NSEP Syllabus 2025-26: Check IAPT NSEP Syllabus Here

Units of measurement; systems of units; SI units,
Fundamental and derived units. Length, mass and time measurements;
Accuracy and precision of measuring instruments; measurement errors; significant figures.
Dimensions of physical quantities, dimensional analysis and its applications.

Frame of reference, Motion in a straight line: Position-time graph, speed and velocity.
Elementary concepts of differentiation and integration for describing motion, uniform and non-uniform motion, average speed and instantaneous velocity, uniformly accelerated motion, velocity-time and position-time graphs.
Relations for uniformly accelerated motion (graphical treatment).

Scalar and vector quantities; position and displacement vectors, general vectors and their notations;
Equality of vectors, multiplication of vectors by a real number; addition and subtraction of vectors, relative velocity,
Unit vector; resolution of a vector in a plane, rectangular components, Scalar and Vector product of vectors.
Motion in a plane, cases of uniform velocity and uniform acceleration- projectile motion, uniform circular motion.

Intuitive concept of force, Inertia,
Newton's first law of motion, momentum, and Newton's second law of motion, impulse;
Newton's third law of motion. Law of conservation of linear momentum and its applications.
Equilibrium of concurrent forces, Static and kinetic friction, laws of friction, and lubrication.
Dynamics of uniform circular motion: Centripetal force, examples of circular motion (vehicle on a level circular road, vehicle on a banked road).

Work done by a constant force and a variable force; kinetic energy, work-energy theorem, and power.
Notion of potential energy, potential energy of a spring,
Conservative forces: conservation of mechanical energy (kinetic and potential energies);
Non-conservative forces: motion in a vertical circle; elastic and inelastic collisions in one and two dimensions.

Centre of mass of a two-particle system, momentum conservation and centre of mass motion. Centre of mass of a rigid body; centre of mass of a uniform rod.
Moment of a force, torque, angular momentum, law of conservation of angular momentum and its applications.
Equilibrium of rigid bodies, rigid body rotation and equations of rotational motion, comparison of linear and rotational motions.
Moment of inertia, radius of gyration, values of moments of inertia for simple geometrical objects (no derivation). Statement of the parallel and perpendicular axes theorems and their applications.

Kepler's laws of planetary motion and, universal law of gravitation. Acceleration due to gravity and its variation with altitude and depth.
Gravitational potential energy and gravitational potential, escape velocity, orbital velocity of a satellite, and geostationary satellites.

Elastic behaviour, Stress-strain relationship, Hooke's law, Young's modulus, bulk modulus, shear modulus of rigidity, Poisson's ratio, elastic energy.

Pressure due to a fluid column; Pascal's law and its applications (hydraulic lift and hydraulic brakes), the effect of gravity on fluid pressure.
Viscosity, Stokes' law, terminal velocity, streamline and turbulent flow, critical velocity, Bernoulli's theorem and its applications.
Surface energy and surface tension, angle of contact, excess of pressure across a curved surface, application of surface tension ideas to drops, bubbles and capillary rise.

Heat, temperature, thermal expansion; thermal expansion of solids, liquids and gases, anomalous expansion of water; specific heat capacity; Cp, Cv - calorimetry; change of state - latent heat capacity.
Heat transfer-conduction, convection and radiation, thermal conductivity, qualitative ideas of Blackbody radiation, Wien's displacement Law, Stefan's law, Greenhouse effect.

Thermal equilibrium and definition of temperature (zeroth law of thermodynamics), heat, work and internal energy. Thermodynamic state variables and equation of state, the First law of thermodynamics, isothermal and adiabatic processes.
Second law of thermodynamics: reversible and irreversible processes, Heat engine and refrigerator.

Equation of state of a perfect gas, work done in compressing a gas.
Kinetic theory of gases - assumptions, concept of pressure.
Kinetic interpretation of temperature; rms speed of gas molecules; degrees of freedom, law of equi-partition of energy (statement only) and application to specific heat capacities of gases; concept of mean free path, Avogadro's number.

Periodic motion - period, frequency, displacement as a function of time, periodic functions.
Simple harmonic motion (S.H.M) and its equation, phase, oscillations of a loaded spring- restoring force and force constant, energy in S.H.M. Kinetic and potential energies;
Simple pendulum derivation of the expression for its period. Free, forced and damped oscillations (qualitative ideas only), Resonance.
Waves
Wave motion: Transverse and longitudinal waves, speed of travelling wave, displacement relation for a progressive wave, principle of superposition of waves, reflection of waves, standing waves in strings and organ pipes, fundamental mode and harmonics, Beats, Doppler effect.

Electric Charges and Fields
Electrostatic Potential and Capacitance
Current Electricity

Ray Optics and Optical Instruments
Wave optics

Dual nature of radiation, Photoelectric effect, Hertz and Lenard's observations;
Einstein's photoelectric equation-particle nature of light. Experimental study of the photoelectric effect.
Matter waves-wave nature of particles, de-Broglie relation,
Davisson-Germer experiment (experimental details should be omitted; only the conclusion should be explained).

Atoms - Alpha-particle scattering experiment; Rutherford's model of the atom; Bohr model, energy levels, hydrogen spectrum.
Nuclei - Composition and size of nucleus, Radioactivity, alpha, beta and gamma particles/rays and their properties; radioactive decay law, half life, and mean life.
Mass-energy relation, mass defect; binding energy per nucleon and its variation with mass number; nuclear fission, nuclear fusion.

Semiconductor Electronics: Materials, Devices and Simple Circuits
Energy bands in conductors, semiconductors and insulators (qualitative ideas only). Semiconductor diode - I-V characteristics in forward and reverse bias, diode as a rectifier;
Special purpose p-n junction diodes: LED, photodiode, solar cell and Zener diode and their characteristics, Zener diode as a voltage regulator.