Maharashtra Board Revision Notes for Std 6 to 12

What revision notes are for

A textbook teaches you a chapter. A revision note helps you get it back out of your head weeks later, and that changes what belongs on the page. A good note leaves out the stories, the activity boxes and the worked examples you've already understood. It keeps what you'd otherwise forget: the exact wording of a definition, the units of a constant, the conditions under which a formula holds, the labels on a diagram, the year attached to an event.

Notes come in sizes, and you need more than one size for each chapter:

Most students stop at long notes, then find in February that rereading 40 pages a subject is impossible. The point is to keep shrinking.

What our Maharashtra Board notes cover

Here is what you'll actually find, class by class, as of October 2026.

Every subject is split chapter by chapter, so you open only the chapter you're revising. Each chapter page shows its notes as images, a few pages long, that you read online. There's no PDF download button. On a phone, turn it sideways and zoom in on formulas.

The style differs between subjects. Some chapters are classic key-point notes, mostly formula lists with diagrams. Others, such as Std 10 Gravitation, are written as answers to the chapter's own questions. That's useful, but it's closer to a solution than a summary, so treat it as raw material for your own one-page note.

Some gaps, so you don't waste time looking:

• There are no notes for Std 1 to 5 yet. The Std 5 page exists but has no subjects on it.
• Std 10 Mathematics currently has Algebra chapters only. Geometry isn't there yet.
• Std 6 and 7 English notes cover grammar topics, not the textbook lessons.
• A few Std 11 and 12 Science subjects list chapter names from older textbooks. Before you revise from one, check its chapter title against your current textbook's contents page. If they don't match, go by the textbook.

What good chapter-wise notes contain, subject by subject

The best notes look different in each subject because each exam asks you to recall different things. Here is what to capture.

Mathematics: a formula sheet plus "when to use it"

A Maths note isn't a list of solved sums. It's every formula, identity and theorem in the chapter, each with one line on when it applies. Add the standard trap next to it.

For Std 10 Algebra, Quadratic Equations, a formula sheet might read:

• Standard form: ax² + bx + c = 0, where a ≠ 0
• Roots: x = [−b ± √(b² − 4ac)] / 2a
• Discriminant: Δ = b² − 4ac. Δ > 0 means real, unequal roots; Δ = 0 means real, equal roots; Δ < 0 means no real roots
• Sum of roots α + β = −b/a; product αβ = c/a
• Equation from roots: x² − (α + β)x + αβ = 0
• Trap: write the equation in standard form before reading off a, b and c. In 3x² = 5x − 2, b is −5, not 5.

Do the same for Arithmetic Progression (tₙ = a + (n − 1)d, Sₙ = n/2 [2a + (n − 1)d]). For Geometry theorems, write the statement in full and just the key construction step.

Physics: formula, symbol, unit, condition

Every formula in a Physics note needs four things: the formula, what each symbol stands for, the SI unit, and the condition it holds under. In Std 11 and 12 the condition is where marks go missing. A derivation note shouldn't be the whole derivation either. List the starting equation, the one or two key substitutions, and the result. If you can rebuild the middle from that, the note is doing its job.

Constants deserve their own corner: G = 6.67 × 10⁻¹¹ N m²/kg², g = 9.8 m/s², and so on, each with its unit.

Chemistry: reaction lists and exceptions

Chemistry notes work best as tables. For Std 10 Chemical Reactions and Equations, sort your examples by type:

In Std 12 organic chemistry, keep one running list of named reactions across chapters, such as Wurtz, Sandmeyer, Reimer–Tiemann, Kolbe, aldol condensation, Cannizzaro and Hoffmann bromamide degradation. Write the reagent and conditions for each one over the arrow. Inorganic chapters need a short "exceptions and trends" list.

Biology and Geography: a labelled-diagram list

For Biology, the note is a list of every diagram in the chapter with the labels you must be able to draw from memory. For a Std 10 Science Part 2 chapter on life processes, that's a short list with five to eight labels per diagram. Draw each one small and plain. In Std 12 Biology, add a "flowchart" line for processes such as the stages of a cycle or a pathway, since those are easier to recall as arrows than as paragraphs.

Geography works the same way. Std 10 Geography compares India and Brazil, so your note should include outline maps of both with the features you need to mark, plus a two-column comparison table for climate, vegetation, population and economy.

History: timelines and "who said what"

History notes are timelines and name lists. The Std 10 History textbook opens with historiography, so a note on the first chapter would be a list of thinkers with one line each. Voltaire is linked to modern historiography, Hegel to the idea of history moving through contradictions, Leopold von Ranke to source criticism, Karl Marx to class struggle, the Annales school to history beyond kings and wars, and Michel Foucault to the "archaeology of knowledge". For later chapters, use a plain timeline with year, event and why it matters, and keep it to one line per entry.

