MHT-CET Physics Guide
How MHT-CET Physics actually works
A 2,098-question analysis of every Physics paper from 2021 to 2025 — 42 papers in all. 50 questions that share 90 minutes with Chemistry, and no negative marking, so the whole game is order and time rather than selection. We mapped the 21 chapter playbooks, the formulas, the year-on-year drift and the distractor traps.
- Past-year questions
- 2,098
- Papers (2021–2025)
- 42
- Chapters
- 24
- Playbooks
- 21
- of the bank is HARD
- 18.2%
The paper you are actually sitting
Physics is the first half of MHT-CET Paper II: questions 1 to 50, with Chemistry as questions 51 to 100. The two share one clock, so the Physics time is a split you choose, not a limit you are given.
- Physics questions
- 50
- Marks
- 50
- Paper II clock
- 90 min
- Suggested Physics share
- 55 min
of 100 on Paper II
1 mark a question
shared with Chemistry
a starting budget, not a rule
Read this before anything else
MHT-CET Physics has NO negative marking
A wrong answer costs you nothing beyond the time you spent on it. That single fact inverts the advice most candidates carry in from other entrance exams: there is no attempt-versus-skip decision to make, because a blank and a wrong answer score exactly the same. Every one of the 50 questions gets an answer.
So the binding constraint is not accuracy, it is the clock. 90 minutes across 100 questions is 0.9 minutes a question on average — but Chemistry is about 3% HARD and Physics 18.2%. A starting split of 35 minutes for Chemistry and 55 for Physics gives Physics about a minute a question. Test it in two timed mocks and move it by your own numbers. Within Physics, the decision is the ORDER you take the questions in and how long you let one run before you commit an answer and move.
The difficulty split behind that: 659 EASY (31.4%), 1,057 MODERATE (50.4%) and 382 HARD (18.2%) across the 2,098 questions. Physics is the harder half of Paper II, and the HARD is not evenly spread — which is what the strategy uses.
6 chapters give 13 questions a paper at 14% HARD or less
On recent papers (2024–2025) the 6 quick-win chapters run to 13.3 of the 50 Physics questions, against 18.2% HARD for the Physics bank as a whole. Every question pays the same single mark, so these are the marks to bank first.
- Semiconductor Devices3.08/paper · 3% HARD
- AC Circuits3.00/paper · 12% HARD
- Electromagnetic Induction2.92/paper · 9% HARD
- Kinetic Theory of Gases1.96/paper · 14% HARD
- Motion in a Plane1.33/paper · 6% HARD
- Laws of Motion1.04/paper · 11% HARD
6 more are 37% of the Physics half
The 6 cornerstone chapters run to 18.5 of the 50 questions at about a fifth HARD each. They are not the easy chapters; they are the ones you cannot afford to be slow in — and all but one hides a cheap page to enter by.
- Electrostatics3.83/paper · 22% HARD
- Rotational Dynamics3.13/paper · 21% HARD
- Superposition of Waves3.00/paper · 20% HARD
- Mechanical Properties of Fluids2.96/paper · 19% HARD
- Wave Optics2.96/paper · 19% HARD
- Oscillations2.63/paper · 19% HARD
Weightage here is the RECENT rate (2024–2025 papers), not a lifetime average — 2025 halved two chapters and brought in a third. See Trends.
How the 2,098 questions break down
All 24 chapters tested across the 42 papers in the bank, sorted by questions per paper on recent papers — not by lifetime count, because that is the number worth planning against. Units and Measurement carries a status — it entered in 2025 — and Gravitation and Ray Optics carry a note: both halved.
