NCERT Exemplar for NEET 2027: What to Solve and Skip
The NCERT Exemplar is a set of free practice question books that NCERT publishes alongside its school textbooks, and for NEET 2027 it is the cheapest source of NCERT rooted questions you will find anywhere. Every chapter sits on the NCERT website as its own PDF. Solving those questions is much closer to writing the paper than reading the textbook a fourth time, which is why almost every MBBS aspirant is told to pick them up. There is a catch nobody mentions. The books were developed in 2007 and 2008, so some of what is inside them is no longer on the syllabus NEET runs on.
What is the NCERT Exemplar, and who publishes it?
The NCERT Exemplar is a question book, not a textbook. The National Council of Educational Research and Training built the Physics set under a programme it calls Development of Exemplar Problems, run during 2007 and 2008, with every question written against its own textbooks. The files are free, one PDF per chapter, and current reprints carry a 2025-26 print line.
NCERT is unusually clear about what is inside. Its introduction sorts the problems into five categories: MCQ I with only one correct answer, MCQ II which may have one or more than one correct answer, very short answer questions answerable in one or two sentences, short answer questions that need some analytical or numerical work, and long answer questions that need a detailed solution. The Chemistry books add matching and assertion and reason items on top.
One line in that introduction matters more than it looks. Some questions were written across concepts from more than one chapter. That is exactly the habit NEET tests, and it is why a strong student still trips over an Exemplar question from a chapter she thinks she knows.
Hindi editions exist for Class 11 Biology, Chemistry and Physics, and for Class 12 Chemistry and Physics. Class 12 Biology is listed in English only, so Hindi medium students need a plan for that one book.
Which NCERT Exemplar question types match the NEET paper?
Only the single correct MCQs, and that is a smaller slice than most students assume. The NEET (UG) 2026 Information Bulletin describes the paper as multiple choice questions with four options and a single correct or best answer: 45 questions in Physics, 45 in Chemistry and 90 in Biology, 180 in all for 720 marks, with four marks for a correct answer and one mark cut for a wrong one.
| NCERT question type | What it is | Does it match the NEET paper? |
|---|---|---|
| MCQ I | Only one correct answer | Yes. This is the NEET shape exactly |
| MCQ II | May have one or more than one correct answer | No. NEET never asks you to tick two options |
| Very short answer | Answerable in one or two sentences | Not the format, but a fast recall check |
| Short answer | Needs some analytical or numerical work | Not the format, useful for numericals |
| Long answer | Needs a detailed analytical or numerical solution | No. That is board paper territory |
Does the rest go to waste? Not really. A 2024 study in BMC Medical Education put 45 students at Leiden University Medical Center through retrieval practice with short answer questions and with MCQs, then tested them on the same content. Final scores came out similar, 57.1% after MCQ practice and 51.2% after short answer practice, with no significant effect of the format. Practising at all did the work. So the short answer questions are fine revision, just not exam practice.
Which NCERT Exemplar units sit outside the NEET syllabus?
Four that a Class 12 student will otherwise walk straight into. The syllabus NEET is set on was notified by the National Medical Commission's Under Graduate Medical Education Board on 22 December 2025 and circulated by NTA: 20 units in Physics, 20 in Chemistry and 10 in Biology. Read it next to the Exemplar and the gaps show up fast.
| Exemplar unit or chapter | Where it sits | In the notified syllabus? |
|---|---|---|
| Solid State | Class 12 Chemistry, Unit 1 | No. The words solid state and unit cell appear nowhere in it |
| Polymers | Class 12 Chemistry, Unit 15 | No |
| Chemistry in Everyday Life | Class 12 Chemistry, Unit 16 | No |
| Reproduction in Organisms | Class 12 Biology, Chapter 1 | The Reproduction unit begins at sexual reproduction in flowering plants |
That Biology row needs a careful read. The notified unit on Reproduction lists three heads: sexual reproduction in flowering plants, human reproduction, and reproductive health. The general chapter the Exemplar opens with is not one of them. Our guide to the NEET 2027 deleted syllabus covers the rest.
One honest caveat: NTA has not published a NEET (UG) 2027 information bulletin or a 2027 syllabus yet, so everything here is the 2026 position. Check the 2027 notification the day it lands before you cross anything off.
How much NCERT Exemplar material is there, subject by subject?
More than most students budget for. The portal lists 25 files for Class 11 Biology, 16 for Chemistry and 17 for Physics, then 19, 18 and 17 for the same subjects in Class 12. A few of those files are introductions or model question papers, so treat the counts as the size of the download, not the chapter count.
Chapter one of the Class 11 Biology book, The Living World, carries 10 multiple choice questions, 7 very short answer questions, 10 short answer questions and 10 long answer questions. That is 37 items for a chapter most students finish reading in an evening, and only the first 10 are shaped like the paper you will sit.
How should you use the NCERT Exemplar in a study week?
Attach it to the chapter you just revised, never as a separate subject. The order matters: read the NCERT chapter, close it, then solve the Exemplar MCQs cold. Peeking at the answer first turns practice into reading, and reading feels productive while teaching you very little.
- Finish the NCERT chapter first. Our guide to studying NCERT covers the reading pass itself.
- Open that chapter's Exemplar PDF and do the MCQ I block in one sitting, at roughly a minute a question, with the answers covered.
