NEET UG · Chemistry · Class 11

Structure of Atom: NEET previous year questions

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

Asked in 10 years: 16; 10 of 10 papers
10-year average: 1.5; a paper · 1.6 since 2024 0.1
Typical range: 1–2; questions a paper; fewest 1, most 2
Weighted estimate: 1.7; model, recent papers count more · about 7 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 Structure of Atom

Priority

Lower priority

Among the chapters that shared the last fifth of the questions. How bands are set

Past questions: 16in 10 of 10 papers
Study plan gives it: 14 hover 12 months; 11 h over 6

Study this chapter →Practise →

Ideas asked most often

Single-Electron Species Energy Exception3×
Orbital Degeneracy2×

66 of the 84 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

Calculation31%
Concept25%
Recall19%
Application13%
Match the lists6%
Figure-based6%

Most common asks: numerical (6); incorrect statement on atomic structure (1); select correct statements on atomic structure (1).

Profile

This chapter in numbers

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

Rank, all NEET chapters: #53; of 80 by weighted estimate
Rank in Chemistry: #15; of 21 chapters
Share of the paper: 0.8%; ten-year average
Busiest year: 2019; 2 questions
Year to year: Steady; varies by about 0.4 questions
Long-run direction: +0.05; questions per paper, per year
Easy questions: 44%; 65% of ideas rated hard
With a figure: 13%; graph, diagram or structure
Study time: 14 h; 11 h on a 6-month plan
Marks per study hour: 0.50; #67 of 80 chapters
Foundation for others: 97%; of its ideas are used in other chapters

Difficulty, year by year

Each question rated easy, medium or hard against NCERT.

20171
20181
20192
20201
20212
20222
20232
20242
20252
20261

Easy
Medium
Hard

What it asks you to do

SHARE OF QUESTIONS

Calculation31%
Concept25%
Recall25%
Application13%
Data or graph6%

Coverage

How much of the chapter NEET has used

We split the chapter into 84 ideas. In ten years NEET built a question around 8 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: 8
Touched on in a question: 10
Never asked: 66

Topics

What repeats, topic by topic

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

Quantum Numbers · Every year16
1121222221

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25’26

Topic	2017	’18	2019	’20	2021	’22	2023	’24	2025	’26	Total
Quantum NumbersEvery year	1	1	2	1	2	2	2	2	2	1	16

02+questions in that year’s paper

Quantum Numbers
Expect a short numerical problem (one or two formula steps, four numeric options) about Quantum Numbers; a conceptual single-answer item (reasoning rather than recall) is the next most likely shape. Past framings centre on: numerical; incorrect statement on atomic structure.

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

Open16 · 100%100%10/10222222
13 ideas inside
- Repeated3 · 19%19%2/102
- Repeated2 · 13%13%2/10
- 1 · 6%6%1/10
- 1 · 6%6%1/10
- 1 · 6%6%1/10
- 1 · 6%6%1/10
- 1 · 6%6%1/10
- 1 · 6%6%1/10
- 1 · 6%6%1/10
- 1 · 6%6%1/10
- 1 · 6%6%1/10
- 1 · 6%6%1/10
- 1 · 6%6%1/10

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

Single-Electron Species Energy ExceptionNew3×
numerical
Orbital Degeneracy2×
identify incorrect statement on orbitals
Graphical Identification of Radial NodesNew1×
graph interpretation of radial nodes
Azimuthal Quantum Number (l)New1×
match list on quantum numbers

Idea	Times	Usually asked as
Single-Electron Species Energy Exceptionnumerical	3	NumericalNew
Orbital Degeneracyidentify incorrect statement on orbitals	2	One-line MCQ
Graphical Identification of Radial Nodesgraph interpretation of radial nodes	1	Figure-basedNew
Azimuthal Quantum Number (l)match list on quantum numbers	1	Match the listsNew

Every question

Structure of Atom questions, year by year

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

NEET 20261 question

Q88Consider the following schematic plots of orbital wavefunction ( $\psi_r$ ) against distance (r) from the nucleus. [Figure: four plots A, B,…Figure-based · figure

NEET 20252 questions

Q46The ratio of the wavelengths of the light absorbed by a Hydrogen atom when it undergoes $n = 2 \to n = 3$ and $n = 4 \to n = 6$ …Numerical
Q50Energy and radius of first Bohr orbit of $He^+$ and $Li^{2+}$ are [Given $R_H = 2.18\times10^{-18}$ J, $a_0$ = 52.9 pm]Numerical

NEET 20242 questions

Q56Match List I with List II. List I (Quantum Number) | List II (Information provided) A. $m_l$ | I. shape of orbital B. $m_s$ | II. size of…Match the lists
Q57The energy of an electron in the ground state (n = 1) for He $^+$ ion is $-x$ J, then that for an electron in n = 2 state for Be $^{3+}$ ion…Numerical

NEET 20232 questions

Q74Select the correct statements from the following : A. Atoms of all elements are composed of two fundamental particles. B. The mass of the…Other
Q78The relation between $n_m$ , ( $n_m$ = the number of permissible values of magnetic quantum number (m)) for a given value of azimuthal…One-line MCQ

NEET 20222 questions

Q70Identify the incorrect statement from the followingOne-line MCQ
Q86If radius of second Bohr orbit of the $\mathrm{He^+}$ ion is 105.8 pm, what is the radius of third Bohr orbit of $\mathrm{Li^{2+}}$ ion ?Numerical

NEET 20212 questions

Q57A particular station of All India Radio, New Delhi, broadcasts on a frequency of 1,368 kHz (kilohertz). The wavelength of the…Numerical
Q95From the following pairs of ions which one is not an iso-electronic pair ?One-line MCQ

NEET 20201 question

Q124The number of protons, neutrons and electrons in $^{175}_{71}\mathrm{Lu}$ , respectively, are :One-line MCQ

NEET 20192 questions

Q494d, 5p, 5f and 6p orbitals are arranged in the order of decreasing energy. The correct option is :One-line MCQ
Q87Which of the following series of transitions in the spectrum of hydrogen atom falls in visible region ?One-line MCQ

NEET 20181 question

Q90Which one is a wrong statement ?One-line MCQ · figure

NEET 20171 question

Q59Which one is the wrong statement ?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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