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

CS9 Data Structures

This unit carries about 6 marks in the paper. We split it into 24 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 18 of them. 6 were never asked. The top 5 topics make 61% of all the times this unit was asked. Last asked: 2026.

The syllabus says: Single linked list: algorithm and programming. Binary trees and tree traversals: conceptual only.

18asked by the board at least once

6in the syllabus, never asked

61times a topic of this unit was asked

3.7hours for one attempt at every topic

What the papers ask most

  • Pre-order, in-order and post-order traversal9 times, last 2026
  • Read a tree: leaves, internal nodes, parent, siblings, degree8 times, last 2025 improvement
  • Traverse a linked list to count, sum, search or display7 times, last 2026
  • Read a tree: level, height, depth and size7 times, last 2026
  • Convert an infix expression to postfix6 times, last 2025 improvement
  • Stack: name the entity and state its principle3 times, last 2026
  • Write the push and pop methods of a stack class3 times, last 2026
  • Convert an infix expression to prefix3 times, last 2026
  • Write the insert and delete methods of a circular queue3 times, last 2025 improvement
  • Queue: name the entity and state its principle2 times, last 2025 improvement

In the syllabus, never asked (6)

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

  • State of a stack or queue after given operationsDry run / output
  • Define a data structure as an interface and implement itProgram
  • Delete a node from a linked listProgram
  • Reverse a single linked listProgram
  • Extract an element or a sublist from a linked listProgram
  • Complete and balanced binary treesGive reason

All the topics in Computer Science: Data Structures →

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