Science stream is a very popular choice among 10^th standard passed students in India. Students who want to pursue pure Medicine and applied science professional courses in the future may choose this stream. When compared to other main streams- Commerce and Arts, Science stream is considered tough. Actually it’s not so. As a matter of fact, many students and parents think that one needs to be intelligent and get high marks in standard 10 to pursue Science in 11^th and 12^th. I always tell my readers and listeners that marks have nothing to do with choice of Science, Commerce or Arts after 10^th. This method of choice is a wrong method of choice.

Actually, the syllabus which a student needs to cover in Science in grade 11 and 12 is very voluminous. Therefore student has to spend many more hours of study to cover the syllabus which render science as a tough option.

Science B-Group (Physics/Chemistry/Biology) stream should be the right choice in Indian education system for students who possess the following strengths at grade 10 level:

1. Child is Excellent in Biology (my research benchmark is around 95+ marks in grade 10)
2. Child is Excellent at Physics & Chemistry(my research benchmark is around 85+ marks in grade 10)
3. Child should have excellent memorization power.
4. Child is able to keep calm in crisis situation.
5. Child has the ability to spend long hours with books and/or computers
6. Willing to spend less time in ‘fun’ activities

IB Board is followed by CIE or IGCSE (regulated by Cambridge Assessment International Education. While International General Certificate of Secondary Education deals with Std. 10 and AS and A Levels deal with std. 11 and 12 respectively) in its practical approach of pedagogy. This board also gives good number of Elective subject choices offering something for all learners of different abilities, interests and backgrounds. It focuses on developing vital educational knowledge, understanding and skills. Again, it is considered to be tougher than other national boards, because of advanced level of learning and the teaching methodology.

In this Board also, there is no concept of stream selection after 10^th like Science, Commerce or Humanities/Arts. The candidate has to pick up subjects of his/her choice and then the choice available for graduation depends upon the eligibility of various graduate courses available.

Subjects available in IGCSE Board (Tentative List & may vary from school to school)

Source: http://www.cie.org.uk

ISC board comes next in the difficulty level. This board also follows quite a bit of practical learning approach though reference books and the pedagogy is less rote oriented. In this board, the first level of selection of stream takes place after grade 8, i.e. Science or Commerce or Humanities. If you have taken Science, you can shift to any other stream after 10^th but vice versa is not allowed by most of the schools.

Second level of stream selection takes place after 10^th. The options available are Science-A Group, Science-B Group, Commerce or Humanities/Arts. The candidate has to pick up Compulsory subjects of commerce stream and can choose 1 or 2 electives as per the offer of various schools.

Subjects available for Science A-Group in ISC Board (Tentative List & may vary from school to school)

Source: cisce.org/isc_XII_Syllabus.aspx

Next in the difficulty scale comes the CBSE board. I think most of us are aware of this board. This board is a good mix of practical and wrote oriented Pedagogy. It functions under the Union Government of India. Difficulty level associated with this board is moderate.

Subjects available for Science A-Group in CBSE Board (Tentative List & may vary from school to school)

Source: cbse.nic.in

Last come State Boards. Each State in India has its own education board. It functions under the respective State Government of each state. Language of instruction (medium) in case of schools affiliated to such boards may be regional language and English. This board in most cases is found to be rote oriented. There is no much creativity and flexibility allowed in the method of pedagogy. Also the children studying through vernacular medium in state boards are at risk of not fairing too well in National level competitive Exams.

Subjects available for Science A-Group in State Board (Tentative List & may vary from school to school)

Note: Not all the subjects have been mentioned above. Many of the above mentioned subjects fall under the ‘optional subject’ category. Students have to select optional courses and form a ‘course combination’ to pursue throughout 11^th and 12^th. Professional courses after 12^th and career, to an extent, depends upon this course combination.