What is the difference between a syllabus and a curriculum?

A curriculum is the larger design — which subjects are taught at which level, why, what students are expected to learn, and how they will be assessed. It is the framework of the whole programme.

A syllabus is a specific part inside that — the list of chapters and content included in one subject. A single curriculum contains many syllabuses, one for each subject.

Day to day the syllabus matters more, because it determines what can be examined. But when a curriculum changes the syllabus changes with it — and that is when old notes, old question papers and old guides stop being useful.

Which is why, before you start preparing, you should be sure which year’s syllabus you are following. When a shortened or rearranged syllabus is announced it is published in a board notice, and that notice is the only reliable source — not a version circulating through coaching centres or social media.