NEET UG · Biology · Photosynthesis in Higher Plants
Photosynthetic Light Reaction: NEET previous year questions
9 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
- 9
- about 0.9 per paper
- Years asked
- 7/10
- last asked 2026
- Weighted estimate
- 1.1
- model; history: 0.9 a paper on average, typically 0–2
Key findings
- 01
Asked in 7 of 10 papers, 9 questions in all: #87 of 204 topics by ten-year total. It comes back every 1.3 years on average.
- 02
89% 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 Chemiosmotic Hypothesis, asked 2 times (2022, 2023), usually as “identify requirements of a process”.
- 04
NEET has asked 7 of the 85 ideas in this topic; 73 have never been asked, directly or indirectly.
- 05
Mostly asked as one-line MCQ (89%); 33% easy, 11% hard.
Questions per year
- Up to 2023
- 0.8
- per paper
- Since 2024
- 1.0
- 0.2
- Usual gap
- 1.3 yrs
- between papers asking it
- Swing
- ±0.7
- questions, year to year
Revise first
Early Experiments on Photosynthesis (2026); PS I and PS II Differences (2026); Chemiosmotic Hypothesis (2022 2023)
How it is asked
Difficulty, format and skill
Across all 9 questions on Photosynthetic Light Reaction since 2017.
Difficulty
QUESTIONS- Easy3 · 33%
- Medium5 · 56%
- Hard1 · 11%
Format
SHARE- One-line MCQ · 8 Q89%
- Match the lists · 1 Q11%
Skill tested
SHARE- Recall · 6 Q67%
- Concept · 3 Q33%
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.
- Idea asked for the first time
- Idea asked in an earlier paper
Coverage of the topic
NEET has asked 7 of the 85 ideas in this topic. 73 have never been asked yet.
- Asked directly7 · 8%
- Touched inside another question5 · 6%
- Never asked73 · 86%
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.
- Repeated2 · 22%
- 2023 · Q140Which of the following combinations is required for chemiosmosis?
mediumOne-line MCQAsked the year before
- 2022 · Q125Which one of the following is not true regarding the release of energy during ATP synthesis through chemiosmosis ? It involves :
mediumOne-line MCQNew idea
- 2023 · Q140
- 1 · 11%
- 1 · 11%
- 1 · 11%
- 1 · 11%
- 1 · 11%
- 1 · 11%
- 1 · 11%
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; 1 came more than once. Photosynthetic Pigments is the foundation for 84 other ideas in the syllabus.
- Chemiosmotic Hypothesis2×
identify requirements of a process
One-line MCQ · 6% next · foundation for 12 - Early Experiments on Photosynthesis1×
order of steps in a process
One-line MCQ · 6% next - PS I and PS II Differences1×
identify pigment in a reaction centre
One-line MCQ · 6% next · foundation for 58 - Photosynthetic Pigments1×
match list on photosynthetic pigments
Match the lists · 6% next · foundation for 84 - Specific Absorption Peaks of Chlorophyll a1×
recall absorption maxima of a pigment
One-line MCQ · 4% next - Thylakoid vs Stroma Lamellae Distribution1×
incorrect statement selection on light reaction
One-line MCQ · 4% next - Plastoquinone (PQ) Function1×
identify electron carrier role in light reaction
One-line MCQ · 4% next · foundation for 10 - Stoichiometry of Non-cyclic Output1×
odd-one-out among products of a process
One-line MCQ · 4% next
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
Photosynthetic Light Reaction 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
- Q102Which pigment has absorption peak at 700 nm in the photosynthetic reaction centre PS I (P700)?
Idea: PS I and PS II Differences
New ideaEasyOne-line MCQ - Q114Select the correct sequence of experiments that led to a gradual understanding of photosynthesis in green plants.
Idea: Early Experiments on Photosynthesis
New ideaHardOne-line MCQ
NEET 20251 question
- Q122Match List I with List II : List I | List II A. Chlorophyll a | I. Yellow-green B. Chlorophyll b | II. Yellow C. Xanthophylls | III.…
Idea: Photosynthetic Pigments
New ideaMediumMatch the lists
NEET 20232 questions
- Q117The reaction centre in PS II has an absorption maxima at
Idea: Specific Absorption Peaks of Chlorophyll a
New ideaMediumOne-line MCQ - Q140Which of the following combinations is required for chemiosmosis?
Idea: Chemiosmotic Hypothesis
Asked last yearMediumOne-line MCQ
NEET 20221 question
- Q125Which one of the following is not true regarding the release of energy during ATP synthesis through chemiosmosis ? It involves :
Idea: Chemiosmotic Hypothesis
New ideaMediumOne-line MCQ
NEET 20211 question
- Q136Which of the following statements is incorrect ?
Idea: Thylakoid vs Stroma Lamellae Distribution
New ideaMediumOne-line MCQ
NEET 20201 question
- Q65In light reaction, plastoquinone facilitates the transfer of electrons from :
Idea: Plastoquinone (PQ) Function
New ideaEasyOne-line MCQ
NEET 20181 question
- Q120Which of the following is not a product of light reaction of photosynthesis ?
Idea: Stoichiometry of Non-cyclic Output
New ideaEasyOne-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.