NEET UG · Physics · Electromagnetic Waves

Electromagnetic Waves: NEET previous year questions

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

Asked in 10 years: 18; about 1.7 per paper
Years asked: 10/10; last asked 2026
Chance of a question next paper: 84%; historical rate, how we compute it
Weighted estimate: 1.9; model; history: 1.7 a paper on average, typically 1–2

Key findings

01
Asked in 10 of 10 papers, 18 questions in all: #19 of 204 topics by ten-year total.
02
41% of its questions since 2018 tested an idea never asked before; 2 repeated an idea from the year before.
03
The most repeated idea is Displacement Current, asked 5 times (2019, 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025), usually as “effect of frequency on capacitor reactance and displacement current”.
04
NEET has asked 0 of the 8 ideas in this topic; 0 have never been asked, directly or indirectly.
05
Mostly asked as one-line MCQ (67%); 61% easy, 0% hard, and up from 1.6 to 1.9 questions a paper since 2024.

Questions per year

Up to 2023: 1.6; per paper
Since 2024: 1.9; +0.3
Usual gap: 1.0 yrs; between papers asking it
Swing: ±0.4; questions, year to year

Recent framings

match list on EM spectrum applications
incorrect statement on EM wave in dielectric
true statement selection on displacement current

Revise first

Displacement Current (2019 2021 2023 2024 2025); Speed of EM Waves (2022 2026); Transverse Nature and E x B Direction (2018 2021 2025)

How it is asked

Difficulty, format and skill

Across all 18 questions on Electromagnetic Waves since 2017.

Difficulty

QUESTIONS

117

Easy11 · 61%
Medium7 · 39%
Hard0 · 0%

Format

One-line MCQ · 12 Q67%
Numerical · 4 Q22%
Match the lists · 2 Q11%

Skill tested

Recall · 5 Q28%
Concept · 5 Q28%
Calculation · 4 Q22%
Multi-step · 2 Q11%
Application · 2 Q11%

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 0 of the 8 ideas in this topic. 0 have never been asked yet.

Asked directly0 · 0%
Touched inside another question8 · 100%
Never asked0 · 0%

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

Repeated5 · 28%28%5/10
- 2025 · Q26
  A parallel plate capacitor made of circular plates is being charged such that the surface charge density on its plates is increasing at a…
  mediumOne-line MCQAsked the year before
- 2024 · Q43
  A parallel plate capacitor is charged by connecting it to a battery through a resistor. If I is the current in the circuit, then in the…
  easyOne-line MCQAsked the year before
- 2023 · Q35
  An ac source is connected to a capacitor C. Due to decrease in its operating frequency :
  mediumOne-line MCQ
- 2021 · Q9
  A capacitor of capacitance 'C', is connected across an ac source of voltage V, given by $V = V_0 \sin\omega t$ The displacement current…
  mediumOne-line MCQ
- 2019 · Q43
  A parallel plate capacitor of capacitance 20 μF is being charged by a voltage source whose potential is changing at the rate of 3 V/s. The…
  easyNumericalNew idea
Repeated3 · 17%17%3/10
Repeated2 · 11%11%2/10
Repeated2 · 11%11%2/10
Repeated2 · 11%11%2/10
Repeated2 · 11%11%2/10
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

Every idea inside this topic

8 different ideas were tested; 6 came more than once.

Displacement Current5×
effect of frequency on capacitor reactance and displacement current
One-line MCQ · 11% next
Transverse Nature and E x B Direction3×
direction of b field in em wave
One-line MCQ · 6% next
Speed of EM Waves2×
formula for speed of light in medium
One-line MCQ · 6% next
Energy Density of EM Waves2×
ratio of electric and magnetic contributions in em wave
One-line MCQ · 6% next
Relation E0 = cB02×
numerical
Numerical · 6% next
Order of the Electromagnetic Spectrum2×
match list on em wave wavelengths
Match the lists · 6% next
Production and Uses of EM Bands1×
match list on em spectrum applications
Match the lists · 6% next
Intensity and Energy Transport1×
numerical
Numerical · 4% next

