NEET UG syllabus: the official unit list for Physics, Chemistry and Biology
The National Medical Commission publishes one document that defines what NEET can ask. Here is every unit in it, and how to use it.
Key takeaways
- →The NEET UG syllabus is set by the National Medical Commission's Under Graduate Medical Education Board, not by NTA and not by any coaching institute.
- →The NEET (UG) 2026 syllabus was notified on 22 December 2025 and is linked from the official NTA NEET website.
- →It is organised into 20 units of Physics, 20 units of Chemistry (Physical, Inorganic and Organic) and 10 units of Biology.
- →Physics Unit 20 and Chemistry Unit 20 cover experimental and practical skills, so lab-based questions are in scope.
- →The 2026 document has no separate unit for the solid state, surface chemistry, s-block elements or states of matter, so do not assume every NCERT chapter is examinable.
- →Use the syllabus as a checklist against your NCERT books and your mistakes, not as reading material in itself.
Who decides the NEET UG syllabus?
The NEET UG syllabus is decided by the Under Graduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB) of the National Medical Commission. NTA conducts the exam and sets the paper, but it tests against the syllabus that NMC notifies.
For NEET (UG) 2026, the UGMEB issued a public notice dated 22 December 2025 stating that it had "finalized the NEET (UG)-2026 Syllabus" and advising all stakeholders to refer to it for preparing study material and for the examination for the 2026-27 academic session. The document is linked from neet.nta.nic.in under Syllabus.
This matters because the syllabus is the only authoritative answer to "is this chapter in NEET?". Coaching modules, question banks and even school textbooks can include material outside it. When there is a disagreement, the NMC document wins.
How is the NEET syllabus structured?
The NEET (UG) 2026 syllabus is organised into 50 units: 20 in Physics, 20 in Chemistry and 10 in Biology. Units are not the same as NCERT chapters. A single Biology unit such as Human Physiology spans several textbook chapters, while some Physics units map closely to one chapter.
| Subject | Units | How the units are grouped |
|---|---|---|
| Physics | 20 | Units 1 to 19 by topic, Unit 20 Experimental Skills |
| Chemistry | 20 | Physical (Units 1 to 8), Inorganic (9 to 12), Organic (13 to 20, ending with practical chemistry) |
| Biology | 10 | Units by theme, each covering Botany and Zoology topics |
Because the exam gives Biology 90 questions against 45 each for Physics and Chemistry, the unit count is not a guide to marks. Ten Biology units carry twice the marks of twenty Physics units. Plan your time by marks and by your own weaknesses, not by how many headings a subject has.
What are the Physics units in the NEET syllabus?
NEET Physics has 20 units running from measurement and mechanics through electromagnetism and optics to modern physics and electronic devices, ending with experimental skills.
| Unit | Title | Main topics |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Physics and Measurement | SI units, least count, significant figures, errors, dimensional analysis |
| 2 | Kinematics | Motion in a line and plane, graphs, vectors, relative velocity, projectiles, circular motion |
| 3 | Laws of Motion | Newton's laws, momentum, impulse, friction, circular motion on level and banked roads |
| 4 | Work, Energy and Power | Work-energy theorem, springs, conservative forces, vertical circle, collisions |
| 5 | Rotational Motion | Centre of mass, torque, angular momentum, moment of inertia, axis theorems |
| 6 | Gravitation | Variation of g, Kepler's laws, potential, escape and orbital velocity, satellites |
| 7 | Properties of Solids and Liquids | Elasticity, fluid pressure, viscosity, Bernoulli, surface tension, heat and calorimetry |
| 8 | Thermodynamics | Zeroth, first and second laws, isothermal and adiabatic processes |
| 9 | Kinetic Theory of Gases | Ideal gas, RMS speed, degrees of freedom, equipartition, mean free path |
| 10 | Oscillations and Waves | SHM, springs, pendulum, wave motion, standing waves, beats |
| 11 | Electrostatics | Coulomb's law, fields, dipoles, Gauss's law, potential, capacitors |
| 12 | Current Electricity | Drift velocity, Ohm's law, resistivity, cells, Kirchhoff's laws, Wheatstone and metre bridge |
| 13 | Magnetic Effects of Current and Magnetism | Biot-Savart, Ampere's law, forces on charges and conductors, galvanometer, magnetic materials |
| 14 | Electromagnetic Induction and Alternating Currents | Faraday and Lenz, inductance, AC, LCR circuits, resonance, transformer |
| 15 | Electromagnetic Waves | Displacement current, characteristics and spectrum of EM waves |
| 16 | Optics | Mirrors, lenses, prism, instruments, Huygens, interference, diffraction, polarisation |
| 17 | Dual Nature of Matter and Radiation | Photoelectric effect, Einstein's equation, de Broglie relation |
| 18 | Atoms and Nuclei | Rutherford and Bohr models, hydrogen spectrum, binding energy, fission and fusion |
| 19 | Electronic Devices | Semiconductors, diodes, LED, photodiode, solar cell, Zener diode, logic gates |
| 20 | Experimental Skills | Vernier calipers, screw gauge, pendulum, Young's modulus, metre bridge, diode curves and more |
Unit 20 is easy to overlook. It lists specific experiments, from using a vernier caliper and screw gauge to finding the resistivity of a wire with a metre bridge and plotting the characteristic curves of a p-n junction and a Zener diode. Questions on least count, readings and sources of error come from here, and they are usually quick marks if you have actually looked at the list.
