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Monday, 5 October

NEET UG · Biology · Class 12

Ecosystem: NEET previous year questions

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

Practise this chapter
Asked in 10 years
20
10 of 10 papers
10-year average
1.9
a paper · 2.0 since 2024 0.1
Typical range
1–3
questions a paper; fewest 1, most 3
Weighted estimate
2.1
model, recent papers count more · about 9 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 Ecosystem

Priority

Should do

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

Past questions
20in 10 of 10 papers
Study plan gives it
13 hover 12 months; 10 h over 6
Study this chapter →Practise →

Ideas asked most often

  1. Trophic Level Identification2×
  2. Detritivores vs. Decomposers2×
  3. Net Primary Productivity (NPP) Equation2×
  4. Inverted Pyramid of Biomass2×

153 of the 172 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

0242’171’181’192’203’213’222’231’243’252’26

Kind of question

SHARE OF 10 YEARS
  • Recall45%
  • Concept25%
  • Two statements15%
  • Calculation5%
  • Application5%
  • Match the lists5%

Most common asks: definition recall (4); deduce pyramid type from given data (1); identify inverted ecological pyramid (1).

Profile

This chapter in numbers

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

Rank, all NEET chapters
#39
of 80 by weighted estimate
Rank in Biology
#23
of 32 chapters
Share of the paper
1.1%
ten-year average
Busiest year
2021
3 questions
Year to year
Steady
varies by about 0.7 questions
Long-run direction
+0.08
questions per paper, per year
Easy questions
70%
17% of ideas rated hard
With a figure
0%
graph, diagram or structure
Botany / Zoology
19 / 1
questions by section
Study time
13 h
10 h on a 6-month plan
Marks per study hour
0.70
#9 of 80 chapters
Foundation for others
24%
of its ideas are used in other chapters

Difficulty, year by year

Each question rated easy, medium or hard against NCERT.

  • 20172
  • 20181
  • 20191
  • 20202
  • 20213
  • 20223
  • 20232
  • 20241
  • 20253
  • 20262
  • Easy
  • Medium
  • Hard

What it asks you to do

SHARE OF QUESTIONS
  • Recall45%
  • Concept40%
  • Application10%
  • Calculation5%

Coverage

How much of the chapter NEET has used

We split the chapter into 172 ideas. In ten years NEET built a question around 12 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
12
Touched on in a question
7
Never asked
153

Topics

What repeats, topic by topic

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25’26
03+questions in that year’s paper

  • Energy Flow in Ecosystem

    Expect a one-line factual recall item about Energy Flow in Ecosystem; a conceptual single-answer item (reasoning rather than recall) is the next most likely shape. Past framings centre on: definition recall; match list on trophic levels and examples.

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.

  • Open15 · 75%23232

    11 ideas inside

    • Repeated2 · 13%
    • Repeated2 · 13%
    • Repeated2 · 13%
    • Repeated2 · 13%
    • 1 · 7%
    • 1 · 7%
    • 1 · 7%
    • 1 · 7%
    • 1 · 7%
    • 1 · 7%
    • 1 · 7%
  • Open4 · 20%22
  • Open1 · 5%

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, 16 different ideas were tested. These came more than once, or are new since 2024.

  • Trophic Level Identification2×

    match list on trophic levels and examples

  • Detritivores vs. Decomposers2×

    count correct statements on decomposition

  • Net Primary Productivity (NPP) Equation2×

    definition recall

  • Inverted Pyramid of Biomass2×

    incorrect statement selection on ecological pyramids

  • Upright Pyramid of EnergyNew1×

    count correct statements on energy flow

  • Energy Pyramid UnitsNew1×

    identify unit of ecological quantity

  • Gross Primary Productivity (GPP)New1×

    statement i/ii on ecosystem productivity

  • Second Law of Thermodynamics in EcosystemsNew1×

    statement i/ii on energy flow

  • Lindeman's 10 Percent LawNew1×

    numerical

Every question

Ecosystem questions, year by year

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

NEET 20262 questions

  • Q146Which of the following are primary consumers in a food chain?One-line MCQ
  • Q178Which of the following statements are correct ? (a) Energy flow from producers to consumers is unidirectional (b) Energy pyramid can never…Other

NEET 20253 questions

  • Q100Given below are two statements : Statement I : The primary source of energy in an ecosystem is solar energy. Statement II : The rate of…Two statements
  • Q150Which of the following is the unit of productivity of an Ecosystem?One-line MCQ
  • Q170Given below are two statements: Statement I: In ecosystem, there is unidirectional flow of energy of sun from producers to consumers.…Two statements

NEET 20241 question

  • Q150In an ecosystem if the Net Primary Productivity (NPP) of first trophic level is 100x (kcal m−2^{-2}) yr−1^{-1}, what would be the GPP…Numerical

NEET 20232 questions

  • Q116In the equation GPP − R = NPP GPP is Gross Primary Productivity NPP is Net Primary Productivity R here is ________.One-line MCQ
  • Q130Identify the correct statements : A. Detrivores perform fragmentation. B. The humus is further degraded by some microbes during…Other

NEET 20223 questions

  • Q120Given below are two statements : Statement I : Decomposition is a process in which the detritus is degraded into simpler substances by…Two statements
  • Q143Which one of the following will accelerate phosphorus cycle ?One-line MCQ
  • Q163Detritivores breakdown detritus into smaller particles. This process is called :One-line MCQ

NEET 20213 questions

  • Q112Which of the following statements is not correct ?One-line MCQ
  • Q118In the equation GPP − R = NPP R represents :One-line MCQ
  • Q120The amount of nutrients, such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and calcium present in the soil at any given time, is referred as :One-line MCQ

NEET 20202 questions

  • Q60Match the trophic levels with their correct species examples in grassland ecosystem. (a) Fourth trophic level | (i) Crow (b) Second…Match the lists
  • Q69In relation to Gross primary productivity and Net primary productivity of an ecosystem, which one of the following statements is correct ?One-line MCQ

NEET 20191 question

  • Q137Which of the following ecological pyramids is generally inverted ?One-line MCQ

NEET 20181 question

  • Q115What type of ecological pyramid would be obtained with the following data ? Secondary consumer : 120 g Primary consumer : 60 g Primary…One-line MCQ

NEET 20172 questions

  • Q127Which ecosystem has the maximum biomass ?One-line MCQ
  • Q133Presence of plants arranged into well defined vertical layers depending on their height can be seen best in :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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