NEET UG · Physics · Electrostatic Potential and Capacitance

Capacitance: NEET previous year questions

14 questions in ten years of NEET, in 9 of 10 papers. Pattern: Every year. Here is how it is asked and which ideas come back.

Asked in 10 years: 14; about 1.3 per paper
Years asked: 9/10; last asked 2026
Chance of a question next paper: 84%; historical rate, how we compute it
Weighted estimate: 1.3; model; history: 1.3 a paper on average, typically 1–2

Key findings

01
Asked in 9 of 10 papers, 14 questions in all: #43 of 204 topics by ten-year total. It comes back every 1.1 years on average.
02
77% of its questions since 2018 tested an idea never asked before; 1 repeated an idea from the year before.
03
The most repeated idea is Parallel Plate Capacitor Formula, asked 2 times (2020, 2024), usually as “numerical”.
04
NEET has asked 11 of the 87 ideas in this topic; 71 have never been asked, directly or indirectly.
05
Mostly asked as one-line MCQ (36%); 43% easy, 7% hard.

Questions per year

Up to 2023: 1.3; per paper
Since 2024: 1.3; -0.1
Usual gap: 1.1 yrs; between papers asking it
Swing: ±0.9; questions, year to year

Recent framings

numerical: energy ratio in capacitor network
numerical: dielectric constant from capacitance change
numerical: equivalent capacitance of bridge network

Revise first

Energy Stored in Capacitor (2026); Parallel Plate Capacitor Formula (2020 2024); Capacitance with Partial Dielectric Slab (2025)

How it is asked

Difficulty, format and skill

Across all 14 questions on Capacitance since 2017.

Difficulty

QUESTIONS

Easy6 · 43%
Medium7 · 50%
Hard1 · 7%

Format

One-line MCQ · 5 Q36%
Figure-based · 4 Q29%
Numerical · 4 Q29%
Other · 1 Q7%

Skill tested

Application · 5 Q36%
Calculation · 4 Q29%
Concept · 3 Q21%
Multi-step · 2 Q14%

Repeats

New idea, or one asked before?

Each column is a paper. Blue questions tested an idea NEET had not asked before; navy ones went back to an idea from an earlier paper. 2017 is the first paper, so everything in it counts as new.

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25’26

Idea asked for the first time
Idea asked in an earlier paper

Coverage of the topic

NEET has asked 11 of the 87 ideas in this topic. 71 have never been asked yet.

1171

Asked directly11 · 13%
Touched inside another question5 · 6%
Never asked71 · 82%

Ideas come from Lumi’s syllabus map of NCERT. A never-asked idea is not a safe skip: most new questions come from exactly these.

Drill down

Idea, year, question

Every idea NEET tested in this topic, with its ten papers. Open one to read the questions.

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

Repeated2 · 14%14%2/10
- 2022 · Q34
  Two hollow conducting spheres of radii $R_1$ and $R_2$ ( $R_1 >> R_2$ ) have equal charges. The potential would be :
  mediumOne-line MCQAsked the year before
- 2021 · Q40
  Twenty seven drops of same size are charged at 220 V each. They combine to form a bigger drop. Calculate the potential of the bigger drop.
  mediumNumericalNew idea
Repeated2 · 14%14%2/10
Repeated2 · 14%14%2/10
1 · 7%7%1/10
1 · 7%7%1/10
1 · 7%7%1/10
1 · 7%7%1/10
1 · 7%7%1/10
1 · 7%7%1/10
1 · 7%7%1/10
1 · 7%7%1/10

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

Ideas

Every idea inside this topic

11 different ideas were tested; 3 came more than once. Parallel Plate Capacitor Formula is the foundation for 29 other ideas in the syllabus.

Parallel Plate Capacitor Formula2×
numerical
Numerical · 6% next · foundation for 29
Capacitance of an Isolated Spherical Conductor2×
compare potential of two charged spheres
Numerical · 6% next · foundation for 1
Charge Sharing and Common Potential2×
numerical
Numerical · 6% next · foundation for 2
Energy Stored in Capacitor1×
numerical
Figure-based · 6% next · foundation for 20
Capacitance with Partial Dielectric Slab1×
numerical
Numerical · 6% next · foundation for 1
Wheatstone Bridge of Capacitors1×
numerical
Figure-based · 6% next
Capacitors in Series1×
numerical
Figure-based · 4% next · foundation for 10
Capacitors in Parallel1×
equivalent capacitance of capacitor network
Figure-based · 4% next · foundation for 15
Common Potential in Charge Sharing1×
surface charge density ratio of connected spheres
One-line MCQ · 4% next · foundation for 1
Electrostatic Energy Density1×
recall energy stored in terms of field
One-line MCQ · 4% next
Electrostatic Force Between Capacitor Plates1×
dependence of plate force on separation
One-line MCQ · 4% next