Political Science and Economics: definitions and lists

These subjects reward exact definitions and complete lists. If the textbook gives five features of something, your note lists five, numbered, in the textbook's words. Economics notes in Std 11 and 12 also need every diagram, such as a demand curve, with its axes labelled, plus any formula, like those for elasticity or index numbers.

Book-Keeping and Accountancy: format sheets

Accountancy notes are mostly blank formats. Draw the skeleton of each statement once, with headings and the order of items, and memorise the skeleton.

For Std 11, that means the journal (Date | Particulars | L.F. | Debit ₹ | Credit ₹), the ledger account, the trial balance and the final accounts. Add the three golden rules. For personal accounts, debit the receiver and credit the giver. For real accounts, debit what comes in and credit what goes out. For nominal accounts, debit all expenses and losses and credit all incomes and gains.

For Std 12, the format sheet holds the Profit and Loss Appropriation Account, partners' capital accounts (fixed and fluctuating), the revaluation account, and the order of items in a company balance sheet. Note which side each adjustment goes on. That one line saves more marks than any amount of rereading.

Languages: grammar rules and poem summaries

Language notes split into two parts. The grammar part is rules with one example each, like how tenses shift in reported speech or how voice changes for each tense. For Marathi and Hindi, add a short list of sandhi, samas and alankar types with examples.

The literature part is one card per poem or lesson. Put down the title, the poet or writer, the central idea in two lines, two or three figures of speech with the lines they appear in, and one line you could quote. For Std 10 English that might be "Where the Mind is Without Fear" by Rabindranath Tagore: a prayer for a free, fearless, truthful nation, built on repetition of "Where…".

A sample one-page note: Std 10 Science Part 1, Gravitation

This is roughly what a finished one-page note looks like. It fits on one side of A4 in normal handwriting.

GRAVITATION  (Std 10 Sci-1, Ch 1)

LAWS
• Newton: F = G m1 m2 / r²     G = 6.67 × 10⁻¹¹ N m²/kg² (same everywhere)
• Kepler 1: orbit is an ellipse, Sun at one focus
• Kepler 2: line Sun–planet sweeps equal areas in equal times
• Kepler 3: T² ∝ r³  (T²/r³ = constant)
• Link: F = mv²/r, v = 2πr/T, with T² = Kr³  →  F ∝ 1/r²

g  (acceleration due to gravity)
• g = GM/R² ≈ 9.8 m/s² at surface
• Max at poles, min at equator; falls with height and depth; zero at centre

MASS vs WEIGHT
• Mass: matter, kg, scalar, same everywhere, never zero
• Weight: W = mg, N, vector, changes place to place; ~1/6 on Moon

FREE FALL  (u = 0, only gravity acts)
• v = gt     s = ½gt²     v² = 2gs

ENERGY & ESCAPE
• Grav. PE at distance r from centre = −GMm/r
• Escape velocity v = √(2GM/R) = √(2gR) ≈ 11.2 km/s for Earth

TRAPS
• r is centre-to-centre distance, not surface gap
• Weightlessness in orbit ≠ zero gravity (free fall)

Note what's missing: no story of Newton's apple, no worked numerical, no paragraphs. If you can't explain a line on this sheet, go back to the textbook. The sheet prompts recall; it doesn't replace understanding.

How to make your own short notes from the textbook

Notes you write yourself beat any you download, because writing them is half the revision. A method that works for most chapters:

1. Read one section, then close the book. Write what you remember under the section's heading. Only then open the book and add what you missed, in a different colour. The additions in that colour are your weak spots.
2. Use the textbook's own headings. That keeps your notes in the same order as the exam's reference material and makes it easy to check a point later.
3. Box the things you must reproduce exactly. Definitions, formulas, laws, dates and formats go in boxes. Explanations stay outside them, in your own words.
4. Keep a "doubts" corner. Write a question mark and the topic, then clear it with your teacher or the textbook within the week.
5. Stop at two pages. If a chapter's short notes run past two pages, you're copying, not summarising.

Make your notes from the current edition of your textbook, and if you don't have it, the Maharashtra Board books page lists the textbooks class by class. It also helps to check the chapter list on our Maharashtra Board syllabus page first, so you don't spend an evening on a chapter that's been removed.

Turning long notes into one-page summaries, mind maps and flashcards

The one-page summary

Take your short notes and ask of every line: "Would I forget this?" If not, cut it. What's left goes on one side of a page, in four blocks: definitions, formulas or key facts, diagrams or lists, and traps. The Gravitation sheet above is a model. If a chapter genuinely can't fit, as some Std 12 Biology and History chapters can't, split it into two pages by topic, not by squeezing the handwriting.

