Two exam tracks at once is the real problem
Class 12 differs from Class 10 mainly in that many students are preparing for competitive entrance examinations in parallel, and the two demand different things from the same hours. Boards reward complete, well-presented answers following a published marking scheme; entrance tests reward speed and selection under time pressure. Treating them as one workload is where most plans fail, because practice for one does not straightforwardly substitute for the other. Decide the split deliberately and early, in writing, rather than letting whichever exam is nearer absorb everything. A written split is also much easier to adjust once the datesheet arrives than an unstated one.
Work from the board's syllabus, question design, and marking scheme
The board publishes the syllabus, the question-paper design, sample papers, and marking schemes, and those together define both what is examinable and how marks are actually awarded. The marking scheme is the underused document: board answers are marked against published criteria, so knowing what earns marks changes how you write rather than only what you know. CBSE publishes centrally; state boards publish their own material and the two differ. Attempting a sample paper under timing and then marking it against the scheme is retrieval practice with feedback attached, which is the combination the research supports most strongly.
Plan around the datesheet and protect the final week
Work backward from the datesheet once it is published: earliest papers need their heaviest preparation first, and gaps between papers are planning information. Where a board paper and an entrance test fall close together, decide in advance which gets the days between them, because deciding in the moment tends to favour whichever is causing more anxiety rather than whichever needs the time. Keep the last days before each paper for reviewing familiar material. Across several weeks of examinations, sleep and routine are doing more work than a final revision push, and the exam-day checklist in the free kit removes the remaining decisions from the morning.