| Chapter | Q / paper | Questions | Share | % HARD | Focus subtopics |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electrostatics | 3.83 | 166 | 7.9% | 22% | Electric Potential and Potential Energy (43 · 21% HARD), Coulomb's Law and Electric Field (27 · 30%), Capacitance and Combinations of Capacitors (23 · 17%), Dielectrics in Capacitors (23 · 39%), Energy Stored in a Capacitor (21 · 29%), Gauss's Law and Electric Flux (20 · 0%), Electric Dipole — Field, Potential, Torque (9 · 0%). The heaviest chapter on the paper, and it cherry-picks: Gauss and the dipole are 29 questions without a single HARD one. |
| Rotational Dynamics | 3.13 | 128 | 6.1% | 21% | Parallel and Perpendicular Axis Theorems (25 · 48% HARD), Rotational Kinetic Energy and Rolling Motion (24 · 8%), Moment of Inertia and Radius of Gyration (23 · 26%), Angular Momentum, Torque, and Conservation (22 · 5%), Dynamics of Circular Motion — Banking, Conical Pendulum, Vertical Circle (17 · 18%), Kinematics of Circular Motion (17 · 18%). Half the chapter's HARD sits in the axis theorems; rolling and angular momentum are nearly free. Up from 2.89 to 3.38 a paper in 2025. |
| Semiconductor Devices | 3.08 | 129 | 6.1% | 3% | Logic Gates and Boolean Algebra (36 · 8% HARD), Transistors — BJT, CE Amplifier, and Gain (29 · 0%), Band Theory, Doping, and Semiconductor Types (18 · 0%), Diode Circuits and Rectifiers (18 · 6%), p-n Junction — Depletion Layer and Biasing (14 · 0%), Special Diodes — Zener, LED, Photodiode (14 · 0%). Three questions a paper at 3% HARD — the best return on the whole Physics paper. Most of it is recall and gate-reading, not calculation. |
| AC Circuits | 3.00 | 129 | 6.1% | 12% | Series LCR — Impedance, Phase and Phasors (33 · 15% HARD), Resonance in Series LCR Circuits (32 · 16%), Power in AC Circuit — Average, Factor, Wattless (25 · 4%), Reactance — Inductive, Capacitive, and Single-Element Circuits (23 · 0%), LC Oscillations, Transformer, and AC Generator (9 · 33%), RMS, Peak, and AC Source Characteristics (7 · 14%). Three a paper at 12% HARD; reactance and power are the cheap half. |
| Superposition of Waves | 3.00 | 123 | 5.9% | 20% | Stationary Waves and Vibrating Strings (36 · 19% HARD), Progressive Wave, Wave Equation, and Velocity (34 · 9%), Pipes, Resonance Tube, and Doppler Effect (23 · 22%), Beats and Sonometer (22 · 41%), Superposition, Phase/Path Difference, and Interference (8 · 13%). The wave equation page is the cheap entry; beats and the sonometer carry the HARD. |
| Mechanical Properties of Fluids | 2.96 | 124 | 5.9% | 19% | Surface Tension and Surface Energy (42 · 29% HARD), Excess Pressure and Capillary Rise (38 · 0%), Viscosity, Stokes' Law, Terminal Velocity, and Reynolds (21 · 19%), Bernoulli, Continuity, Streamline, and Torricelli (17 · 18%), Pressure, Buoyancy, and Archimedes (6 · 83%). Two thirds of it is surface tension, and the capillary half of that has never produced a HARD question. |
| Wave Optics | 2.96 | 117 | 5.6% | 19% | Young's Double Slit — Fringe Width, Positions and Shifts (39 · 21% HARD), Single Slit Diffraction and Resolving Power (34 · 21%), Interference Intensity and Coherent Sources (29 · 21%), Polarisation — Malus and Brewster (10 · 10%), Wavefronts, Huygens, and Coherence (5 · 0%). The HARD is spread evenly across the three big pages, so this chapter does not cherry-pick. |
| Electromagnetic Induction | 2.92 | 119 | 5.7% | 9% | Self-Inductance, Energy Stored, and LR Circuit (43 · 9% HARD), Mutual Inductance, Coupling, and Transformer/Generator (35 · 9%), Faraday's and Lenz's Laws — Induced EMF, Current, and Charge (22 · 0%), Motional EMF and Rotating Conductors (19 · 21%). Nearly three a paper at 9% HARD — the second-best return on the paper after Semiconductor Devices. |
| Oscillations | 2.63 | 110 | 5.2% | 19% | SHM Kinematics — Displacement, Velocity, Phase, and Damping (44 · 16% HARD), Spring-Mass and Other SHM Systems (25 · 28%), Simple Pendulum — Period, Lift, Weightlessness (24 · 21%), SHM Energy — Kinetic, Potential, and Total (17 · 12%). Kinematics and energy are the cheap two; spring systems carry the HARD. |
