NEET Biology Syllabus: All 10 Units and 32 NCERT Chapters

NEET Biology Syllabus: All 10 Units and 32 NCERT Chapters

The NEET Biology syllabus is the official list of 10 units that the National Medical Commission (NMC) publishes for the Biology half of NEET (UG), the entrance exam for MBBS, BDS and other medical courses in India. Those 10 units decide 90 of the paper's 180 questions and 360 of its 720 marks. This guide reads the NEET Biology syllabus line by line: what each unit names, the NCERT chapters behind it, the small scope words that cap how deep you go, and the topics that are simply not on the list.

What is the NEET Biology syllabus for 2027?

Right now, the NEET 2027 Biology syllabus is the NEET (UG) 2026 syllabus, because nothing newer exists. The NMC's Under Graduate Medical Education Board finalised the NEET (UG) 2026 syllabus in a public notice dated 22 December 2025, and the official NEET site links that file as the "Syllabus for NEET (UG)-2026 Examination". The NEET (UG) 2026 Information Bulletin then answered its own FAQ plainly: there is no change in the syllabus for 2026 compared with the previous year.

What about 2027? We checked the NEET public notices page on 27 October 2026. Every item on it still belongs to the 2026 cycle, and nothing mentions a 2027 bulletin or syllabus. Coaching sites that print a "NEET 2027 Biology syllabus PDF" are reprinting the 2026 file.

So study from the 2026 list with confidence, and check one thing when the 2027 bulletin appears: its syllabus FAQ. If it again says "no change", nothing below moves. If it lists changes, we will update this page under the same address.

How much of the paper does the NEET Biology syllabus carry?

Half of it: 360 of 720 marks is exactly 50 percent of the paper. The 2026 bulletin's pattern table lists Biology (Botany and Zoology) as 90 multiple choice questions worth 360 marks, against 45 questions and 180 marks each for Physics and Chemistry. All 180 questions are compulsory, and the paper runs for 180 minutes.

Marking is the same for every subject: plus 4 for a correct answer, minus 1 for a wrong one and 0 for a question left blank. Our NEET negative marking guide works through what that does to guessing.

Two more facts make Biology heavier than its marks suggest:

• Fewer units, more marks per unit. Biology has 10 units for 360 marks. Physics has 20 units for 180 marks. On average, each Biology unit sits behind four times as many marks as a Physics unit. That is simple arithmetic on NTA's own pattern, not an official per-unit count, because NTA publishes no unit-wise question split.
• Biology breaks ties first. The bulletin's tie-breaking order starts with the higher marks in Biology (Botany and Zoology), then Chemistry, then Physics. Two students on the same total are separated by their Biology score before anything else.

For the full paper layout, see our NEET 2027 exam pattern guide.

All 10 units of the NEET Biology syllabus at a glance

Here is every unit of the NEET Biology syllabus with the NCERT chapters behind it. The NCERT column comes from the contents pages of the 2026-27 reprints of the Class 11 Biology textbook and the Class 12 Biology textbook. NCERT groups its 32 chapters into ten units (Unit I to Unit X) in the same order and with nearly the same names as the NEET Biology syllabus, which makes the match unusually clean.

NEET unit	What the syllabus covers	NCERT chapters (2026-27 reprint)
1. Diversity in Living World	Classification, five kingdoms, plant groups, animal phyla and classes	Class 11: Ch 1 to 4
2. Structural Organisation in Animals and Plants	Flowering plant morphology and anatomy, five plant families, animal tissues, frog	Class 11: Ch 5 to 7
3. Cell Structure and Function	Cell and organelles, biomolecules and enzymes, cell cycle	Class 11: Ch 8 to 10
4. Plant Physiology	Photosynthesis, respiration, plant growth and regulators	Class 11: Ch 11 to 13
5. Human Physiology	Breathing, blood and circulation, excretion, movement, nerves, hormones	Class 11: Ch 14 to 19
6. Reproduction	Flowering plants, human reproduction, reproductive health	Class 12: Ch 1 to 3
7. Genetics and Evolution	Inheritance, molecular basis, evolution	Class 12: Ch 4 to 6
8. Biology and Human Welfare	Health and disease, microbes in human welfare	Class 12: Ch 7 and 8
9. Biotechnology and Its Applications	Principles and processes, applications	Class 12: Ch 9 and 10
10. Ecology and Environment	Organisms and populations, ecosystem, biodiversity	Class 12: Ch 11 to 13

