Playbooks
21 chapter playbooks behind 48.6 of the 50 questions
21 playbooks — one per chapter above 0.9 questions per paper. The subtopic split, where the HARD sits, and whether the chapter cherry-picks.
- Playbooks
- 21
- Questions covered
- 2,045
- of 50 q/paper covered
- 48.6
- Papers analysed
- 42
Read “q/paper” as a recent rate, not a lifetime share
Two different numbers appear on every card below and they do not measure the same thing. The question count is lifetime — all 2,098 questions across 42 papers and 5 years. The q/paper rate is measured on recent papers only (2024–2025), and that is the number the strands below are built on.
They disagree because the 2025 papers moved several chapters. Gravitation and Ray Optics carry 80 and 78 questions lifetime and halved in 2025; Units and Measurement carries 14 and was not set at all before 2025. A lifetime average hides all three, which is why tiering here ignores it.
See the year-on-year driftCornerstone — own these outright
The chapters the paper is built on. You cannot reach a good score without them and you cannot reach one on them alone, so they are prep-first and, on the paper, they get the minutes the quick-wins saved you. One of them, Wave Optics, does not cherry-pick — the playbook says why.
6 playbooks · 768 questions lifetime · 18.5 of 50 q/paper on 2024–25 papers · 19–22% HARD
Electrostatics
166 q - 3.83/paper - 22% HARD. The heaviest chapter on the Physics paper. Gauss's law and the dipole are 29 questions without a HARD one; dielectrics are 39% HARD.
166 q · 3.83/paper · 22% hard · 7 subtopics notesRotational Dynamics
128 q - 3.13/paper - 21% HARD, and rising in 2025. The axis theorems hold nearly half the HARD; angular momentum and rolling are the cheap pages.
128 q · 3.13/paper · 21% hard · 6 subtopics notesSuperposition of Waves
123 q - 3.00/paper - 20% HARD. Reading a wave equation is the cheap entry at 9%; beats and the sonometer carry the HARD at 41%. Prepare it with Sound.
123 q · 3.00/paper · 20% hard · 5 subtopics notesMechanical Properties of Fluids
124 q - 2.96/paper - 19% HARD. Two thirds surface tension, and capillary rise (38 q) has never produced a HARD question.
124 q · 2.96/paper · 19% hard · 5 subtopics notesWave Optics
117 q - 2.96/paper - 19% HARD, spread evenly over Young's double slit, single slit and interference intensity. The one cornerstone that does not cherry-pick.
117 q · 2.96/paper · 19% hard · 5 subtopics notesOscillations
110 q - 2.63/paper - 19% HARD. SHM kinematics is the biggest page, energy the cheapest; spring systems carry the HARD at 28%.
110 q · 2.63/paper · 19% hard · 4 subtopics notes
Quick-Win — bank these first
Low HARD rates and short questions. Every question on this paper pays the same single mark, so a logic-gate question pays what a sonometer question pays for a fraction of the clock. Answer them on the opening sweep, before you touch an axis theorem.
6 playbooks · 557 questions lifetime · 13.3 of 50 q/paper on 2024–25 papers · 3–14% HARD
Semiconductor Devices
129 q - 3.08/paper - 3% HARD. The best return on the Physics paper: four of six pages have never produced a HARD question. Mostly figure-reading, not calculation.
129 q · 3.08/paper · 3% hard · 6 subtopics notesAC Circuits
129 q - 3.00/paper - 12% HARD. Reactance and power are the cheap half; one impedance triangle does most of the rest.
129 q · 3.00/paper · 12% hard · 6 subtopics notesElectromagnetic Induction
119 q - 2.92/paper - 9% HARD. Faraday and Lenz have never produced a HARD question; motional EMF is the only expensive page.
119 q · 2.92/paper · 9% hard · 4 subtopics notesKinetic Theory of Gases
80 q - 1.96/paper - 14% HARD. Gas laws at 0%; the RMS-speed page is ratio work on v_rms ∝ √(T/M).
