NEET UG · Biology · Evolution

Natural Selection: NEET previous year questions

11 questions in ten years of NEET, in 7 of 10 papers. Pattern: Every year. Here is how it is asked and which ideas come back.

Asked in 10 years: 11; about 1.1 per paper
Years asked: 7/10; last asked 2026
Chance of a question next paper: 64%; historical rate, how we compute it
Weighted estimate: 1.0; model; history: 1.1 a paper on average, typically 0–2

Key findings

01
Asked in 7 of 10 papers, 11 questions in all: #65 of 204 topics by ten-year total. It comes back every 1.5 years on average.
02
80% 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 Hardy-Weinberg Equation, asked 2 times (2019, 2026), usually as “numerical”.
04
NEET has asked 7 of the 83 ideas in this topic; 70 have never been asked, directly or indirectly.
05
Mostly asked as one-line MCQ (64%); 64% easy, 0% hard.

Questions per year

Up to 2023: 1.1; per paper
Since 2024: 1.0; -0.1
Usual gap: 1.5 yrs; between papers asking it
Swing: ±0.9; questions, year to year

How it is asked

Difficulty, format and skill

Across all 11 questions on Natural Selection since 2017.

Difficulty

QUESTIONS

Easy7 · 64%
Medium4 · 36%
Hard0 · 0%

Format

One-line MCQ · 7 Q64%
Numerical · 2 Q18%
Other · 1 Q9%
Match the lists · 1 Q9%

Skill tested

Concept · 4 Q36%
Recall · 3 Q27%
Calculation · 2 Q18%
Application · 2 Q18%

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 7 of the 83 ideas in this topic. 70 have never been asked yet.

Asked directly7 · 8%
Touched inside another question6 · 7%
Never asked70 · 84%

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 · 18%18%2/10
- 2022 · Q173
  Natural selection where more individuals acquire specific character value other than the mean character value, leads to :
  easyOne-line MCQ
- 2017 · Q161
  Artificial selection to obtain cows yielding higher milk output represents
  easyOne-line MCQNew idea
Repeated2 · 18%18%2/10
1 · 9%9%1/10
1 · 9%9%1/10
1 · 9%9%1/10
1 · 9%9%1/10
1 · 9%9%1/10
1 · 9%9%1/10
1 · 9%9%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

9 different ideas were tested; 2 came more than once. Adaptive Radiation is the foundation for 19 other ideas in the syllabus.

Hardy-Weinberg Equation2×
numerical
Numerical · 6% next
Directional Selection Curve Dynamics2×
identify type of natural selection
One-line MCQ · 6% next · foundation for 3
Types of Selection Curves1×
true statement selection on natural selection
Other · 6% next · foundation for 12
Factors Disturbing Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium1×
identify factor not affecting an equilibrium
One-line MCQ · 6% next
Adaptive Radiation1×
match list on evolution terms and examples
Match the lists · 4% next · foundation for 19
Founder Effect in Adaptive Radiation1×
identify factor behind evolutionary term
One-line MCQ · 4% next
Examples of Stabilizing Selection1×
identify type of selection from example
One-line MCQ · 4% next
Hugo de Vries' Mutation Theory1×
identify scientist's view on variation
One-line MCQ · 4% next · foundation for 4
Definition of Saltation1×
definition recall
One-line MCQ · 4% next

Idea	Times	Format	Chance next	Foundation for
Hardy-Weinberg Equationnumerical	2	NumericalCalculation	6%	–
Directional Selection Curve Dynamicsidentify type of natural selection	2	One-line MCQApplication	6%	3 ideas
Types of Selection Curvestrue statement selection on natural selection	1	OtherConcept	6%	12 ideas
Factors Disturbing Hardy-Weinberg Equilibriumidentify factor not affecting an equilibrium	1	One-line MCQConcept	6%	–
Adaptive Radiationmatch list on evolution terms and examples	1	Match the listsConcept	4%	19 ideas
Founder Effect in Adaptive Radiationidentify factor behind evolutionary term	1	One-line MCQRecall	4%	–
Examples of Stabilizing Selectionidentify type of selection from example	1	One-line MCQApplication	4%	–
Hugo de Vries' Mutation Theoryidentify scientist's view on variation	1	One-line MCQRecall	4%	4 ideas
Definition of Saltationdefinition recall	1	One-line MCQRecall	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

Natural Selection 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

Q141
Natural selection can lead to __________. (a) stabilisation (b) genetic drift (c) directional change (d) disruption Choose the correct…
Idea: Types of Selection Curves
New ideaMediumOther
Q147
A population of diploid organisms is at Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. If the frequency of allele A is 0.1, the frequency of AA is __________.
Idea: Hardy-Weinberg Equation
MediumNumerical

NEET 20241 question

Q167
Which one of the following factors will not affect the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?
Idea: Factors Disturbing Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium
New ideaMediumOne-line MCQ

NEET 20221 question

Q173
Natural selection where more individuals acquire specific character value other than the mean character value, leads to :
Idea: Directional Selection Curve Dynamics
EasyOne-line MCQ

NEET 20212 questions

Q116
The factor that leads to Founder effect in a population is :
Idea: Founder Effect in Adaptive Radiation
New ideaEasyOne-line MCQ
Q196
Match List - I with List - II. List - I | List - II (a) Adaptive radiation | (i) Selection of resistant varieties due to excessive use of…
Idea: Adaptive Radiation
New ideaEasyMatch the lists

NEET 20193 questions

Q107
In a species, the weight of newborn ranges from 2 to 5 kg. 97% of the newborn with an average weight between 3 to 3.3 kg survive whereas…
Idea: Examples of Stabilizing Selection
New ideaEasyOne-line MCQ
Q118
Variations caused by mutation, as proposed by Hugo de Vries, are :
Idea: Hugo de Vries' Mutation Theory
New ideaEasyOne-line MCQ
Q151
A gene locus has two alleles A, a. If the frequency of dominant allele A is 0.4, then what will be the frequency of homozygous dominant,…
Idea: Hardy-Weinberg Equation
New ideaMediumNumerical

NEET 20181 question

Q160
According to Hugo de Vries, the mechanism of evolution is
Idea: Definition of Saltation
New ideaEasyOne-line MCQ

NEET 20171 question

Q161
Artificial selection to obtain cows yielding higher milk output represents
Idea: Directional Selection Curve Dynamics
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.