Idea	Times	Format	Chance next	Foundation for
Displacement Currenteffect of frequency on capacitor reactance and displacement current	5	One-line MCQConcept	11%	–
Transverse Nature and E x B Directiondirection of b field in em wave	3	One-line MCQApplication	6%	–
Speed of EM Wavesformula for speed of light in medium	2	One-line MCQMulti-step	6%	–
Energy Density of EM Wavesratio of electric and magnetic contributions in em wave	2	One-line MCQConcept	6%	–
Relation E0 = cB0numerical	2	NumericalCalculation	6%	–
Order of the Electromagnetic Spectrummatch list on em wave wavelengths	2	Match the listsRecall	6%	–
Production and Uses of EM Bandsmatch list on em spectrum applications	1	Match the listsRecall	6%	–
Intensity and Energy Transportnumerical	1	NumericalCalculation	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

Electromagnetic Waves questions, year by year

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

NEET 20262 questions

Q38
An electromagnetic wave travelling in a lossless dielectric medium having a dielectric constant, $\epsilon_r=9$ , has the electric field,…
Idea: Speed of EM Waves
MediumOne-line MCQ
Q43
The following table presents the part of the electromagnetic spectrum and their corresponding major applications. Part of the…
Idea: Production and Uses of EM Bands
New ideaEasyMatch the lists · figure

NEET 20252 questions

Q9
The electric field in a plane electromagnetic wave is given by $E_z = 60\cos(5x + 1.5\times10^9 t)$ V/m. Then expression for the…
Idea: Transverse Nature and E x B Direction
MediumOne-line MCQ
Q26
A parallel plate capacitor made of circular plates is being charged such that the surface charge density on its plates is increasing at a…
Idea: Displacement Current
Asked last yearMediumOne-line MCQ

NEET 20242 questions

Q43
A parallel plate capacitor is charged by connecting it to a battery through a resistor. If I is the current in the circuit, then in the…
Idea: Displacement Current
Asked last yearEasyOne-line MCQ
Q46
The property which is not of an electromagnetic wave travelling in free space is that :
Idea: Energy Density of EM Waves
EasyOne-line MCQ

NEET 20232 questions

Q6
In a plane electromagnetic wave travelling in free space, the electric field component oscillates sinusoidally at a frequency of…
Idea: Relation E0 = cB0
EasyNumerical
Q35
An ac source is connected to a capacitor C. Due to decrease in its operating frequency :
Idea: Displacement Current
MediumOne-line MCQ

NEET 20222 questions

Q11
When light propagates through a material medium of relative permittivity $\epsilon_r$ and relative permeability $\mu_r$ , the velocity of…
Idea: Speed of EM Waves
New ideaEasyOne-line MCQ
Q32
Match List - I with List - II : List - I (Electromagnetic waves) | List - II (Wavelength) (a) AM radio waves | (i) $10^{-10}$ m (b)…
Idea: Order of the Electromagnetic Spectrum
MediumMatch the lists

NEET 20212 questions

Q9
A capacitor of capacitance 'C', is connected across an ac source of voltage V, given by $V = V_0 \sin\omega t$ The displacement current…
Idea: Displacement Current
MediumOne-line MCQ
Q12
For a plane electromagnetic wave propagating in $x$ -direction, which one of the following combination gives the correct possible…
Idea: Transverse Nature and E x B Direction
MediumOne-line MCQ

NEET 20202 questions

Q137
The ratio of contributions made by the electric field and magnetic field components to the intensity of an electromagnetic wave is : (c =…
Idea: Energy Density of EM Waves
New ideaEasyOne-line MCQ
Q150
Light with an average flux of 20 W/cm $^2$ falls on a non-reflecting surface at normal incidence having surface area 20 cm $^2$ . The energy…
Idea: Intensity and Energy Transport
New ideaEasyNumerical

NEET 20192 questions

Q8
Which colour of the light has the longest wavelength ?
Idea: Order of the Electromagnetic Spectrum
New ideaEasyOne-line MCQ
Q43
A parallel plate capacitor of capacitance 20 μF is being charged by a voltage source whose potential is changing at the rate of 3 V/s. The…
Idea: Displacement Current
New ideaEasyNumerical

NEET 20181 question

Q18
An em wave is propagating in a medium with a velocity $\vec{V} = V\hat{i}$ . The instantaneous oscillating electric field of this em wave…
Idea: Transverse Nature and E x B Direction
New ideaEasyOne-line MCQ

NEET 20171 question

Q31
In an electromagnetic wave in free space the root mean square value of the electric field is $E_{rms}$ = 6 V/m. The peak value of the…
Idea: Relation E0 = cB0
EasyNumerical

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