80 q · 1.96/paper · 14% hard · 3 subtopics notesMotion in a Plane
53 q - 1.33/paper - 6% HARD, and rising (1.00 to 1.54 a paper in 2025). Three of its five pages have never produced a HARD question.
53 q · 1.33/paper · 6% hard · 5 subtopics notesLaws of Motion
47 q - 1.04/paper - 11% HARD. One free-body diagram per body; momentum and collisions are the cheap page.
47 q · 1.04/paper · 11% hard · 3 subtopics notes
Long Tail — last pass, and still answer every one
Expensive per question, and collectively far too big to ignore. These come last, on whatever clock is left after the cornerstones and quick-wins are banked — and every one of them still gets an answer, because with no negative marking a guess costs nothing and a blank is strictly worse.
9 playbooks · 720 questions lifetime · 16.7 of 50 q/paper on 2024–25 papers · 17–32% HARD
Magnetic Fields Due to Electric Current
98 q - 2.42/paper - 29% HARD. The field of a conductor is half the chapter at 33%, much of it a figure of wires and arcs.
98 q · 2.42/paper · 29% hard · 4 subtopics notesThermal Properties of Matter
84 q - 2.13/paper - 17% HARD. 53 of the 84 are radiation — Stefan and Wien as ratio questions.
84 q · 2.13/paper · 17% hard · 4 subtopics notesDual Nature of Radiation and Matter
82 q - 2.04/paper - 32% HARD. The hardest chapter in the bank, and one of the narrowest: two equations carry all of it.
82 q · 2.04/paper · 32% hard · 2 subtopics notesCurrent Electricity
82 q - 1.96/paper - 24% HARD. Meter conversions and Kirchhoff are the cheap entry; the bridges are 35% HARD.
82 q · 1.96/paper · 24% hard · 5 subtopics notesStructure of Atoms and Nuclei
85 q - 1.96/paper - 22% HARD. Radioactive decay at 6%; the Bohr page is scaling laws, and falls to ratios.
85 q · 1.96/paper · 22% hard · 3 subtopics notesThermodynamics
84 q - 1.92/paper - 21% HARD. The first law is cheap; the processes page holds the HARD at 31%.
84 q · 1.92/paper · 21% hard · 3 subtopics notesGravitation
80 q - 1.75/paper - 23% HARD, and halved in 2025. Variation of g is 33 questions at 3% HARD — the page to keep.
80 q · 1.75/paper · 23% hard · 4 subtopics notesRay Optics
78 q - 1.50/paper - 29% HARD, and halved in 2025. Lenses and refraction are the core; the prism page is 47% HARD.
78 q · 1.50/paper · 29% hard · 5 subtopics notesSound
47 q - 1.04/paper - 21% HARD. Doppler and pipes — the same material as Superposition of Waves, and cheap if prepared with it.
47 q · 1.04/paper · 21% hard · 3 subtopics notes
Why 21 playbooks and not 24
A playbook ships for every chapter at or above 0.9 questions per paper on recent weightage. 21 of the 24 chapters clear that line. The other 3 are named below rather than quietly dropped — between them they are 53 of the 2,098 questions in the bank, and one of them — Units and Measurement, new in 2025 — matters more than that share suggests. They are covered in the tail block on the strategy page.
Magnetic Materials
Still live33 q lifetime · 0.79/paper on 2024–25 papers · 3% hard
One HARD question in 33 — a cheap mark on most papers. Below the playbook line on volume only; drill it with the quick-wins. Its notes are at /notes/mht-cet-physics/magnetic-materials.
Units and Measurement
New for 202514 q lifetime · 0.58/paper on 2024–25 papers · 0% hard
ENTERED in 2025: none in the 29 papers before 2025, then 14 in the 13 papers of 2025 — 1.08 a paper. The recent rate of 0.58 averages in 2024, when it was not set. It has never produced a HARD question, and ten of the 14 are error propagation. Half a day of prep for about a mark a paper.
Mechanical Properties of Solids
Still live6 q lifetime · 0.08/paper on 2024–25 papers · 17% hard
Six questions in 42 papers and none in 2025 — too few to call a trend either way. Read the spring and elastic-energy formulas once; do not drill it.