NEB Class 12 Syllabus 2026 Subject-Wise: Compulsory Subjects, Stream Optionals and Every Subject's Unit List

The Class 12 syllabus is set by the Curriculum Development Centre (CDC) under the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, and the examination on it is conducted by the National Examinations Board (NEB). Both bodies publish their documents on their own sites, linked in the sources. The syllabus itself does not change every year; what students call "the 2026 syllabus" is the current curriculum as it applies to the batch sitting the 2026 board examination.

This guide lays out that syllabus subject by subject: which subjects are compulsory, which are optional in each stream, how many units each subject has, and where the unit list for every subject is on notesharu. It is a map of the syllabus, not a copy of it. For exam dates and how to plan from the routine, read the NEB routine and syllabus guide.

How Class 12 subjects are organised

Every Class 12 student takes a set of compulsory subjects and then optional subjects that depend on the stream chosen in Class 11. The compulsory group is the same for everyone:

Social Studies and Life Skills is the compulsory subject students most often forget to prepare, because it is new in the current curriculum and is not a traditional "study" subject. Its units cover research skills, life skills, the history and geography of Nepal, the constitution and civic awareness, urbanisation and migration, the economy, and education.

Science stream

Science students take Physics and Chemistry with either Biology or Mathematics, and Computer Science is a common fourth choice in place of one of them, depending on the school. Physics and Chemistry are the long syllabi: 25 and 24 units, each examined through a mix of derivations, short conceptual answers and numericals. Mathematics has fewer units but each is large (algebra, trigonometry, analytical geometry, vectors, statistics and probability, calculus, and computational methods or mechanics depending on the option), so unit count is a poor guide to study time there.

Management stream

Management students usually combine Accountancy and Economics with a third optional such as Business Studies, Business Mathematics, Marketing, Hotel Management or Computer Science, according to the school's offering. Accountancy in Class 12 is almost entirely practical problems (company accounts, cash flow, cost accounting), while Economics mixes theory with Nepal-focused units such as development planning and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Law stream

The law stream is small in student numbers but its subjects are examined in a very predictable way: definitions, distinctions, the relevant provisions, and an applied example. The Class 12 law subjects build directly on the Class 11 ones (Jurisprudence, Constitutional Law and Procedural Law), so a Class 12 law student should keep the Class 11 notes to hand.

How the paper is built from the syllabus

The curriculum for each subject sets the units, the teaching hours per unit, and the split between the theory examination the board conducts and the practical or internal assessment the school conducts. Two consequences follow for preparation.

First, the written paper samples the units roughly in proportion to their teaching hours. A unit with twice the hours of another will, over several years, produce about twice the marks. The syllabus page for each subject on notesharu shows the unit tree so that you can see that weighting, and the important questions view on each subject (that link is the physics one) ranks the units by how often they have actually been asked.

Second, the practical and internal marks are awarded before the written examination. For Science subjects that means the laboratory record and practical examination; for Management and Law it means project work and internal tests. Those marks are not recoverable later, so they deserve attention during the year rather than after the written paper.

The exact mark distribution and grading scheme for each subject are published by the CDC and the NEB. Use their documents for the numbers, and use the unit lists above to decide where your study time goes.

Reading a syllabus page on notesharu

Each Class 12 subject page follows the same layout. The left column is the official unit tree: units in order, with their subtopics under each. The right side has tabs for the chapter notes, the solved board questions with model answers, the important questions ranking, and flashcards. The syllabus page for a subject is the same unit tree on its own, with the subtopics expanded, which is the fastest way to check whether a topic in your textbook is actually in the examined curriculum.

Two uses for that check. If a coaching handout covers something not in the unit tree, it is not examinable and can be skipped. If a unit in the tree has no page in your own notes, that is a gap to fill before the exam, because the board can ask from any unit.

Class 11 and Class 12 together

The Class 11 syllabus is the first half of the same two-year curriculum, with the same subject structure. The Class 11 pages are at NEB Class 11 and the Class 12 pages at NEB Class 12. For a single-page list of every Class 12 subject with its notes, use the Class 12 notes hub. Board papers by year are under NEB past questions.

Links for every Class 12 subject

• Compulsory: English, Nepali, Social Studies and Life Skills
• Science: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics, Computer Science
• Management: Accountancy, Economics, Business Finance
• Law: Nepali Legal System, Civil and Criminal Law and Justice, Legal Drafting

Subjects the board offers that are not listed here (Hotel Management, Marketing, Business Studies, Business Mathematics, Geography, History, Population Studies and the other optionals) do not yet have pages on notesharu. Their syllabi are in the CDC's published curriculum.