Introduction:

Reflection is the change in direction of a wave front at an interface between two different media so that the wave front returns into the medium from which it originated. Common examples include the reflection of light, sound and water waves. The law of reflection says that for specular reflection the angle at which the wave is incident on the surface equals the angle at which it is reflected. Mirrors exhibit specular reflection.

Chapter Analysis:

Only 6 questions have been asked in the past 11 years from this chapter with the past 4 years having 1 question being asked every year. The year of 2014 and 2015 had no question being asked, while 2012 and 2013 had one each. With such stats, this chapter falls in the category of low-weighted chapter and we should not be expecting anything more than 1 question from this chapter.
The below given graph will illustrate the above-mentioned analysis:

The important topics to be covered from this chapter are:
• Reflection of Light
• Spherical Mirrors
• Mirror Formula

Tips and Tricks:

1. Reading the NCERT will be helpful. Here is the link to the NCERT PDF version of the chapter:
2. Making Flash Cards and Flow Charts will help in quick revision
3. A List of important keywords with their meaning must be maintained
4. All the past year questions must be solved thoroughly

Introduction:

Refraction is the change in direction of a wave passing from one medium to another or from a gradual change in the medium. Refraction of light is the most commonly observed phenomenon, but other waves such as sound waves and water waves also experience refraction. How much a wave is refracted is determined by the change in wave speed and the initial direction of wave propagation relative to the direction of change in speed.
The different topics under refraction are:

Chapter Analysis:

With only 3 question being in the past 11 years, this chapter happens to be one of the low-weighted ones. The period of 2012-2017 saw not a single question being asked from the chapter. The last question from this chapter was asked in the year 2018. So, we should not be expecting anything more than 1 question from this chapter in the coming years.
The below given graph will illustrate the above-mentioned analysis:

The important topics to be covered from this chapter are:
• Refraction of Light
• Total Internal Reflections and its applications
• Optical Fibers

Tips and Tricks:

1. This is a tough chapter and will require hard labor. One should start with the NCERT to set the tone for further reading. Here is the link to the NCERT PDF version of the chapter:
2. Students must further look up for interactive animations as well as video lectures for more clearer understanding.
3. The diagrams must be understood completely and practiced every couple of weeks or so. Redrawing will help the student in remembering the parts exactly.
4. Mnemonics for the various steps must be created which will convert hard work to smart work.

Chapter Analysis:

With a total of 7 questions being asked in the past 11 years, this chapter falls in the category of low weighted question. In the past 4 years, only one question has been asked. And hence, we should not be expecting anything more than 1 question from this chapter in the coming papers.
The below given graph will illustrate the above-mentioned analysis:

The important topics to be covered from this chapter are:
• Refraction at spherical surfaces
• Lenses
• Thin Lens Formula
• Lensmakers Formula
• Magnification
• Power of a Lens
• Combination of Thin Lenses in Contact Combination of a Lens and a Mirror

Tips and Tricks:

1. This is a tough chapter and will require hard labor. One should start with the NCERT to set the tone for further reading. Here is the link to the NCERT PDF version of the chapter:
2. Students must further look up for interactive animations as well as video lectures for more clearer understanding.
3. The diagrams must be understood completely and practiced every couple of weeks or so. Redrawing will help the student in remembering the parts exactly.
4. Mnemonics for the various steps must be created which will convert hard work to smart work.

Introduction:

An optical instrument is a device that either processes light waves to enhance an image for viewing, or analyzes light waves to determine one of a number of characteristic properties.

Chapter Analysis:

Although the last three year had only 1 question being asked, the period between 2012 and 2016 had one question being asked every year. With 6 questions in the past 11 years, we should not be expecting anything more than 1 question from this chapter in the coming years.
The below given graph will illustrate the above-mentioned analysis:

The important topics to be covered from this topic are:
• Resolving Power of Microscopes and Astronomical Telescopes
• Polarization
• Plane Polarized Light
• Brewster’s Law
• Uses of Plane Polarized Light and Polaroids

Tips and Tricks:

1. Reading the NCERT will be helpful. Here is the link to the NCERT PDF version of the chapter:
2. Making Flash Cards and Flow Charts will help in quick revision
3. A List of important keywords with their meaning must be maintained
4. All the past year questions must be solved thoroughly

Introduction:

When two light waves from different coherent source meet together, then the distribution of energy due to one wave is disturbed by the other. This modification in the distribution of light energy due to super-position of two light waves is called “Interference of Light”.

Chapter Analysis:

Although no question was asked in the past two years from this chapter, the years before them till 2014 had one question asked every year. With only 6 questions in the past 11 years, this chapter falls in the category of low weighted chapter. So, we should not be expecting anything more than 1 question from this chapter in the coming papers. The below given graph will illustrate the above-mentioned analysis:

The important topics to be covered from this chapter are:
• Refraction and Dispersion of Light through a Prism
• Scattering of Light
• Blue Color of Sky and Reddish appearance of the sun

Tips and Tricks:

1. This is a tough chapter and will require hard labor. One should start with the NCERT to set the tone for further reading. Here is the link to the NCERT PDF version of the chapter:
2. Students must further look up for interactive animations as well as video lectures for more clearer understanding.
3. Mnemonics for the various steps must be created which will convert hard work to smart work.

Introduction:

In physics, physical optics, or wave optics, in the branch of optics that studies interference, diffraction, polarization, and other phenomena for which the ray approximation of geometric optics is not valid. This usage tends not to include effects such as quantum noise in optical communication, which is studied in the sub-branch of coherence theory.

Chapter Analysis:

With 19 questions being asked in the past 11 years, this chapter happens to be a medium weighted one. The last 3 years have had 7 question being asked from this chapter. So, we should not be expecting anything more than 2 question from this chapter in the coming papers. The below given graph will illustrate the above-mentioned analysis:

The important topics to be covered from this chapter are:
• Wave front and Huygen’s Principle
• Reflection and Refraction of Plane Wave at a plance surface using wave fronts
• Proof of Laws of Reflection and Refraction using Huygen’s Principle
• Interference – Young’s Double Slit Experiment and expression for fringe width
• Coherent Sources and Sustained Interference of Light
• Diffraction Due to Single Slit
• Width of Central Maximum

Tips and Tricks:

1. Reading the NCERT will be helpful. Here is the link to the NCERT PDF version of the chapter:
2. Making Flash Cards and Flow Charts will help in quick revision
3. A List of important keywords with their meaning must be maintained
4. All the past year questions must be solved thoroughly