NEET UG · Biology · Molecular Basis of Inheritance

DNA Replication: NEET previous year questions

5 questions in ten years of NEET, in 4 of 10 papers. Pattern: Due again. Here is how it is asked and which ideas come back.

Asked in 10 years: 5; about 0.5 per paper
Years asked: 4/10; last asked 2024
Chance of a question next paper: 50%; historical rate, how we compute it
Weighted estimate: 0.4; model; history: 0.5 a paper on average, typically 0–1

Key findings

01
Asked in 4 of 10 papers, 5 questions in all: #151 of 204 topics by ten-year total. It comes back every 2.3 years on average. Last asked in 2024.
02
75% of its questions since 2018 tested an idea never asked before; none repeated an idea from the year before.
03
The most repeated idea is Semi-conservative Model, asked 2 times (2018, 2024), usually as “organism used in classic experiment”.
04
NEET has asked 4 of the 87 ideas in this topic; 78 have never been asked, directly or indirectly.
05
Mostly asked as one-line MCQ (60%); 60% easy, 0% hard.

Questions per year

Up to 2023: 0.4; per paper
Since 2024: 0.6; 0.2
Usual gap: 2.3 yrs; between papers asking it
Swing: ±0.6; questions, year to year

How it is asked

Difficulty, format and skill

Across all 5 questions on DNA Replication since 2017.

Difficulty

QUESTIONS

Easy3 · 60%
Medium2 · 40%
Hard0 · 0%

Format

One-line MCQ · 3 Q60%
Match the lists · 1 Q20%
Numerical · 1 Q20%

Skill tested

Concept · 2 Q40%
Recall · 2 Q40%
Calculation · 1 Q20%

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 4 of the 87 ideas in this topic. 78 have never been asked yet.

Asked directly4 · 5%
Touched inside another question5 · 6%
Never asked78 · 90%

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 · 40%40%2/10
- 2024 · Q148
  Match List I with List II List I | List II A. Frederick Griffith | I. Genetic code B. Francois Jacob & Jacque Monod | II.…
  easyMatch the lists
- 2018 · Q106
  The experimental proof for semiconservative replication of DNA was first shown in a
  easyOne-line MCQNew idea
1 · 20%20%1/10
1 · 20%20%1/10
1 · 20%20%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

4 different ideas were tested; 1 came more than once. Semi-conservative Model is the foundation for 79 other ideas in the syllabus.

Semi-conservative Model2×
organism used in classic experiment
Match the lists · 6% next · foundation for 79
Polymerase Directionality1×
true statement selection on dna replication
One-line MCQ · 6% next · foundation for 16
Meselson-Stahl Generation Calculations1×
numerical
Numerical · 4% next · foundation for 3
Leading/Lagging Strands1×
true statement selection on replication
One-line MCQ · 4% next · foundation for 10

Idea	Times	Format	Chance next	Foundation for
Semi-conservative Modelorganism used in classic experiment	2	Match the listsRecall	6%	79 ideas
Polymerase Directionalitytrue statement selection on dna replication	1	One-line MCQConcept	6%	16 ideas
Meselson-Stahl Generation Calculationsnumerical	1	NumericalCalculation	4%	3 ideas
Leading/Lagging Strandstrue statement selection on replication	1	One-line MCQConcept	4%	10 ideas

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

DNA Replication questions, year by year

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

NEET 20242 questions

Q147
Which of the following statement is correct regarding the process of replication in $E.coli$ ?
Idea: Polymerase Directionality
New ideaEasyOne-line MCQ
Q148
Match List I with List II List I | List II A. Frederick Griffith | I. Genetic code B. Francois Jacob & Jacque Monod | II.…
Idea: Semi-conservative Model
EasyMatch the lists

NEET 20221 question

Q200
Ten E.coli cells with $\mathrm{^{15}N}$ - dsDNA are incubated in medium containing $\mathrm{^{14}N}$ nucleotide. After 60 minutes, how…
Idea: Meselson-Stahl Generation Calculations
New ideaMediumNumerical

NEET 20181 question

Q106
The experimental proof for semiconservative replication of DNA was first shown in a
Idea: Semi-conservative Model
New ideaEasyOne-line MCQ

NEET 20171 question

Q104
During DNA replication, Okazaki fragments are used to elongate :
Idea: Leading/Lagging Strands
MediumOne-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.