NEET UG · Physics · Nuclei

Nuclear Binding Energy: NEET previous year questions

4 questions in ten years of NEET, in 3 of 10 papers. Pattern: Due again. Here is how it is asked and which ideas come back.

Asked in 10 years: 4; about 0.4 per paper
Years asked: 3/10; last asked 2022
Chance of a question next paper: 37%; historical rate, how we compute it
Weighted estimate: 0.3; model; history: 0.4 a paper on average, typically 0–1

Key findings

01
Asked in 3 of 10 papers, 4 questions in all: #172 of 204 topics by ten-year total. Last asked in 2022.
02
100% of its questions since 2018 tested an idea never asked before; none repeated an idea from the year before.
03
No idea in this topic has been asked twice: every question tested something new.
04
NEET has asked 2 of the 74 ideas in this topic; 70 have never been asked, directly or indirectly.
05
Mostly asked as numerical (100%); 100% easy, 0% hard, and down from 0.5 to 0.0 questions a paper since 2024.

Questions per year

Up to 2023: 0.5; per paper
Since 2024: 0.0; -0.5
Usual gap: 1.0 yrs; between papers asking it
Swing: ±0.7; questions, year to year

How it is asked

Difficulty, format and skill

Across all 4 questions on Nuclear Binding Energy since 2017.

Difficulty

QUESTIONS

Easy4 · 100%
Medium0 · 0%
Hard0 · 0%

Format

Numerical · 4 Q100%

Skill tested

Calculation · 3 Q75%
Application · 1 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 2 of the 74 ideas in this topic. 70 have never been asked yet.

Asked directly2 · 3%
Touched inside another question2 · 3%
Never asked70 · 95%

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

1 · 25%25%1/10
- 2020 · Q158
  When a uranium isotope $^{235}_{92}\mathrm{U}$ is bombarded with a neutron, it generates $^{89}_{36}\mathrm{Kr}$ , three neutrons and :
  easyNumericalNew idea
1 · 25%25%1/10
1 · 25%25%1/10
1 · 25%25%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; none came more than once. Binding Energy per Nucleon is the foundation for 42 other ideas in the syllabus.

Nuclear Size and Density1×
numerical
Numerical · 4% next
Binding Energy per Nucleon1×
numerical
Numerical · 4% next · foundation for 42
Balancing Nuclear Equations1×
complete a nuclear reaction equation
Numerical · 4% next
Energy Equivalent of One Gram1×
numerical
Numerical · 4% next

Idea	Times	Format	Chance next	Foundation for
Nuclear Size and Densitynumerical	1	NumericalCalculation	4%	–
Binding Energy per Nucleonnumerical	1	NumericalCalculation	4%	42 ideas
Balancing Nuclear Equationscomplete a nuclear reaction equation	1	NumericalApplication	4%	–
Energy Equivalent of One Gramnumerical	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

Nuclear Binding Energy questions, year by year

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

NEET 20221 question

Q43
A nucleus of mass number 189 splits into two nuclei having mass number 125 and 64. The ratio of radius of two daughter nuclei respectively…
Idea: Nuclear Size and Density
New ideaEasyNumerical

NEET 20211 question

Q28
A nucleus with mass number 240 breaks into two fragments each of mass number 120, the binding energy per nucleon of unfragmented nuclei is…
Idea: Binding Energy per Nucleon
New ideaEasyNumerical

NEET 20202 questions

Q142
The energy equivalent of 0.5 g of a substance is :
Idea: Energy Equivalent of One Gram
New ideaEasyNumerical
Q158
When a uranium isotope $^{235}_{92}\mathrm{U}$ is bombarded with a neutron, it generates $^{89}_{36}\mathrm{Kr}$ , three neutrons and :
Idea: Balancing Nuclear Equations
New ideaEasyNumerical

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