NCERT Map
Which NCERT chapter is which NDA chapter
NDA's 14 physics chapters are broad, exam-shaped buckets — each absorbs several narrower NCERT chapters across Classes 9 to 12. Find your NCERT chapter here, then drill its questions in the bank.
- NDA Physics chapters
- 14
- NCERT chapters mapped
- 34
- NCERT classes spanned
- 9–12
- Class-12 watch-list topics
- 4
How to read this map
- Each row is one NDA chapter and the NCERT chapters it covers. A Cl 9–12 badge tells you which class the topic is taught in. Most NDA chapters bundle 2–5 NCERT chapters — that bundling is deliberate, not a defect.
- No NDA chapter name matches NCERT exactly except Gravitation, Sound, and Work-Energy-Power — so searching the bank by NCERT title won’t find anything. This page is the translation layer. Use the drill button on each row.
The Class-12 watch-list — an early-warning instrument
A large slice of NDA Physics already maps to NCERT Class 12 (Ray & Wave Optics, Current Electricity, EMI, AC, all of Modern Physics). If a Class-12 topic that’s been quiet starts recurring in recent papers, that’s a leading signal of a syllabus shift — and a cue to build notes/practice for it. So every tracked Class-12 topic carries its bank recency:
- active — seen in a recent paper
- watch — tested before, now cold
- dormant — mapped, never yet seen
We don’t pre-write content for dormant topics — chasing a signal that isn’t there is as wrong as ignoring one that is. The map is the detector; content follows when a topic goes active. Recency snapshot: 2026-06-14 from the live PYQ bank.
Units, Measurement and Dimensions
Clean 1:1 with Class 11; NDA adds dimensional analysis depth.
Kinematics and Motion
Three NCERT chapters fold into one NDA bucket (1-D + 2-D motion).
Laws of Motion and Forces
Work, Energy and Power
Gravitation
Class 9 covers gravitation + floatation; the floatation half is tested under NDA's Fluid Mechanics, not here.
Fluid Mechanics and Properties of Matter
Primary source is Class 11; buoyancy/pressure are introduced earlier in the Class 9 Gravitation chapter.
Heat and Thermodynamics
Three Class 11 chapters collapse into one NDA bucket.
Oscillations and Waves
Sound
Clean 1:1 with Class 9.
Light and Optics
Basics are Class 10; lens/mirror depth is Class 12 Ray Optics. Wave Optics (interference/diffraction) is mapped but unseen in the bank — a Class-12 watch-list topic.
Electricity and Magnetism
Class 10 covers only basic circuits + magnetic effects; the depth (fields, EMI, AC) is Class 12. EMI has gone cold since 2017; AC still appears.
Modern Physics
Entirely Class 12 — no NCERT 9–11 source. Semiconductor Electronics has gone cold (last 2023); Communication Systems is mapped but unseen. Both are watch-list topics for a syllabus shift.
Energy Sources
No NCERT 9–12 chapter — NDA-syllabus-specific.
Maps to NCERT's 'Sources of Energy' (Class 10), which was rationalised OUT of the syllabus in 2023-24. Near-absent in NDA too (2 q).
Astronomy and Space
No NCERT 9–12 chapter — NDA-syllabus-specific.
NDA-syllabus-specific — no NCERT physics chapter at any class.
NCERT chapters NDA barely tests
The map runs both ways. These NCERT chapters have effectively no NDA home — listed so you don’t over-invest in them for this exam.
- Cl 11System of Particles and Rotational Motion — Barely tested by NDA — ~3 incidental questions across the whole bank, no dedicated chapter. Low-yield; do not over-invest.