One honest caution about the chart: chapter counts are not question counts. Human Physiology holds 6 of the 32 chapters, about 19 percent of the reading, by our count. A short chapter can carry several questions and a long one can carry few. NTA does not publish a unit-wise split, so read the chart as a map of reading load, not of marks.

What does each unit of the NEET Biology syllabus actually name?

The table above is the outline of the NEET Biology syllabus. The detail is where marks are won, because the syllabus names specific examples, diseases and processes. Here is what each unit lists, in plain words.

Units 1 and 2: diversity and structure

Unit 1 starts with what "living" means, biodiversity, taxonomy and systematics, the species concept, the taxonomic hierarchy and binomial nomenclature. It then covers the five kingdom classification (Monera, Protista, Fungi), lichens, viruses and viroids. For plants it names four groups: algae, bryophytes, pteridophytes and gymnosperms. For animals it goes to phylum level for non-chordates and to class level for chordates. Our Animal Kingdom for NEET guide sorts every phylum and class the line asks for.

Unit 2 covers flowering plant morphology and anatomy (root, stem, leaf, cymose and racemose inflorescence, flower, fruit, seed) and names exactly five families: Malvaceae, Cruciferae, Leguminosae, Compositae and Gramineae. It then covers animal tissues and the digestive, circulatory, respiratory, nervous and reproductive systems of the frog.

Units 3 and 4: the cell and the plant

Unit 3 is the cell: cell theory, prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, every organelle including the endomembrane system, the cytoskeleton, cilia, flagella and centrioles, and the nucleus. It adds biomolecules (proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids) and enzymes (types, properties, action, classification and naming), then the cell cycle, mitosis and meiosis.

Unit 4 is plant physiology in three parts. Photosynthesis includes the photochemical and biosynthetic phases, cyclic and non-cyclic photophosphorylation, the chemiosmotic hypothesis, photorespiration, the C3 and C4 pathways and limiting factors. Respiration includes glycolysis, fermentation, the TCA cycle, the electron transport system, the number of ATP molecules generated, amphibolic pathways and the respiratory quotient. Growth includes germination, growth phases and rate, differentiation, dedifferentiation and redifferentiation, and five growth regulators: auxin, gibberellin, cytokinin, ethylene and ABA.

Unit 5: human physiology, the longest unit

Unit 5 lists six topics, and every one names its disorders:

Topic	Disorders the syllabus names
Breathing and respiration	Asthma, emphysema, occupational respiratory disorders
Body fluids and circulation	Hypertension, coronary artery disease, angina pectoris, heart failure
Excretory products and their elimination	Uraemia, renal failure, renal calculi, nephritis (plus dialysis and the artificial kidney)
Locomotion and movement	Myasthenia gravis, tetany, muscular dystrophy, arthritis, osteoporosis, gout
Neural control and coordination	None named
Chemical coordination and regulation	Dwarfism, acromegaly, cretinism, goitre, exophthalmic goitre, diabetes, Addison's disease

The circulation line also names blood groups, coagulation, lymph, the cardiac cycle, cardiac output, ECG and double circulation. The excretion line names ammonotelism, ureotelism and uricotelism, and the renin-angiotensin mechanism, atrial natriuretic factor, ADH and diabetes insipidus. Our body fluids and circulation guide takes one of these six topics apart in detail.