Idea	Times	Format	Chance next	Foundation for
Parallel Plate Capacitor Formulanumerical	2	NumericalCalculation	6%	29 ideas
Capacitance of an Isolated Spherical Conductorcompare potential of two charged spheres	2	NumericalConcept	6%	1 ideas
Charge Sharing and Common Potentialnumerical	2	NumericalApplication	6%	2 ideas
Energy Stored in Capacitornumerical	1	Figure-basedMulti-step	6%	20 ideas
Capacitance with Partial Dielectric Slabnumerical	1	NumericalCalculation	6%	1 ideas
Wheatstone Bridge of Capacitorsnumerical	1	Figure-basedApplication	6%	–
Capacitors in Seriesnumerical	1	Figure-basedCalculation	4%	10 ideas
Capacitors in Parallelequivalent capacitance of capacitor network	1	Figure-basedApplication	4%	15 ideas
Common Potential in Charge Sharingsurface charge density ratio of connected spheres	1	One-line MCQApplication	4%	1 ideas
Electrostatic Energy Densityrecall energy stored in terms of field	1	One-line MCQApplication	4%	–
Electrostatic Force Between Capacitor Platesdependence of plate force on separation	1	One-line MCQConcept	4%	–

Chance next is the historical rate at which an idea with this record came back in the following paper. It is low for every idea, which is why learning the topic beats memorising past questions. All repeated ideas

Every question

Capacitance questions, year by year

The opening words of each question as it appeared in the official paper, with the idea it tested.

NEET 20261 question

Q9
Three identical capacitors P, Q and S, each of the capacitance C, are connected to a battery of voltage V, as shown in the figure. If the…
Idea: Energy Stored in Capacitor
New ideaMediumFigure-based · figure

NEET 20251 question

Q20
The plates of a parallel plate capacitor are separated by $d$ . Two slabs of different dielectric constant $K_1$ and $K_2$ with thickness…
Idea: Capacitance with Partial Dielectric Slab
New ideaHardNumerical

NEET 20242 questions

Q13
In the following circuit, the equivalent capacitance between terminal $A$ and terminal $B$ is :
Idea: Wheatstone Bridge of Capacitors
New ideaEasyFigure-based · figure
Q39
If the plates of a parallel plate capacitor connected to a battery are moved close to each other, then A. the charge stored in it,…
Idea: Parallel Plate Capacitor Formula
MediumOther

NEET 20231 question

Q30
The equivalent capacitance of the system shown in the following circuit is :
Idea: Capacitors in Series
New ideaEasyFigure-based · figure

NEET 20222 questions

Q34
Two hollow conducting spheres of radii $R_1$ and $R_2$ ( $R_1 >> R_2$ ) have equal charges. The potential would be :
Idea: Capacitance of an Isolated Spherical Conductor
Asked last yearMediumOne-line MCQ
Q42
A capacitor of capacitance C = 900 pF is charged fully by 100 V battery B as shown in figure (a). Then it is disconnected from the battery…
Idea: Charge Sharing and Common Potential
MediumNumerical · figure

NEET 20214 questions

Q5
The equivalent capacitance of the combination shown in the figure is :
Idea: Capacitors in Parallel
New ideaEasyFigure-based · figure
Q16
Two charged spherical conductors of radius $R_1$ and $R_2$ are connected by a wire. Then the ratio of surface charge densities of the…
Idea: Common Potential in Charge Sharing
New ideaMediumOne-line MCQ
Q29
A parallel plate capacitor has a uniform electric field ' $\vec{E}$ ' in the space between the plates. If the distance between the plates is…
Idea: Electrostatic Energy Density
New ideaEasyOne-line MCQ
Q40
Twenty seven drops of same size are charged at 220 V each. They combine to form a bigger drop. Calculate the potential of the bigger drop.
Idea: Capacitance of an Isolated Spherical Conductor
New ideaMediumNumerical

NEET 20201 question

Q166
The capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor with air as medium is 6 $\mu$ F. With the introduction of a dielectric medium, the…
Idea: Parallel Plate Capacitor Formula
New ideaEasyNumerical

NEET 20181 question

Q23
The electrostatic force between the metal plates of an isolated parallel plate capacitor C having a charge Q and area A, is
Idea: Electrostatic Force Between Capacitor Plates
New ideaMediumOne-line MCQ

NEET 20171 question

Q17
A capacitor is charged by a battery. The battery is removed and another identical uncharged capacitor is connected in parallel. The total…
Idea: Charge Sharing and Common Potential
EasyOne-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.