Chemistry / Topic coverage

Inorganic

Reliable marks: coordination, bonding, metallurgy, qualitative, p-block tables.

Weight mediumIntensity Core · weeklyTrend Stable300-target 22.8 /100medium

Path to 300

Mark budget for this portion

At ~23.7% of chemistry weight, this portion should reliably deliver ~24 of your 100 chemistry marks — treat misses here as rank-droppers.

17.1Floor marks

22.8Target marks

26.3Stretch marks

23.7%Of subject weight

100Subject target

At a glance

Coverage metrics

57Tagged questions

23.7%Of Chemistry

8.14Average / year

2021Peak year (12 Q)

7/7Years present

Official · 2026

Syllabus map for this portion

Full Chemistry syllabus →

Inorganic block from periodicity through coordination/metallurgy/qualitative/environment (+ bonding overlap).

Must cover from syllabus

Periodic trends fluency
p-block named compounds list
Coordination isomerism + CFT
Qualitative analysis ion list exactly as syllabus

Gaps / exclusions to watch

Environmental & green chemistry short notes
Metallurgy principle questions

Unit 01

Periodicity, Hydrogen, s-Block

medium

Exam focusPeriodic trends; H₂O₂/hydrides; Na/Ca compound set listed in syllabus.

Syllabus points

Modern periodic law; trends: radii, IE, EA, valence, OS, EN, reactivity
Hydrogen: position, isotopes, hydrides, water/heavy water, H₂O₂, fuel use
Alkali/alkaline earth: reactivity, liquid NH₃ solutions, oxides/hydroxides/halides/oxoacid salts; Li/Be anomaly; Na and Ca compounds listed

Do / check

Memorise the named Na/Ca compounds with one use each

Unit 02

p-Block Elements (Groups 13–18)

high

Exam focusAnomalies of B,C,N,O,F; key compounds per group in syllabus list.

Syllabus points

OS and reactivity trends groups 13–17; anomalies of B,C,N,O,F
Group 13–18 compounds and reactions as listed (borax, diborane, silicones, NH₃/HNO₃, O₃/H₂SO₄, Cl₂/HCl, Xe compounds, etc.)

Do / check

One A4 sheet per group: prep–properties–uses

Unit 03

d/f-Block, Coordination, Metallurgy, Qualitative Analysis, Environment

high

Exam focusCFT/VBT, isomerism, Cr/Mn oxoanions, qualitative groups I–V ions listed.

Syllabus points

d-block: OS stability, E°, interstitial, alloys, catalysis; Cr/Mn oxoanions
f-block: lanthanoid/actinoid contraction; OS; general characteristics
Coordination: Werner; nomenclature; cis–trans & ionization isomerism; VBT/CFT; spin-only magnetism; spectrochemical series; metal carbonyls
Isolation of metals: concentration, thermo (Fe/Cu/Zn) & electrochemical (Al), cyanide (Ag/Au), refining
Qualitative analysis: listed cations Groups I–V; nitrate, halides (ex F⁻), carbonate/bicarbonate, sulphate, sulphide
Environmental chemistry & green chemistry ideas

Do / check

Draw CF splitting before predicting colour/magnetism
Drill the exact ion list — syllabus is limited

Unit 04

Chemical Bonding and Molecular Structure

high

Exam focusHybridisation, MO diagrams to Ne₂, VSEPR shapes list in syllabus.

Syllabus points

Orbital overlap; covalent bond; hybridisation s/p/d
MO diagrams for homonuclear diatomics up to Ne₂; H-bond; polarity/dipole
VSEPR shapes: linear, angular, triangular, square planar, pyramidal, square pyramidal, TBP, tetrahedral, octahedral

Do / check

Count electrons carefully for MO bond order

2020–2026

Year-wise appearance

Counts of tagged questions for this topic each year.

206

2112

227

237

248

258

269

Reading the pattern

Inorganic accounts for ~23.7% of tagged chemistry questions (2020–2026).
Trend signal: stable (early-window avg 8.3/yr vs recent avg 8.3/yr).
Appears in 7/7 tagged years; peak 2021 (12 Q), low 2020 (6 Q).
Dominant subtopics: Coordination (24), Metallurgy (13), Qualitative (9), Bonding (6).
Question-type mix: Numerical 31.6%, Multi correct 28.1%, Single correct 24.6%, Matching 15.8%.

Internal breakdown

Subtopic coverage

Start with the top subtopics — they usually carry most of this portion’s weight.

Coordination24 · 42.1%
Metallurgy13 · 22.8%
Qualitative9 · 15.8%
Bonding6 · 10.5%
p-block4 · 7%
Periodic1 · 1.8%

Subtopic	Count	Share	Years (count)
Coordination	24	42.1%	2020·3 2021·3 2022·2 2023·5 2024·5 2025·3 2026·3
Metallurgy	13	22.8%	2020·2 2021·3 2022·2 2023·2 2024·2 2025·2
Qualitative	9	15.8%	2020·1 2021·4 2022·3 2025·1
Bonding	6	10.5%	2021·1 2024·1 2025·1 2026·3
p-block	4	7%	2021·1 2025·1 2026·2
Periodic	1	1.8%	2026·1

Exam form

Type & difficulty mix

Question types

Numerical — 18 questions (31.6%)
Multi correct — 16 questions (28.1%)
Single correct — 14 questions (24.6%)
Matching — 9 questions (15.8%)

Difficulty (heuristic)

H — 29 questions
M — 28 questions

Use for planning load only — not an official difficulty label.

Focused study

Plan for this portion

Must know

CFT / hybridisation / isomerism
VBT vs MOT intuition for exam
Extraction flowchart logic
Salt analysis group reagents
NCERT p-block reactions

Common traps

Outdated syllabus facts
Ignoring colour/magnetic moment data

Weekly drill checklist

2 coordination
1 bonding
1 metallurgy/qualitative
NCERT table recall

Prerequisite chain

Periodic→bonding→coordination→metallurgy/qualitative

Often joins with

Physical (thermo of bonding)Organic (practical)

Paper pointers

Sample tagged questions

Use these as deliberate practice targets from past papers.

Year	Paper	Q	Subtopic	Type	Diff
2020	P1	Q3	Qualitative	SC	M
2020	P1	Q6	Coordination	SC	M
2020	P1	Q8	Metallurgy	MC	H
2020	P1	Q10	Coordination	MC	H
2020	P2	Q6	Coordination	SC	M
2020	P2	Q11	Metallurgy	MC	H

Chemistry

Other portions

Physical Organic

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