| Magnetic Fields Due to Electric Current | 2.42 | 98 | 4.7% | 29% | Magnetic Field of Current-Carrying Conductor (52 · 33% HARD), Magnetic Moment of Current Loop and Galvanometer Instruments (20 · 25%), Force on Current-Carrying Conductor and Parallel Wires (14 · 43%), Force on Moving Charge in Magnetic Field (12 · 0%). Heavy and hard: the field-of-a-conductor page is half the chapter at a third HARD, much of it figure-based. |
| Thermal Properties of Matter | 2.13 | 84 | 4.0% | 17% | Radiation — Stefan, Wien, Newton's Law of Cooling, Black Body (53 · 23% HARD), Thermal Expansion — Linear, Surface, Volumetric (19 · 11%), Heat Conduction and Thermal Resistance (8 · 0%), Calorimetry, Latent Heat, and Heat Capacity (4 · 0%). On this paper the chapter is mostly radiation — 53 of its 84 questions. |
| Dual Nature of Radiation and Matter | 2.04 | 82 | 3.9% | 32% | Photoelectric Effect — Stopping Potential, Threshold, and Work Function (56 · 36% HARD), de Broglie Wavelength and Matter Waves (26 · 23%). The hardest chapter in the bank at 32% — but two equations do nearly all of it. |
| Current Electricity | 1.96 | 82 | 3.9% | 24% | Galvanometer, Ammeter, and Voltmeter Conversion (24 · 17% HARD), Kirchhoff's Laws and Circuit Analysis (19 · 16%), Potentiometer (18 · 28%), Wheatstone Bridge and Meter Bridge (17 · 35%), Ohm's Law, Cells, EMF, and Internal Resistance (4 · 50%). The meter conversions are the cheap entry; bridges carry the HARD. |
| Structure of Atoms and Nuclei | 1.96 | 85 | 4.1% | 22% | Bohr Model and Atomic Properties (39 · 28% HARD), Hydrogen Spectrum and Spectral Series (28 · 25%), Radioactive Decay and Half-Life (18 · 6%). Radioactive decay is the cheap page; the Bohr scaling laws carry the HARD. |
| Kinetic Theory of Gases | 1.96 | 80 | 3.8% | 14% | Kinetic Theory — Pressure, RMS Speed, and Temperature (36 · 22% HARD), Average KE, Equipartition, and Specific Heats (25 · 12%), Gas Laws and Ideal Gas Equation (19 · 0%). Two a paper at 14% HARD, and most of it is one proportionality: v_rms ∝ √(T/M). |
| Thermodynamics | 1.92 | 84 | 4.0% | 21% | First Law, Internal Energy, and Work-Heat Relations (37 · 11% HARD), Isothermal, Adiabatic, Isobaric, and Isochoric Processes (36 · 31%), Carnot Engine, Efficiency, and Refrigerator (11 · 27%). The first law is cheap; the processes page holds most of the HARD. |
| Gravitation | 1.75 | 80 | 3.8% | 23% | Variation of g with Depth, Altitude, Density, and Latitude (33 · 3% HARD), Satellites, Orbital Motion, and Kepler's Laws (21 · 29%), Gravitational PE, Escape Velocity, and Energy (19 · 42%), Newton's Law of Gravitation and Gravitational Force (7 · 43%). Variation of g is 33 questions at 3% HARD — the cheap page in a chapter that halved in 2025. Note: Halved in 2025: 2.26 questions a paper across the 27 papers of 2023-24, then 1.15 across the 13 of 2025. Still set every year — cut its prep hours, not the chapter. |
| Optics (Ray) | 1.50 | 78 | 3.7% | 29% | Refraction, Apparent Depth, and Total Internal Reflection (26 · 27% HARD), Lenses — Lens Formula, Power, and Lensmaker (24 · 25%), Prism — Deviation, Dispersion, and Refractive Index (17 · 47%), Optical Instruments — Microscope and Telescope (6 · 17%), Mirrors and Image Formation (5 · 20%). Expensive at 29% HARD, with the prism page the worst at 47%. Note: Halved in 2025: 2.19 questions a paper across 2023-24, then 1.08 across 2025. Like Gravitation, still live — but no longer worth two questions of prep. |
| Motion in a Plane | 1.33 | 53 | 2.5% | 6% | Kinematics — Equations of Motion, Free Fall, and Graphs (19 · 0% HARD), Uniform Circular Motion — Centripetal Acceleration, Banking (11 · 0%), Vector Operations and Components (10 · 20%), Relative Motion and Meeting Problems (7 · 0%), Projectile Motion — Range, Height, and Time of Flight (6 · 17%). 6% HARD and rising: 1.00 a paper in 2023-24, 1.54 in 2025. |