What are the Chemistry units in the NEET syllabus?
NEET Chemistry has 20 units in three groups: eight units of Physical Chemistry, four of Inorganic Chemistry and eight of Organic Chemistry, the last of which covers the principles of practical chemistry.
| Unit | Title | Branch |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Some Basic Concepts in Chemistry | Physical |
| 2 | Atomic Structure | Physical |
| 3 | Chemical Bonding and Molecular Structure | Physical |
| 4 | Chemical Thermodynamics | Physical |
| 5 | Solutions | Physical |
| 6 | Equilibrium | Physical |
| 7 | Redox Reactions and Electrochemistry | Physical |
| 8 | Chemical Kinetics | Physical |
| 9 | Classification of Elements and Periodicity in Properties | Inorganic |
| 10 | p-Block Elements (Groups 13 to 18) | Inorganic |
| 11 | d- and f-Block Elements | Inorganic |
| 12 | Coordination Compounds | Inorganic |
| 13 | Purification and Characterisation of Organic Compounds | Organic |
| 14 | Some Basic Principles of Organic Chemistry | Organic |
| 15 | Hydrocarbons | Organic |
| 16 | Organic Compounds Containing Halogens | Organic |
| 17 | Organic Compounds Containing Oxygen | Organic |
| 18 | Organic Compounds Containing Nitrogen | Organic |
| 19 | Biomolecules | Organic |
| 20 | Principles Related to Practical Chemistry | Organic (practical) |
Two details in the official text are worth reading closely. Unit 11 names specific compounds, the preparation, properties and uses of potassium dichromate and potassium permanganate, which tells you exactly how deep to go. Unit 20 lists the cations and anions for salt analysis, named titrations such as oxalic acid against KMnO4 and Mohr's salt against KMnO4, and preparations such as Mohr's salt, potash alum, acetanilide and iodoform.
The Organic units are also explicit about mechanisms: halogenation of alkanes, electrophilic addition to alkenes including Markovnikov's rule and the peroxide effect, electrophilic substitution in benzene, and nucleophilic addition to the carbonyl group. If a mechanism is named in the syllabus, expect to be asked why a reaction goes the way it does, not only what the product is.
What are the Biology units in the NEET syllabus?
NEET Biology has 10 units, each combining Botany and Zoology content around a theme, from the diversity of life to ecology.
| Unit | Title | Main topics |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Diversity in Living World | Taxonomy, five kingdoms, plant groups, animal classification to phylum and class |
| 2 | Structural Organisation in Animals and Plants | Plant morphology and anatomy, named families, animal tissues, frog |
| 3 | Cell Structure and Function | Cell theory, organelles, biomolecules, enzymes, cell cycle, mitosis, meiosis |
| 4 | Plant Physiology | Photosynthesis, respiration, plant growth and growth regulators |
| 5 | Human Physiology | Breathing, body fluids and circulation, excretion, locomotion, neural and chemical control |
| 6 | Reproduction | Sexual reproduction in flowering plants, human reproduction, reproductive health |
| 7 | Genetics and Evolution | Mendelian inheritance and deviations, molecular basis of inheritance, evolution |
| 8 | Biology and Human Welfare | Health and disease, immunology, cancer, HIV, drug abuse, microbes in human welfare |
| 9 | Biotechnology and Its Applications | Recombinant DNA technology, insulin and vaccines, gene therapy, Bt crops, biosafety |
| 10 | Ecology and Environment | Population interactions and attributes, ecosystems, biodiversity and conservation |
The Biology text contains its own depth markers, and they are worth using. It says to classify animals "up to phyla level" for non-chordates and "up to classes level" for chordates with "three to five salient features and at least two examples". It names five plant families for study: Malvaceae, Cruciferae, Leguminosae, Compositae and Gramineae. It marks several topics as "elementary idea" only, and it notes that diseases and disorders in Human Physiology are "to be dealt in brief". Those phrases are a direct guide to how much detail to learn.
