How to Study Physics for NEET 2025: Complete Strategy Guide

Hello future docs. We all know that the biggest problem NEET aspirants face is an entire subject- Physics.

“Physics nahi aata yaar, varna sab set hai (I just don’t understand physics, rest of the preparation is good)” is the most common problem we hear from aspirants that we talk to. And it’s not a new problem. We have all faced the same issue during our preparation and spent a lot of time trying to figure out a solution.

When I started preparing for NEET, I gave up on physics “I won’t ever be able to do this, nahi ho payega” It was one hell of a journey going from this to scoring great in physics in NEET 2021 and getting into a government MBBS college in Mumbai.

Here’s the answers to all your questions about Physics from my experience.

Will I HAVE to study physics

This thought struck my head too. Can’t I manage a good score without physics?

Let’s see how important physics is. If we completely eliminate having to solve physics in the NEET paper and assume that you are scoring 360 in biology and an average of 150 in chemistry. You will be scoring 510. Your rank at 510 will be around 70000 in NEET UG 2024 (According to estimates). Good enough to get an MBBS seat? No.

Now let’s assume that you are a grandmaster at chemistry and biology; you will be solving 45+90 questions perfectly right, which means you’ll be securing 540 marks. Now what will will your rank be? According to estimates for 2024, you’re rank will be around 40000-50000. Good enough to get you a good government college MBBS seat? Not at all.

This makes it very clear that you need to have a score of at least 140-150 in physics, so that you are allowed some room for mistakes in chemistry and biology and can still get a safe score for a good MBBS seat.

“But 140 sounds impossible!”-

It’s really not.

What is wrong with physics?

We should start by trying to understand our problem with physics. Let’s dissect the thoughts that go through our head while trying to approach a physics question.

1. “The question seems to be written in a foreign language, I don’t understand one word of it” – This is either a very big confidence problem, wherein you are too scared to even try and approach the question, or it is a basics problem. You have not studied in a way that has cleared your basic concepts or have not studied enough at all.

2. “I understand the question but don’t know what formula to use” This is a problem in simplification of the question, you are trying to get to the answer without analysing the data in the question.

3. “I understand the question and also know the formula, I just don’t know how to apply it” This is a practise error, you have not practised enough questions to get a hang of applying formulas in questions.

4. “I do everything right, still I don’t get the answer.” You are making SILLY MISTAKES. You are either not considering the signs and directions while solving questions/ making calculation of errors or even making a mistake whole filling the OMR sheet. Most common of these is THE MATHS PROBLEM.

Okay, now we will approach all these problems one by one. Let’s start with:

How to fix the MATHS PROBLEM:

Answer: By studying maths.

I know you are very angry with this premature answer that I have given you. So let me try to explain it.

What happens is, physics is basically science written in the language of maths, you can now count the science on your fingers, predict things and even make a space rocket. All math. Physics and math are inseparable and there is no physics scholar who is not a math scholar as well.

So do you need to be a math scholar? No. You just need to be smart enough to study the important bits in math and leave out the unimportant bits.

So what are the important bits in maths that are needed for physics?

Vectors (for all of force)
Matrices (cross products)
AP and GP (just a brief idea)
Differentiation (at least an intermediate level)
Integration (at least an intermediate level)
Trigonometry (you cannot predict where trigonometry shows up)
Quadratic equations.
Logarithms (you DON’T have to memorize the values, you should know very basic values only)
Squares and square roots (You don’t have time to sit and calculate these during exam)
And most important of all! – Basic Tables and calculations

You need not go into all the details of all these topics. For example, you must only know how to solve basic quadratic equations, you are not expected to know more than that for physics.

There is a difference between studying maths to learn maths and studying maths to learn physics.

How are you going to approach maths for physics?

An important thing to keep in mind while approaching maths is that you are going to keep a physics NCERT handy with you. You are going to try and solve a physics problem as soon as you learn the maths concept it is based on.

Done with vectors? solve Rain-man problems. Done with calculus? solve electrostatics problems.

Try to give yourself the satisfaction of solving physics problems as soon as you are done with a section in maths. This way you will also understand where to stop. When you get to advanced mathematics that does not have any NEET level physics problems based on it, stop.

Another way to approach this problem is by going to maths every time you find some new concept pop up in physics theory or examples. Starting with kinematics? You read that ‘The first derivative of displacement with respect to time is velocity.’ Make sure that know what derivatives are. Just go and study it in maths before going further with the chapter. Don’t just ‘It is what it is’ your way through physics.

We will later release a detailed analysis of the physics chapters with required maths concepts to understand them. Subscribe to us to keep receiving such updates.

Anyway, when you learn mathematics with this structured approach it will be easier to solve physics problems with just 2-3 months of hard work.

Try it out, go back to the basics.

Now, let’s move on to the next solution: How to fix the PHYSICS problem.

If you know math, physics is all about

learning from the right person,
being extremely alert and
just PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.

Learning physics

See, if you have not understood anything till date in physics, there is an incredible FREE source that you can learn from- Physics Wallah sir, he is GOD for NEET aspirants, he teaches perfectly, he keeps you engaged, he motivates you throughout the lecture, the perfect combo. For the concepts that you do not understand even after studying from him, you can try other teachers.

Other teachers that you can follow are Prashant sir (NEET physics Kota) and Ashish Arora sir (Physics Galaxy). They are really great too, you can always learn from more than one source to make sure that the concepts get fixed into your head.

Practising physics

After learning a concept, you must immediately solve examples based on that concept. These can be the ones given in your textbooks or the ones that are taken in your class. Don’t go ahead to another topic, until you can solve questions based on that topic.

Solve ACTIVELY. Try to solve a question at least 5 times, before you give up and look at the solution. Any other way of solving is pretty much useless.