- Mark every question you got wrong and every one you guessed right. The guesses matter as much as the errors.
- Go back to the textbook line the question came from, not to a solution video, and write that line into your error log.
- Do the short answer and long answer questions later in the week, spoken aloud or written in two lines. They are your recall check, not your exam practice.
- Re-solve the wrong ones after a fortnight. If you still miss them, the chapter is not learnt yet.
Where can you download the NCERT Exemplar free?
From NCERT itself, at no cost and with no sign up. Everything sits on the Exemplar Problems page of the NCERT site, sorted by class and subject, with one PDF per chapter and a separate set of files for the Hindi editions.
- Open the Exemplar Problems page on ncert.nic.in and pick Class XI or Class XII.
- Choose Biology, Chemistry or Physics. The chapter files are listed in order.
- Download only the chapters you have already revised. A folder of 40 unopened PDFs is not a study plan.
- For the Chemistry units, the answers sit at the end of the same PDF, so keep the file scrolled to the questions while you solve.
- Hindi medium students should check the Hindi listing for their subject. Class 12 Biology is currently listed in English only.
- Cross check each chapter against the notified syllabus before you solve it, not after you have solved it.
Is the NCERT Exemplar enough on its own?
No, and the gap is about exam conditions rather than content. The Exemplar has no timer, no 180 question paper, no negative marking and no on screen interface for a computer based test. It trains your understanding of a chapter. It does not train the three hour endurance that decides most ranks.
Pair it with past papers for difficulty calibration and full length timed tests for pacing. Our posts on previous year question papers and on building a question bank cover how those fit together. The official free study material list has the rest of what NTA and NCERT publish.
Work one chapter properly this week instead of downloading six. When you want the timed, on screen half of the practice, NEETsheet is our app for MCQs and full length mocks, so you can see where the marks are actually leaking.
Your NCERT Exemplar checklist for this week
Pick the chapter you revised most recently, not the one you like most. Download that single Exemplar PDF, solve the MCQ I block cold, log every miss against a textbook line, and check the unit against the notified syllabus before you spend a second evening on it. If the unit is Solid State, Polymers or Chemistry in Everyday Life, close the file and move on.
Sources
- National Council of Educational Research and Training, Exemplar Problems portal, file listing for Classes XI and XII read on 14 September 2026 (file counts; Hindi editions; free chapter PDFs): https://ncert.nic.in/exemplar-problems.php
- NCERT, Exemplar Problems in Physics for Class XI, Introduction (the 2007 to 2008 development programme; the five question categories; questions spanning more than one chapter): https://ncert.nic.in/exemplar-problems.php
- NCERT, Exemplar Problems in Chemistry for Class XII, Units 1, 2, 15 and 16 (question numbering 1 to 62 in Unit 2 Solutions): https://ncert.nic.in/exemplar-problems.php
- NCERT, Exemplar Problems in Biology for Class XI, Chapter 1 The Living World (10 MCQ, 7 very short answer, 10 short answer, 10 long answer): https://ncert.nic.in/exemplar-problems.php
- National Medical Commission, Under Graduate Medical Education Board, updated syllabus for NEET (UG) 2026, dated 22 December 2025, circulated by NTA on 8 January 2026 (20 units in Physics, 20 in Chemistry, 10 in Biology): https://nta.ac.in/Download/Notice/Notice_20260108180635.pdf
- National Testing Agency, Information Bulletin NEET (UG) 2026, 23 February 2026 (180 MCQs with four options and one correct or best answer; 720 marks; plus four and minus one): https://cdnbbsr.s3waas.gov.in/s37bc1ec1d9c3426357e69acd5bf320061/uploads/2026/02/202602231394640855.pdf
- NCERT textbook portal, free Class 11 and Class 12 chapter PDFs: https://ncert.nic.in/textbook.php
- "The battle of question formats: a comparative study of retrieval practice using very short answer questions and multiple choice questions", BMC Medical Education, 2024, via PubMed Central (45 students at Leiden University Medical Center; 57.1% versus 51.2% on the final test; no significant effect of practice format): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11684041/
- NEET (UG) official portal, National Testing Agency, accessed 14 September 2026: https://neet.nta.nic.in/
All source URLs above were checked live on 14 September 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, for the single correct MCQs above all. They are written against the same NCERT textbooks the NEET syllabus is built on, and they push a little harder than the in chapter exercises. Treat them as chapter practice, then move to past papers and timed mocks for exam conditions.
From the Exemplar Problems section of the NCERT website, free and without registration. The files are organised by class and subject, one PDF per chapter, with separate Hindi editions for most subjects. Avoid third party copies, which are often older reprints with different numbering.
Not by itself. It gives you good chapter level questions, but it has no timer, no full length paper and no negative marking. Use it after each NCERT chapter, then add previous year papers and full length tests, which is where pacing and stamina actually get built.
No. The Class 12 Chemistry book still carries Solid State, Polymers and Chemistry in Everyday Life, and the Class 12 Biology book opens with reproduction in organisms. None of these appears in the syllabus NMC notified for NEET (UG) 2026, so check a unit before you solve it.
Only if you have time to spare. NEET asks for one correct or best answer out of four options, so the MCQ II items with more than one correct option train a format you will never face. They are decent concept checks, but they belong after the single correct set, not before it.
