I had my Physics Practical Exam today and decided to post about it. Yes, I am the same guy who posted about his CS Practicals 4 days ago. Yes, I have nothing better to do right now.
I had my Physics Practical Exam today from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm today. However, due to delays( sanitisation of physics lab), the exam started from 11:25 am. I had two experiments: one from section A ( finding resistance of galvanometer through half deflection method) and one from section B( drawing I-V curve of a p-n junction diode in forward and reverse bias). Since my experiments were probably the easiest combination, I completed my exam in around 2h 15 min and left early. It might be more time consuming for you, so work fast.
Regarding the writing part of the exam, your journal(or practical file) is more than enough. I don't know about yours, but I had 8 experiments in my journal and memorised them. I didn't have to memorise the procedure, aim and apparatus though as they are not required to be written in the answer-sheet and I guess I don't have to explain about the aim and apparatus part. Now, even though a lot of people manipulate their readings, I didn't(or couldn't) because my teacher asked us to demonstrate the experiment in front of her.
About Viva, Viva is worth 7 marks out of 30 in the exam. I was asked around 6-7 questions, all of which were related to my experiment topics such as : What is diffusion and drift in p-n junction? Why do we use concave magnets in galvanometer? What is sensitivity in galvanometer? What is the charge in p and n terminals of the junction? etc. For viva preparation, I recommend going through your physics manual(or the physics practical book you got apart from the two NCERT ones). They may be enough, but if you aren't sure about your preparation, go through the following chapters in your NCERT book: Current Electricity, Moving Charges and Magnetism, Semiconductor Electronics and Ray Optics and Optical Instruments. You don't have to go through the entire chapter, just the relevant topics like Wheatstone Bridge, Potentiometer, Moving Coil Galvanometer, etc.
Apart from this, go through all of the activities(around 6) in your journal. You don't have to remember them, but do know their concepts as there is a tiny chance that your examiner may ask viva questions from these activities. My school also asked me to prepare atleast one chapter from NCERT very well, as sometimes, you may not be able to answer the other questions satisfactorily. In that case, the examiner may ask you questions from your favorite chapter. I didn't do that, and luckily I didn't get any questions. But you may not be that lucky, so prepare atleast one chapter 100%. It may be your favorite chapter, but if you don't have one, and have started your preparation now, I would recommend any chapter from Modern Physics(they are really small chapters, around 20 pages. FYI, these chapters are Atoms, Nuclei and Dual Nature of Radiation and Matter) or Ray Optics and Optical Instruments as you have to study all of those concepts(except Microscope and Telescope) anyways for your experiments.
TL;DR:- Memorise all of the 8 experiments and know the concepts of the 6 activities in your journal. For viva, prepare from your physics manual. If unsure about your preparation, go through relevant topics in NCERT( chapters mentioned in 3rd para). Also, prepare atleast one NCERT chapter completely as it MAY serve as a backup incase you aren't able to answer other questions.
All The Best.