Mind maps

Mind maps work for chapters with lots of connected categories. Put the chapter name in the centre and one branch for each main idea. Keep it to two or three words per branch and one example at each tip. For Std 10 Chemical Reactions, the branches would be the reaction types, with an equation at the end of each. Std 10 History's "Applied History" chapter maps well too, with branches for museums, archives, heritage management and tourism.

For Maths and Accountancy, stick to formula and format sheets.

Flashcards

A flashcard has a question on the front and a short answer on the back. Good fronts are specific:

• "SI unit of G?" → "N m²/kg²"
• "Which reaction turns an amide into an amine with one carbon fewer?" → "Hoffmann bromamide degradation"
• "Golden rule for nominal accounts?" → "Debit all expenses and losses, credit all incomes and gains"
• "Poet of 'All the World's a Stage'?" → "William Shakespeare (from As You Like It)"

Use three boxes. Every card starts in Box 1, which you check daily. A card you get right moves to Box 2, which you check every three days. Right again, it goes to Box 3, checked weekly. Any card you get wrong goes back to Box 1. Within a few weeks, Box 1 holds exactly the facts you keep forgetting.

Active recall: test yourself, don't just reread

Rereading feels productive because everything looks familiar, but familiar isn't remembered. Active recall means pulling the information out before you look.

• Blank page. Write the chapter name on an empty sheet and put down everything you can recall in five minutes. Then compare with your one-page summary and mark the gaps.
• Cover and say. Cover the right half of your formula sheet and say each formula aloud from its name.
• Redraw. Draw a diagram from memory, then check every label.
• Teach it. Explain the chapter to a younger sibling or a parent in three minutes. Parents don't need to know the subject. They just need to ask, "And why is that?"

The gaps you find this way are the only parts worth rereading.

Spaced revision cycles: day 1, 3, 7, 21

Memory fades fastest in the first few days after learning. Revise just as a chapter starts to slip and each round makes it last longer. A simple cycle:

Each revision gets shorter. That's how you know the system is working.

A sample two-week calendar

Say a Std 10 student finishes Gravitation on a Monday and Chemical Reactions on the Thursday:

Write the due dates on a wall calendar the day you finish a chapter. Missed a slot? Do it the next day and carry on.

This calendar is about memory, not exam practice. Once your notes are in shape, solving real board papers is a separate step, set out on our previous year papers page.

The last week and the night before

The last seven days before a paper: work only from one-page summaries, formula sheets and flashcards. Do a blank-page recall for each chapter of that subject at least once. Redraw every diagram once. Keep a single "still forgetting" sheet per subject with the ten or fifteen facts that keep slipping. That sheet is what you read last. Don't start new chapters now, and don't switch to someone else's notes; unfamiliar layouts slow recall.

The night before: an hour, an hour and a half at most, with the one-page summaries for that paper and your "still forgetting" sheet. Read each summary, cover it, recall it, check. Then sleep. A tired brain recalls worse than a slightly under-revised one.

The morning of the exam: one look at the formula sheet or format sheet, nothing else. SSC and HSC timetables usually leave a day or more between some papers. Use those gaps for the same night-before routine for the next subject, not for fresh reading.

Revising for Std 9 and 11 versus SSC and HSC

Std 9 and Std 11 exams are set by your school or junior college. SSC and HSC are board exams on the whole year's syllabus. That changes how you use notes.

Std 9 is the cheapest year to learn note-making: the stakes are low, and Std 10 builds on it. Std 11 matters more than students expect. Std 12 Physics leans on Std 11 work on vectors, units and the laws of motion, Std 12 Chemistry assumes the basics of Std 11, and entrance exams such as MHT-CET include Std 11 portions. So keep your Std 11 short notes in a file rather than binning them in April.

Digital vs handwritten notes

A mix works for most students. Handwrite your short notes and one-page summaries. Then photograph the one-page summaries so you can revise on a bus. Keep digital flashcards only if you'll use them with notifications switched off. For parents, handwritten one-page sheets are easy to check: you can see whether a chapter has been done.

Common mistakes with notes

• Copying the textbook in neat handwriting. If your notes are as long as the chapter, they're a second textbook. Aim for a fifth of the length, then a page.
• Decorating instead of revising. Two colours are enough: one for notes, one for corrections.
• Making notes and never testing from them. Notes are for recall practice, not for rereading.
• Using notes that don't match your textbook. Check chapter titles, and for Std 11 and 12 Science check the edition, especially if notes come from older siblings or other websites.
• Leaving out diagrams and formats. In Biology, Geography and Accountancy, the diagram or the format is the answer.
• Starting summaries in the last month. One-page summaries take time to cut down. Make them through the year, chapter by chapter.
• Using notes in place of exercises. A note reminds you of a method. It doesn't give you practice. If a note jogs your memory but you still can't finish a textbook exercise, compare your attempt with the worked answers in our chapter-wise solutions.

When your notes are done and you want a model paper to check your recall under exam conditions, start with our sample papers.

Frequently asked questions