NEET UG · Biology · Class 11

Breathing and Exchange of Gases: NEET previous year questions

17 questions in ten years of NEET, asked in 9 of 10 years. Here is what this chapter tests and how.

Asked in 10 years: 17; 9 of 10 papers
10-year average: 1.6; a paper · 0.9 since 2024 -1.0
Typical range: 1–3; questions a paper; fewest 0, most 3
Weighted estimate: 1.3; model, recent papers count more · about 5 marks

Typical range (fact)
10-year average (fact)
Weighted estimate (model)

Typical range: questions per paper in the middle eight of the ten papers, leaving out the single highest and lowest year (about the 10th to 90th percentile), each paper scaled to 180 questions. The ten-year average and the range are historical fact. The weighted estimate is a model: each paper's share, with recent papers counting more (half-life three years), and dropped syllabus removed. It is a guide to effort, not a forecast.

What to do

How to spend time on Breathing and Exchange of Gases

Priority

Should do

Among the chapters that took NEET from half to 80% of its questions. How bands are set

Past questions: 17in 9 of 10 papers
Study plan gives it: 10 hover 12 months; 7 h over 6

Study this chapter →Practise →

Ideas asked most often

Asthma and Emphysema3×
Pulmonary Capacities3×
Alveolar Conditions for Oxyhemoglobin3×

162 of the 171 ideas in Lumi’s map of this chapter have not been asked or touched in ten years. New questions often come from ideas like these, so learn the whole chapter, not just the list above.

Questions per year

Kind of question

SHARE OF 10 YEARS

Recall41%
Concept29%
Match the lists18%
Calculation6%
Assertion–reason6%

Most common asks: match list on lung volumes (3); identify lung condition in disorder (2); identify example of occupational disorder (1).

Profile

This chapter in numbers

Where it ranks, how steady it is, and what it costs to study.

Rank, all NEET chapters: #67; of 80 by weighted estimate
Rank in Biology: #30; of 32 chapters
Share of the paper: 0.9%; ten-year average
Busiest year: 2018; 3 questions
Year to year: Steady; varies by about 0.9 questions
Long-run direction: -0.17; questions per paper, per year
Easy questions: 88%; 2% of ideas rated hard
With a figure: 0%; graph, diagram or structure
Botany / Zoology: 0 / 17; questions by section
Study time: 10 h; 7 h on a 6-month plan
Marks per study hour: 0.53; #55 of 80 chapters
Foundation for others: 96%; of its ideas are used in other chapters

Difficulty, year by year

Each question rated easy, medium or hard against NCERT.

20171
20183
20192
20202
20213
20222
20231
20242
20251
2026

Easy
Medium
Hard

What it asks you to do

SHARE OF QUESTIONS

Recall59%
Concept35%
Calculation6%

Coverage

How much of the chapter NEET has used

We split the chapter into 171 ideas. In ten years NEET built a question around 5 of them. Most of the chapter has never been asked, which is why learning it whole beats memorising past questions.

Asked as the main idea: 5
Touched on in a question: 4
Never asked: 162

Topics

What repeats, topic by topic

Questions per topic in each year's paper. Topics that come every year are worth learning first.

Mechanism of Breathing · Every year11
13211111
Oxygen Dissociation Curve · Due again6
1311

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25’26

Topic	2017	’18	2019	’20	2021	’22	2023	’24	2025	’26	Total
Mechanism of BreathingEvery year	1	3	2	1	·	1	1	1	1	·	11
Oxygen Dissociation CurveDue again	·	·	·	1	3	1	·	1	·	·	6

03+questions in that year’s paper

Drill down

Topic, idea, question

Open a topic to see every idea NEET tested inside it, then open an idea to read the questions. Each row shows its ten papers.

topicAskedShareYears’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25’26

Open11 · 65%65%8/1032
7 ideas inside
- Repeated3 · 27%27%3/10
- Repeated3 · 27%27%3/10
- 1 · 9%9%1/10
- 1 · 9%9%1/10
- 1 · 9%9%1/10
- 1 · 9%9%1/10
- 1 · 9%9%1/10
Open6 · 35%35%4/103

Squares are the ten papers, 2017 to 2026; darker means more questions. Share is of the level above.

Ideas

The exact ideas NEET has asked

Inside the topics, 11 different ideas were tested. These came more than once, or are new since 2024.

Asthma and Emphysema3×
identify lung condition in disorder
Pulmonary Capacities3×
definition recall of lung capacity
Alveolar Conditions for Oxyhemoglobin3×
identify wrong statement on oxygen transport

Idea	Times	Usually asked as
Asthma and Emphysemaidentify lung condition in disorder	3	One-line MCQ
Pulmonary Capacitiesdefinition recall of lung capacity	3	Match the lists
Alveolar Conditions for Oxyhemoglobinidentify wrong statement on oxygen transport	3	One-line MCQ

Every question

Breathing and Exchange of Gases questions, year by year

The opening words of each question as it appeared in the official paper.

NEET 20251 question

Q101Match List - I with List - II. List - I | List - II A. Emphysema | I. Rapid spasms in muscle due to low $Ca^{++}$ in body fluid B. Angina…Match the lists

NEET 20242 questions

Q159Match List I with List II List-I | List-II A. Expiratory capacity | I. Expiratory reserve volume + Tidal volume + Inspiratory reserve…Match the lists
Q171Which of the following factors are favourable for the formation of oxyhaemoglobin in alveoli?One-line MCQ

NEET 20231 question

Q171Vital capacity of lung is ________.One-line MCQ

NEET 20222 questions

Q165Which of the following is not the function of conducting part of respiratory system ?One-line MCQ
Q166Under normal physiological conditions in human being, every 100 ml of oxygenated blood can deliver ______ ml of $\mathrm{O_2}$ to the…One-line MCQ

NEET 20213 questions

Q163The partial pressures (in mm Hg) of oxygen ( $\mathrm{O_2}$ ) and carbon dioxide ( $\mathrm{CO_2}$ ) at alveoli (the site of diffusion) are :One-line MCQ
Q169Select the favourable conditions required for the formation of oxyhaemoglobin at the alveoli.One-line MCQ
Q195Assertion (A) : A person goes to high altitude and experiences 'altitude sickness' with symptoms like breathing difficulty and heart…Assertion–reason

NEET 20202 questions

Q19Identify the wrong statement with reference to transport of oxygen.One-line MCQ
Q24Select the correct events that occur during inspiration. (a) Contraction of diaphragm (b) Contraction of external inter-costal muscles (c)…Other

NEET 20192 questions

Q120Due to increasing air-borne allergens and pollutants, many people in urban areas are suffering from respiratory disorder causing wheezing…One-line MCQ
Q141Tidal Volume and Expiratory Reserve Volume of an athlete is 500 mL and 1000 mL respectively. What will be his Expiratory Capacity if the…Numerical

NEET 20183 questions

Q136Which of the following options correctly represents the lung conditions in asthma and emphysema, respectively ?One-line MCQ
Q138Match the items given in Column I with those in Column II and select the correct option given below : Column I | Column II a. Tidal volume…Match the lists
Q167Which of the following is an occupational respiratory disorder ?One-line MCQ

NEET 20171 question

Q148Lungs are made up of air-filled sacs, the alveoli. They do not collapse even after forceful expiration, because of :One-line MCQ

Questions from the official NEET UG papers published by NTA (CBSE before 2019). Topic and idea tags, counts and notes are Lumi’s.

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