NEET UG · Chemistry · Chemical Bonding and Molecular Structure

Molecular Orbital Theory: NEET previous year questions

8 questions in ten years of NEET, in 8 of 10 papers. Pattern: Every year. Here is how it is asked and which ideas come back.

Asked in 10 years: 8; about 0.8 per paper
Years asked: 8/10; last asked 2026
Chance of a question next paper: 64%; historical rate, how we compute it
Weighted estimate: 0.8; model; history: 0.8 a paper on average, typically 0–1

Key findings

01
Asked in 8 of 10 papers, 8 questions in all: #101 of 204 topics by ten-year total. It comes back every 1.3 years on average.
02
86% 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 Bond Order from MO Configuration, asked 2 times (2017, 2018), usually as “order/ranking of bond order”.
04
NEET has asked 0 of the 7 ideas in this topic; 0 have never been asked, directly or indirectly.
05
Mostly asked as one-line MCQ (88%); 13% easy, 0% hard.

Questions per year

Up to 2023: 0.8; per paper
Since 2024: 0.7; -0.2
Usual gap: 1.3 yrs; between papers asking it
Swing: ±0.4; questions, year to year

How it is asked

Difficulty, format and skill

Across all 8 questions on Molecular Orbital Theory since 2017.

Difficulty

QUESTIONS

Easy1 · 13%
Medium7 · 88%
Hard0 · 0%

Format

One-line MCQ · 7 Q88%
Two statements · 1 Q13%

Skill tested

Application · 4 Q50%
Recall · 2 Q25%
Concept · 2 Q25%

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 7 ideas in this topic. 0 have never been asked yet.

Asked directly0 · 0%
Touched inside another question7 · 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

Repeated2 · 25%25%2/10
- 2018 · Q87
  Consider the following species : $\mathrm{CN^+}$ , $\mathrm{CN^-}$ , NO and CN Which one of these will have the highest bond order ?
  mediumOne-line MCQAsked the year before
- 2017 · Q79
  Which one of the following pairs of species have the same bond order ?
  mediumOne-line MCQNew idea
1 · 13%13%1/10
1 · 13%13%1/10
1 · 13%13%1/10
1 · 13%13%1/10
1 · 13%13%1/10
1 · 13%13%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

7 different ideas were tested; 1 came more than once.

Bond Order from MO Configuration2×
order/ranking of bond order
One-line MCQ · 4% next
Highest Occupied Molecular Orbital1×
identify molecular orbital of a diatomic
One-line MCQ · 6% next
Bond Order, Stability and Bond Length1×
statement i/ii on bond order
Two statements · 6% next
MO Energy Order and s-p Mixing1×
order/ranking of energies of orbitals
One-line MCQ · 4% next
Magnetic Behaviour from MOs1×
identify incorrect statement on molecular orbitals
One-line MCQ · 4% next
Existence of Diatomic Species1×
identify species that does not exist
One-line MCQ · 4% next
Pi-Only Bonding in C21×
identify species with a given property
One-line MCQ · 4% next

Idea	Times	Format	Chance next	Foundation for
Bond Order from MO Configurationorder/ranking of bond order	2	One-line MCQApplication	4%	–
Highest Occupied Molecular Orbitalidentify molecular orbital of a diatomic	1	One-line MCQRecall	6%	–
Bond Order, Stability and Bond Lengthstatement i/ii on bond order	1	Two statementsConcept	6%	–
MO Energy Order and s-p Mixingorder/ranking of energies of orbitals	1	One-line MCQRecall	4%	–
Magnetic Behaviour from MOsidentify incorrect statement on molecular orbitals	1	One-line MCQConcept	4%	–
Existence of Diatomic Speciesidentify species that does not exist	1	One-line MCQApplication	4%	–
Pi-Only Bonding in C2identify species with a given property	1	One-line MCQApplication	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

Molecular Orbital Theory 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

Q90
The highest occupied molecular orbital for $\mathrm{Ne_2}$ is
Idea: Highest Occupied Molecular Orbital
New ideaMediumOne-line MCQ

NEET 20251 question

Q62
Given below are two statements : Statement I : A hypothetical diatomic molecule with bond order zero is quite stable. Statement II : As…
Idea: Bond Order, Stability and Bond Length
New ideaEasyTwo statements

NEET 20231 question

Q70
The correct order of energies of molecular orbitals of N $_2$ molecule, is :
Idea: MO Energy Order and s-p Mixing
New ideaMediumOne-line MCQ

NEET 20221 question

Q72
Which amongst the following is incorrect statement ?
Idea: Magnetic Behaviour from MOs
New ideaMediumOne-line MCQ

NEET 20201 question

Q91
Identify a molecule which does not exist.
Idea: Existence of Diatomic Species
New ideaMediumOne-line MCQ

NEET 20191 question

Q59
Which of the following diatomic molecular species has only π bonds according to Molecular Orbital Theory ?
Idea: Pi-Only Bonding in C2
New ideaMediumOne-line MCQ

NEET 20181 question

Q87
Consider the following species : $\mathrm{CN^+}$ , $\mathrm{CN^-}$ , NO and CN Which one of these will have the highest bond order ?
Idea: Bond Order from MO Configuration
Asked last yearMediumOne-line MCQ

NEET 20171 question

Q79
Which one of the following pairs of species have the same bond order ?
Idea: Bond Order from MO Configuration
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.