Which topics are not in the NEET 2026 syllabus?
Several topics that older NEET syllabi and some coaching material still include do not appear as units in the NEET (UG) 2026 document. In Chemistry, there is no separate unit for the solid state, surface chemistry, states of matter, s-block elements, hydrogen, environmental chemistry or polymers. In Physics, there is no unit on communication systems.
Be careful with this list. The absence of a unit does not mean every fact from that area is safe to ignore; some ideas reappear inside other units, such as polymerisation within Hydrocarbons, or hydrogen bonding within Chemical Bonding. The safe method is to read the official unit text itself and check each NCERT chapter against it, rather than trusting any summary, including this one.
This is also why the syllabus should be checked every year. The NEET (UG) 2026 syllabus superseded earlier versions, and NMC can revise it again for 2027.
Is NCERT enough to cover the NEET syllabus?
NCERT Class 11 and 12 textbooks cover almost all of the NEET syllabus content, but they are not a perfect one-to-one match, so use the syllabus to decide which parts of NCERT to study and which to skip.
In Biology, the NCERT text is where most students do their primary reading, because the syllabus topics closely follow it and questions often turn on the precise wording of a line or a diagram. In Chemistry, Physical and Organic topics need practice problems beyond the textbook exercises, while Inorganic is closer to structured memory work from the NCERT text. In Physics, NCERT builds the concepts, but most students need many more numerical problems than the textbook provides to reach exam speed.
We are deliberately not quoting a percentage of NEET questions that "come from NCERT". Figures like that circulate widely, but we could not find one published by NTA or NMC, and estimates from private sources depend on how loosely "from NCERT" is defined.
How should you use the syllabus while preparing?
The syllabus is most useful as a checklist you mark against, not as something you read once and file away.
- Print the unit list for each subject and mark every unit as not started, studied once, or revised with questions.
- For each unit, note the NCERT chapters that cover it, and strike through chapter sections that are outside the unit text.
- Use the depth markers in the official text, such as "elementary idea" and "brief account only", to decide how much detail to learn.
- After every mock test, map each wrong answer to its syllabus unit. Over a few weeks a pattern appears, and that pattern, not the table of contents, should decide what you revise next.
- Recheck the syllabus when NMC notifies the one for your exam year, and adjust the list before you plan your final months.
If you want practice mapped to these chapters, the free Lumi question bank is organised chapter by chapter, with an explanation for every option.
Frequently asked questions
Who releases the NEET UG syllabus?
The Under Graduate Medical Education Board of the National Medical Commission. For NEET (UG) 2026 it issued a public notice on 22 December 2025, and the syllabus is linked from the official NTA NEET website, neet.nta.nic.in.
How many chapters are there in the NEET syllabus?
The official NEET (UG) 2026 syllabus is organised into units rather than chapters: 20 in Physics, 20 in Chemistry and 10 in Biology, 50 in all. Each unit can span one or several NCERT chapters.
Is the NEET syllabus the same as the NCERT syllabus?
Not exactly. It is closely based on NCERT Class 11 and 12 content, but some NCERT topics, such as the solid state and surface chemistry, do not appear as units in the 2026 syllabus. Check each chapter against the official NMC document.
Are practical experiments part of the NEET syllabus?
Yes. Physics Unit 20 (Experimental Skills) and Chemistry Unit 20 (Principles Related to Practical Chemistry) list specific experiments, titrations, preparations and salt-analysis ions that can be examined.
Will the NEET 2027 syllabus be the same as 2026?
We do not know yet. NMC notifies the syllabus for each exam year, and it can revise it. Use the 2026 document as your working plan and confirm against the official bulletin when the 2027 syllabus is published.