State board or CBSE for 11th ,12th

12th board marks arn't really a priority for someone who wants to pursue engineering.Only certain minimum marks are required to be eligible for entrance exams which are ever more important , like IITJEE needs minimum 60%.To appear for BITSAT you'l need 80%..thats the highest you'l have to study for, and believe me noone will ever ask you bout your 12th marks after the initial 'how you done's,but your entrance exam ranks will decide your life..almost :)..

The syllabus for JEE, BITSAT, AIEEE and VITEEE are pretty similar , to each other and similar to the CBSE syllabus. Since board exams are not a priority ,there is an argument that students should join a state board college ,since in Maharashtra the academics are less time-consuming and easier compared to CBSE and ICSE.

I disagree though. From personal experience I can say that my CBSE high school education helped my tremendously in clearing AIEEE.If you want to focus on MHT-CET then you should go ahead with a HSC college, though why should a student aim for somthing low-gain when he might as well give a few of the most prestigious exams in the country a try.

A few more points

1) 12th HSC boards test both 11th and 12th syllabus, while CBSE tests only 12th syllabus.

2)The HSC syllabus is about 75% different from other exams. There is ample time after the other exams to brush up and learn the CET syllabus for CBSE students since JEE and AIEEE are held in April while CET is held in May.

JEE, AIEEE, BITSAT differ barelt 5% from each other . JEE is about 20% less that CBSE 11th and 12th syllabus , but has to be explored and understood far more in detail.

AIEEE syllabus is the same as CBSE.

BITSAT ans VITEEE are similar ,include a few more topics, delete a few.

http://indiaeducation.net/Engineering/Entrance-Exams/index.asp

So Gals and Guys, 11th and 12th are 2 very crucial years for those who want to make somthing of their lives..you have to study really really hard.
I'd said 'almost' earlier. I also know loads of people who decided 'I'm going to shut out my life, my only priority is studies'. These guys will remain cooped up indoors all day with no time-out, no resfeshment, at the same time they might not even do very well academically.
The key is to maintain a healthy balance of studies and a little physical activity and enjoyment to keep the brain fit and happy.Not too much also because remember you're investing your time and effort for wonderful rewards later in life.