Units 6 to 10: the Class 12 half

Unit 6 covers sexual reproduction in flowering plants (gametophytes, pollination, outbreeding devices, double fertilisation, apomixis, parthenocarpy, polyembryony), human reproduction (gametogenesis, the menstrual cycle, fertilisation, development up to the blastocyst, implantation) and reproductive health (contraception, MTP, amniocentesis, infertility, IVF, ZIFT and GIFT). See our human reproduction guide.

Unit 7 covers Mendelian inheritance and its deviations, sex determination in humans, birds and the honey bee, linkage, haemophilia, colour blindness, thalassemia, and Down's, Turner's and Klinefelter's syndromes. The molecular part names DNA packaging, replication, transcription, the genetic code, translation, the lac operon, the Human Genome Project and DNA fingerprinting. Evolution ends with Hardy-Weinberg's principle, adaptive radiation and human evolution. Our genetics for NEET guide covers the inheritance half.

Unit 8 names ten diseases: malaria, filariasis, ascariasis, typhoid, pneumonia, common cold, amoebiasis, ringworm, dengue and chikungunya. It adds basic immunology and vaccines, cancer, HIV and AIDS, and drug, alcohol and tobacco abuse, then microbes in food, industry, sewage treatment, energy, biocontrol and biofertilisers (our microbes in human welfare guide).

Unit 9 is recombinant DNA technology, then its uses: human insulin and vaccine production, gene therapy, Bt crops, transgenic animals, biosafety, biopiracy and patents.

Unit 10 covers population interactions (mutualism, competition, predation, parasitism), population growth, birth and death rates and age distribution, the ecosystem (productivity, decomposition, energy flow, pyramids of number, biomass and energy) and biodiversity, ending with hotspots, the Red Data Book, biosphere reserves, national parks, sanctuaries and sacred groves.

Which scope words limit how deep you study?

This is the part of the NEET Biology syllabus most students skip, and it saves real time. The NEET Biology syllabus does not only list topics. In several places it also says how deep to go, in brackets. We searched the Biology section of the official file for every one of these limits.

Scope word in the syllabus	Where it appears	What it tells you
"Elementary idea" (7 places)	Photosynthetic pigments; mechanism of hormone action; pregnancy and placenta; parturition; lactation; assisted reproductive technologies (IVF, ZIFT, GIFT); polygenic inheritance	Know the concept and the key terms, not every mechanism detail
"Recall only"	Respiratory organs in animals	Know which animal breathes with what; no deep comparison expected
"Brief account only"	The frog's organ systems in Unit 2	Main organs and functions, not a full dissection-level account
"To be dealt in brief"	Every disease and disorder in Unit 5	Expect short, fact-level questions on each named disorder
"Three to five salient features and at least two examples"	Plant groups and animal groups in Unit 1	A fixed, learnable target per group
"To be dealt along with the relevant practical"	Flowering plant parts and families; the skeletal system	Expect diagram and specimen-style questions here

Two practical rules follow. First, a topic marked "elementary idea" still appears in the paper, so do not skip it. Just stop at the level of the NCERT text. Second, the "three to five features and two examples" rule in Unit 1 is a gift: make one card per group with exactly that, and the unit becomes finite. Our NEET Biology diagrams guide helps with the practical-linked parts.

What is the insect and frog line in Unit 2?

The Unit 2 line reads "of an insect (Frog)". A frog is not an insect, and students noticed. NTA answered it directly in the syllabus FAQ of the 2026 Information Bulletin: the line "should be read as of an insect and a frog".

Here is the wrinkle. Chapter 7 of the 2026-27 NCERT Class 11 book, Structural Organisation in Animals, has two sections: organ and organ system, and frogs. It has no insect section. So the syllabus wording, as clarified by NTA, is broader than the current textbook chapter. We cannot tell you how NTA's paper setters will treat that gap, and nobody else can either. What we can say is where the rule sits: the syllabus and its FAQ define what is examinable, and the NCERT chapter is the study text. Check how the 2027 syllabus words this line when it is published.

What is not in the NEET Biology syllabus?