| Laws of Motion | 1.04 | 47 | 2.2% | 11% | Newton's Laws — Force, Tension, Lift, and Connected Blocks (25 · 12% HARD), Impulse, Momentum, and Collisions (17 · 6%), Equilibrium, Centre of Mass, and Friction (5 · 20%). A question a paper at 11% HARD, and the method (a free-body diagram per block) is the same one Rotational Dynamics and Oscillations use. |
| Sound | 1.04 | 47 | 2.2% | 21% | Pipes, Resonance, Overtones, and Beats (22 · 27% HARD), Doppler Effect — Moving Source and Observer (19 · 16%), Sound Wave Properties, Speed, and Intensity (6 · 17%). It overlaps Superposition of Waves almost completely — prepare the two together. |
| Magnetic Materials | 0.79 | 33 | 1.6% | 3% | Magnetisation, Susceptibility, Permeability, and B-H-M Relations (13 · 0% HARD), Classification, Curie's Law, Hysteresis, and Shielding (10 · 0%), Magnetic Dipole Moment and Bar Magnet (10 · 10%). Below the playbook line, but one HARD question in 33 — a cheap mark most papers carry. |
| Units and MeasurementNew for 2025 | 0.58 | 14 | 0.7% | 0% | Units, Dimensions, and Error Analysis (14 · 0% HARD). The recent rate hides the move — see the note. Ten of the 14 are error propagation. New for 2025: Entered with 2025: zero questions in the 29 papers before 2025, then 14 in the 13 papers of 2025 — 1.08 a paper. Anyone prepping from 2023-24 papers has never seen it set, and it has never produced a HARD question. |
| Mechanical Properties of Solids | 0.08 | 6 | 0.3% | 17% | Elasticity, Springs, and Energy in Strained Solids (6 · 17% HARD). Six questions in 42 papers, none in 2025. Read the spring and elastic-energy formulas once; do not drill it. |
“Q / paper” is the rate on recent papers (2024–2025); “Questions” and “Share” are lifetime figures across all 42 papers. Where the two disagree, the rate is the one to plan on. 21 of these 24 chapters ship a full playbook; the rest are covered in the tail block on Strategy.
What’s inside
5 sections, each answering a different question a candidate walks in with. Read top-to-bottom or jump to what you need.
Strategy
Cornerstone, Quick-Win, Long Tail — and how to split the 90 minutes with Chemistry. Six quick-win chapters give 13 questions a paper at 14% HARD or less.
Playbooks
21 playbooks — one per chapter above 0.9 questions per paper. The subtopic split, where the HARD sits, and whether the chapter cherry-picks.
Formulas
Single-page index of the formulas MHT-CET Physics actually tests, grouped by chapter. With about a minute a question, recall has to be instant.
Trends
The 2025 moves, in numbers — Gravitation and Ray Optics halved, Units and Measurement went from zero to a question a paper, Motion in a Plane rose by half.
Traps
The ratio question is 279 stems across 22 chapters — solved by proportion, not by calculation. Plus the sign, unit and figure traps the paper reuses.
The formula compendium indexes 74 formulas across 21 chapters.
Want the teaching, not just the strategy?
This guide tells you what the exam asks and in what order to take it. The notes teach the chapter: foundations, worked examples, self-checks, drills and a per-subtopic mastery checkpoint. 21 of the 21 playbook chapters have full notes shipped — Electrostatics, Rotational Dynamics, Superposition of Waves, Mechanical Properties of Fluids, Wave Optics, Oscillations, Semiconductor Devices, AC Circuits, Electromagnetic Induction, Kinetic Theory of Gases, Motion in a Plane, Laws of Motion, Magnetic Fields Due to Electric Current, Thermal Properties of Matter, Dual Nature of Radiation and Matter, Current Electricity, Structure of Atoms and Nuclei, Thermodynamics, Gravitation, Ray Optics and Sound.
All MHT-CET Physics notesWhy we built this
Most MHT-CET Physics prep splits two ways: a coaching-class lecture sequence that doesn’t match the chapter weights, or a chapter-list grind with no sense of what the paper actually rewards. We’ve done the third thing — pulled every question, tagged every subtopic, and looked at the patterns.
Every claim on this page is verifiable. Click any “Drill these N questions →” link and you’ll see the exact set we’re talking about.
Data snapshot: 28 September 2026. Numbers refresh as new papers land.