Solve at least 10-20 examples then and there. Then when you are done with the entire chapter, Solve as many questions as you can. There is no minimum and no maximum number of questions, it varies according to the chapter.

While solving questions, you should make sure that you are solving every type of question. Integrate PYQs in question solving so that you can make sure that you have not missed out a question type.

What do I mean by question type? Click here to understand.

Practicing questions is the only way you can secure your marks, it will help you build up confidence for exam questions. If you see all types of questions before the NEET exam you won’t get surprises in the exam, so you won’t get scared.

You need to be really patient with physics. Physics alone demands 50% of your time as it is the biggest and most difficult subject of the three. You must give it the time it deserves.

This brings me to my next point:

Patience and Retention-

See, this entire process that I’ve told you is not a one day thing or a one week thing. I cannot point to a number, say 100, and tell you that you will be a master in a chapter after solving 100 questions.

It is very variable, it depends on so many factors- your grasping power, your mood, the way you’ve learnt the chapters, your way of approaching questions and your retention power.

Some of my friends could master a chapter by solving just 100-200 questions. I was not that fast, I had an average of at least 800-1000 questions per chapter, until I could confidently say I had mastered it. This is where patience had to step in.

You cannot compare your progress with another person’s progress, you need to solve as many questions as it takes, you need to learn to be patient with physics. It does not reward as immediately as biology.

Another important place where you will really need patience is while maintaining a question register/book.

What is a question register/book?

It is a book where you will note down all the questions that you got wrong while solving a mock test or a class test.

This is a very important step as this helps you to single out your weaknesses and work on them.

This book can then be used for revision before the next mock test. The question/mistake books are better for revision than even a formula sheet. And it is a secret mantra to score good in physics.

Confidence

Another aspect is confidence. I have been told by a lot of students that they can solve questions during practice but not during class tests. Well, it is mostly a confidence problem.

The only way you can solve a confidence problem is by doing what you fear.

Do not skip class tests because you are scoring low. Go, fail again. Give another test.

This is such an important aspect of the NEET process. Because ultimately, NEET is not just a paper, it is a process that tests all the aspects of a good healthcare professional. Doctors need to be courageous, they need to be able to handle setbacks. You cannot stop going to the hospital if you could not help one patient. Similarly, you cannot stop giving tests because you scored low.

Now that you have an idea of what you are supposed to do, let’s also make a list of the things that you are not supposed to do.

Common mistakes that NEET aspirants make in physics

Skipping the basics.
Skipping concepts and going straight to questions.
Not skipping the concept for Advanced questions
Not checking out the solved examples, or just reading the solved examples.
Just copying down the solutions for the questions being taken in coaching classes.

I have written about these points in another blog, go to ‘Common mistakes that NEET aspirants make in physics’

So based on all that I have said above, it is very clear that if you use the right method and right ways it is easy to solve Physics numericals, right? RIGHT?

Well, not for a lot of students.

Physics is still overwhelming

For a lot of students, physics is still very difficult to get through and I can totally understand it. I have a lot of friends who were not good at physics during NEET prep but are doing better than me in MBBS now.

Want to know how they fared through? There are two ways. First method called ‘PYQ method’ requires a little understanding and the other one is the ultimate Hack method

Let’s start with the first method:

The PYQ method.

Do you know, that 35 questions in NEET 2023 physics were directly or indirectly taken from PYQs? 35 questions mean 140 marks!! The target I told you about.

So, does that mean that you can score 140 by just solving the PYQs? Not really. You need to have a very smart approach to Previous Year TOPICS. Yes, topics. Because, you are not just going to solve the PYQ and move ahead, you need to deduce the chapter the PYQ has been taken from. Then you deduce the exact topic the PYQ is based on. Then, you solve all types of questions possible from that topic. This way, when that topic repeats in NEET with a different question type, you are ready to solve it.

This strategy is useful when you are okay-okay at physics but are still facing difficulty in getting a safe score. You will get a very directional and structures approach this way and will not have to waste you time studying everything.

In fact, I would advise every NEET aspirant to study the frequently repeated topics inside out. The PYQs hold immense importance in NEET exam.

The Ultimate Hack method:

Now we have come to the main point. See, although I do not really support this method a lot, it works. It works good enough to help you solve at least the direct questions in physics.

Make a list of all the formulae in physics, front to back, all chapters. You can easily get such a list online as well.
And now memorize. Just try to remember every formula by-heart. I know it’s not an easy task but it is the only option now.
Then, take a mock test. When you see a physics numerical, try to note down all the given quantities.
Make a list of these, Then also write down the name of the required quantity.
Then you mentally go through this long list of formulae and try to find a formula that has all these quantities from your list. If you do not find a formula, try to eliminate some quantities turn by turn and then try to find a formula. (A lot of tims, extra quantities are given to confuse aspirants)
Sometimes even eliminating a few quantities won’t work and you will have to find a combination of two formulae from the list.
Then when you find the fitting formula/formulae, put the values in it and arrive at the answer.
Voila, question solved

Note: Even for this method, you need to have a basic understanding of the quantities. If it is said that ‘the initial and final position of the object is the same’ then the question is trying to tell you that the displacement is zero, you need to have this basic understanding.

I hope you have understood all that I have told you earlier in this blog and that you won’t have to use hacks. That’s it.

That’s how you study physics.

By studying everything and putting in all the efforts when you have time or by ‘PYQ’ or ‘Hack’ method when you are short on time.

Overall, physics is a demanding subject, you need to give it more time than chemistry or biology. I hope you have understood that you cannot get a good seat without physics and that it is not really all that difficult.

I am sending all the good wishes and prayers your way. You can do it!

All the best, dear aspirants.