Students search "is X deleted" every week, and the answer is usually in what the NEET Biology syllabus leaves out. Reading the 2026 Biology list and the 2026-27 NCERT contents side by side:

• Human digestion is not listed. Unit 5 names six topics, and digestion and absorption is not one of them. The Class 11 NCERT book has no digestion chapter either. The frog's digestive system in Unit 2 is the only digestive system the syllabus names.
• Secondary growth is not named. Unit 2 says "anatomy and functions of different parts of flowering plants" without naming secondary growth. The 2026-27 NCERT anatomy chapter has no section on it and mentions it only in passing.
• Transport in plants and mineral nutrition are absent. Unit 4 covers only photosynthesis, respiration, and growth and development.
• The neural line is short. It names neurons and nerves, the central, peripheral and visceral nervous systems, and the generation and conduction of the nerve impulse. Nothing more is listed under that topic.
• Food production strategies are absent. Nothing in Units 8 to 10 mentions plant breeding, tissue culture or animal husbandry.

For the full list of topics removed across all three subjects, read our NEET 2027 deleted syllabus guide. This page tells you what is in; that one tells you what went out.

How should you plan the NEET Biology syllabus?

Use the NEET Biology syllabus itself as your checklist. A plan that follows it line by line looks like this:

1. Print the Biology pages of the official syllabus. Ten units take only a few pages. Tick each line only when you can explain it without the book.
2. Read the matching NCERT chapter for each unit, using the table above. Our how to study NCERT for NEET guide covers reading technique.
3. Circle every scope word ("elementary idea", "recall only", "in brief") and set your depth for that line before you start notes.
4. Make one list per named example set: the five plant families, the five growth regulators, the ten diseases in Unit 8, the disorders in Unit 5. These are short, fixed and frequently tested.
5. Practise MCQs unit by unit, then mixed. Our NEET Biology MCQ guide shows how to build the routine.
6. Recheck the syllabus when the 2027 bulletin appears, starting with its syllabus FAQ.

Want a full-year sequence and daily hours? That lives in our NEET 2027 Biology preparation strategy. This page stays on the question of what the NEET Biology syllabus contains.

On our sister site, futureMBBS keeps a NEET syllabus overview with Physics and Chemistry next to Biology, a NEET 2027 chapter-wise weightage guide for deciding revision order, and a full how to prepare for NEET plan.

Want to see which Biology units are actually costing you marks? NEETsheet's unit-wise Biology questions and full-length mocks show where your answers go wrong, so your next revision hour goes to the right line of the syllabus. Start at neetsheet.in.

Sources

Every syllabus line and number above comes from these documents, opened and read on 27 October 2026.

• National Medical Commission, UGMEB, public notice of 22 December 2025 with the Syllabus for NEET UG 2026, linked from neet.nta.nic.in as the "Syllabus for NEET (UG)-2026 Examination" (Biology Units 1 to 10): https://cdnbbsr.s3waas.gov.in/s37bc1ec1d9c3426357e69acd5bf320061/uploads/2026/01/202601081066816297.pdf
• National Testing Agency, Information Bulletin NEET (UG) 2026 (pattern: Biology 90 questions and 360 of 720 marks; plus four, minus one and zero marking; tie-breaking order; syllabus FAQ on "no change" and the insect and frog line): https://cdnbbsr.s3waas.gov.in/s37bc1ec1d9c3426357e69acd5bf320061/uploads/2026/02/202602231394640855.pdf
• National Testing Agency, NEET (UG) public notices, checked on 27 October 2026 for any NEET (UG) 2027 notice: https://neet.nta.nic.in/public-notices/
• NCERT, Biology textbook for Class 11, reprint 2026-27, prelims and contents (Units I to V, Chapters 1 to 19): https://ncert.nic.in/textbook/pdf/kebo1ps.pdf
• NCERT, Biology textbook for Class 12, reprint 2026-27, prelims and contents (Units VI to X, Chapters 1 to 13): https://ncert.nic.in/textbook/pdf/lebo1ps.pdf