Biology · Class 11 · Chapter 10
Cell Cycle and Cell Division
13 lessons 87 min 2 simulations
Every organism, however large, begins as one cell, and it grows by cells dividing again and again. This chapter follows one round of that process, the cell cycle: a long interphase of growth and DNA copying (G1, S, G2), then the M phase in which mitosis shares identical chromosome sets between two daughter cells. It then turns to meiosis, the special two-step division that halves the chromosome number to make gametes, walks through the five sub-stages of prophase I where homologues pair and cross over, and closes with why both kinds of division matter.
What the exam asks
NEET rewards exact bookkeeping here: how the chromosome number (n, 2n) and the DNA content (C) change from G1 to S to G2 and through each division, and which event belongs to which stage. Students lose marks by mixing up chromatids with chromosomes, by putting crossing over in zygotene or diplotene instead of pachytene, by confusing anaphase of mitosis with anaphase I of meiosis, and by forgetting the examples NCERT gives: heart cells for G0, male honey bees for haploid mitosis, liquid coconut endosperm for a syncytium.
Lessons
13 lessons · 87 min
1The cell cycle and its phasesNCERT §10.16 min2Interphase: G1, S and G2NCERT §10.1.16 min3Quiescent stage and which cells divideNCERT §10.1.15 min4Prophase and metaphaseNCERT §10.2.1–10.2.26 min5Anaphase and telophaseNCERT §10.2.3–10.2.45 min6CytokinesisNCERT §10.2.55 min7Significance of mitosisNCERT §10.35 min8Meiosis and its key featuresNCERT §10.45 min9Prophase INCERT §10.4.110 min 1 sim10Metaphase I to interkinesisNCERT §10.4.15 min11Meiosis IINCERT §10.4.29 min 1 sim12Significance of meiosisNCERT §10.55 min13Chapter reviewMust-know facts, traps and formulas15 min