class (static) variables and methods; static final2 times, last 2026
  • Purpose and uses of the keyword this2 times, last 2025
  • Method header, return type and the return statementonce, last 2026
  • Method overloading: signature rules and compile-time matchingonce, last 2025 improvement
  • Design a class on dates and day numbersonce, last 2020
  • Design a class on a factor or prime based numberonce, last 2018

In the syllabus, never asked (5)

They can still come, because they are in the syllabus. Give each one clean attempt. Your plan has two practice questions for each.

  • Formal vs actual arguments; pass by value vs referenceComparison
  • Output of code passing primitive and object argumentsDry run / output
  • Output of code using a static counter and static methodsDry run / output
  • Design a class that sums a series using methodsProgram
  • Design a class to find roots of an algebraic equationProgram

All the topics in Computer Science: Methods →

The 10 topics Computer Science papers ask most

Counted on the board papers from 2018 to the 2027 specimen paper, which every unit has been checked against.

  1. 1.Principle of duality: state it and write the dualCS1 Boolean Algebra · asked 8 times since 2018
  2. 2.Complement of an expression using De Morgan's theoremCS1 Boolean Algebra · asked 8 times since 2018
  3. 3.Word problem to truth table and SOP or POSCS1 Boolean Algebra · asked 8 times since 2018
  4. 4.K-map reduction of a four-variable POS expressionCS1 Boolean Algebra · asked 8 times since 2018
  5. 5.Pre-order, in-order and post-order traversalCS9 Data Structures · asked 8 times since 2018
  6. 6.K-map reduction of a four-variable SOP expressionCS1 Boolean Algebra · asked 7 times since 2018
  7. 7.Read a tree: leaves, internal nodes, parent, siblings, degreeCS9 Data Structures · asked 7 times since 2018
  8. 8.Truth table to classify tautology, contradiction or contingencyCS1 Boolean Algebra · asked 6 times since 2018
  9. 9.Convert between cardinal and canonical formsCS1 Boolean Algebra · asked 6 times since 2018
  10. 10.Address of an element, row major and column majorCS6 Arrays and Strings · asked 6 times since 2018

See when each unit comes in your plan