Questions
21
across 8 papers
Share of subject
5.4%
of 387 Physics Qs
Weightage rank
#5
of 30 chapters
Difficulty
8 easy · 8 medium · 5 hard
Ray Optics and Optical Instruments contributed 21 of the 387 NEET Physics questions between 2020 and 2026 (Re-NEET 2026 included). That is 5.4% of the subject and makes it the #5 chapter out of 30 by weightage — roughly 2.6 questions per paper, peaking at 4 in NEET 2021.
Of the 21 questions tagged for difficulty, 38% were easy, 38% medium and 24% hard — a fairly balanced mix of easy and moderate questions.
Its weight has stayed fairly steady: 2.3 questions per paper across NEET 2025, NEET 2026 and Re-NEET 2026, against 3 in 2020–2022.
The single most-tested topic is Refraction by Lenses (Combination of Thin Lenses in Contact) — 3 questions across 3 papers.
15 topics tagged under Ray Optics and Optical Instruments. Numbers show how many questions each topic had in each paper; E / M / H are the easy, medium and hard counts.
| Topic | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | Re | Total | E | M | H |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Refraction by Lenses (Combination of Thin Lenses in Contact) | – | 1 | – | 1 | – | – | – | 1 | 3 | – | 1 | 2 |
| Optical Instruments (Telescope, Terrestrial Telescope) | 1 | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | 2 | 1 | 1 | – |
| Refraction by Lenses (Images Formed by Convex Lens and Images Formed by…) | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | – | – |
| Refraction through Prism (Derivation of Refractive Index of Material of Prism…) | 1 | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | 2 | – | 1 | 1 |
| Thin Lenses | – | – | – | 1 | – | 1 | – | – | 2 | 1 | 1 | – |
| (Apparednt Refraction Depth and Apparent Height) | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 1 | – | 1 | – |
| Critical Angle, Grazing Emergence | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | 1 | – |
| Dispersion by Prism (Dispersion) (Angular Dispersion) | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 1 | – | – |
| Lens Formula (Deriving the Lens Formula) | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | 1 | – |
| Optical Instruments (Astronomical Telescope) | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 1 | – | – |
| Optical Instruments (Simple Microscope and Compound Microscope) | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | 1 | 1 | – | – |
| Refraction (Refraction through Glass Slab) | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | 1 | – |
| Refraction by Lenses (Combination of Lens and Mirror) | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | 1 |
| Refraction through Prism (Condition for Minimum Deviation) | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | 1 | 1 | – | – |
| Total Internal Reflection in Nature and its Technological Application | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | 1 |
In the NEET papers from 2020 to 2026 (including Re-NEET 2026), 21 Physics questions came from Ray Optics and Optical Instruments — 5.4% of the subject, or about 2.6 per paper.
By past weightage it ranks #5 of 30 Physics chapters, so it is one of the five highest-weightage Physics chapters, with 21 questions over 2020–2026.
The most-tested topics are Refraction by Lenses (Combination of Thin Lenses in Contact) (3), Optical Instruments (Telescope, Terrestrial Telescope) (2) and Refraction by Lenses (Images Formed by Convex Lens and Images Formed by…) (2). The topic table above lists every topic with its count in each paper.
Of the 21 difficulty-tagged questions, 38% were easy, 38% medium and 24% hard.
Refraction by Lenses (Combination of Thin Lenses in Contact), Refraction by Lenses (Images Formed by Convex Lens and Images Formed by…), (Apparednt Refraction Depth and Apparent Height) and Refraction through Prism (Condition for Minimum Deviation) were asked in the 2026 papers.
Edurack has chapter-wise NEET previous-year questions for Ray Optics and Optical Instruments. Use the practice button on this page to open the set, attempt questions and check your answers.
Counts come from Edurack's tagged set of NEET papers 2020–2026 (including Re-NEET 2026), mapped to NCERT chapters and topics. Use them as a trend guide — past frequency doesn't guarantee what a future paper will ask.