NEET UG · Physics · Work, Energy and Power

Work-Energy Theorem: NEET previous year questions

12 questions in ten years of NEET, in 9 of 10 papers. Pattern: Every year. Here is how it is asked and which ideas come back.

Asked in 10 years: 12; about 1.1 per paper
Years asked: 9/10; last asked 2026
Chance of a question next paper: 84%; historical rate, how we compute it
Weighted estimate: 1.2; model; history: 1.1 a paper on average, typically 1–2

Key findings

01
Asked in 9 of 10 papers, 12 questions in all: #56 of 204 topics by ten-year total. It comes back every 1.1 years on average.
02
82% 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 Work by Variable Force, asked 2 times (2019, 2026), usually as “numerical”.
04
NEET has asked 10 of the 81 ideas in this topic; 68 have never been asked, directly or indirectly.
05
Mostly asked as numerical (75%); 50% easy, 8% hard.

Questions per year

Up to 2023: 1.1; per paper
Since 2024: 1.3; 0.2
Usual gap: 1.1 yrs; between papers asking it
Swing: ±0.6; questions, year to year

Recent framings

numerical: work by friction with variable coefficient
numerical: braking force ratio from KE and distance
speed ratio at point where string goes slack

Revise first

Work by Variable Force (2019 2026); Work-Energy Theorem (2017 2025); Trajectory After String Goes Slack (2025)

How it is asked

Difficulty, format and skill

Across all 12 questions on Work-Energy Theorem since 2017.

Difficulty

QUESTIONS

Easy6 · 50%
Medium5 · 42%
Hard1 · 8%

Format

Numerical · 9 Q75%
Figure-based · 2 Q17%
One-line MCQ · 1 Q8%

Skill tested

Calculation · 8 Q67%
Multi-step · 4 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.

’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 10 of the 81 ideas in this topic. 68 have never been asked yet.

1068

Asked directly10 · 12%
Touched inside another question3 · 4%
Never asked68 · 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 · 17%17%2/10
- 2026 · Q1
  A particle of mass M moves along a horizontal x axis from $x=0$ to $x=L$ . The coefficient of kinetic friction varies as a function of x as…
  mediumNumerical
- 2019 · Q22
  A force $F = 20 + 10y$ acts on a particle in y-direction where F is in newton and y in meter. Work done by this force to move the particle…
  easyNumericalNew idea
Repeated2 · 17%17%2/10
1 · 8%8%1/10
1 · 8%8%1/10
1 · 8%8%1/10
1 · 8%8%1/10
1 · 8%8%1/10
1 · 8%8%1/10
1 · 8%8%1/10
1 · 8%8%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

10 different ideas were tested; 2 came more than once. Work by Variable Force is the foundation for 42 other ideas in the syllabus.

Work by Variable Force2×
numerical
Numerical · 6% next · foundation for 42
Work-Energy Theorem2×
numerical
Numerical · 6% next · foundation for 28
Trajectory After String Goes Slack1×
speed ratio at point where string goes slack
Figure-based · 6% next
Instantaneous Power1×
numerical
Numerical · 6% next · foundation for 5
Spring Potential Energy1×
numerical
Numerical · 4% next · foundation for 10
Average Power1×
numerical
Numerical · 4% next · foundation for 5
Instantaneous Power and Velocity Relation1×
numerical
Numerical · 4% next
Conservation of Mechanical Energy1×
height and speed where ke is multiple of pe
One-line MCQ · 4% next · foundation for 10
Power of a Water Pump1×
numerical
Numerical · 4% next · foundation for 1
Minimum Velocity for Vertical Circle1×
numerical
Figure-based · 4% next · foundation for 6

Idea	Times	Format	Chance next	Foundation for
Work by Variable Forcenumerical	2	NumericalCalculation	6%	42 ideas
Work-Energy Theoremnumerical	2	NumericalCalculation	6%	28 ideas
Trajectory After String Goes Slackspeed ratio at point where string goes slack	1	Figure-basedMulti-step	6%	–
Instantaneous Powernumerical	1	NumericalCalculation	6%	5 ideas
Spring Potential Energynumerical	1	NumericalCalculation	4%	10 ideas
Average Powernumerical	1	NumericalCalculation	4%	5 ideas
Instantaneous Power and Velocity Relationnumerical	1	NumericalMulti-step	4%	–
Conservation of Mechanical Energyheight and speed where ke is multiple of pe	1	One-line MCQMulti-step	4%	10 ideas
Power of a Water Pumpnumerical	1	NumericalCalculation	4%	1 ideas
Minimum Velocity for Vertical Circlenumerical	1	Figure-basedMulti-step	4%	6 ideas

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

Work-Energy Theorem 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

Q1
A particle of mass M moves along a horizontal x axis from $x=0$ to $x=L$ . The coefficient of kinetic friction varies as a function of x as…
Idea: Work by Variable Force
MediumNumerical

NEET 20252 questions

Q5
The kinetic energies of two similar cars A and B are 100 J and 225 J respectively. On applying breaks, car A stops after 1000 m and car B…
Idea: Work-Energy Theorem
EasyNumerical
Q7
A bob of heavy mass $m$ is suspended by a light string of length $l$ . The bob is given a horizontal velocity $v_0$ as shown in figure. If…
Idea: Trajectory After String Goes Slack
New ideaHardFigure-based · figure

NEET 20241 question

Q11
At any instant of time $t$ , the displacement of any particle is given by $2t - 1$ (SI unit) under the influence of force of 5N. The value…
Idea: Instantaneous Power
New ideaMediumNumerical

NEET 20231 question

Q29
The potential energy of a long spring when stretched by 2 cm is U. If the spring is stretched by 8 cm, potential energy stored in it will…
Idea: Spring Potential Energy
New ideaEasyNumerical

NEET 20222 questions

Q7
The energy that will be ideally radiated by a 100 kW transmitter in 1 hour is :
Idea: Average Power
New ideaEasyNumerical
Q18
An electric lift with a maximum load of 2000 kg (lift + passengers) is moving up with a constant speed of 1.5 ms $^{-1}$ . The frictional…
Idea: Instantaneous Power and Velocity Relation
New ideaMediumNumerical

NEET 20212 questions

Q14
A particle is released from height S from the surface of the Earth. At a certain height its kinetic energy is three times its potential…
Idea: Conservation of Mechanical Energy
New ideaMediumOne-line MCQ
Q25
Water falls from a height of 60 m at the rate of 15 kg/s to operate a turbine. The losses due to frictional force are 10% of the input…
Idea: Power of a Water Pump
New ideaEasyNumerical

NEET 20191 question

Q22
A force $F = 20 + 10y$ acts on a particle in y-direction where F is in newton and y in meter. Work done by this force to move the particle…
Idea: Work by Variable Force
New ideaEasyNumerical

NEET 20181 question

Q30
A body initially at rest and sliding along a frictionless track from a height h (as shown in the figure) just completes a vertical circle…
Idea: Minimum Velocity for Vertical Circle
New ideaMediumFigure-based · figure

NEET 20171 question

Q34
Consider a drop of rain water having mass 1 g falling from a height of 1 km. It hits the ground with a speed of 50 m/s. Take 'g' constant…
Idea: Work-Energy Theorem
EasyNumerical

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