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Path to 300

Physics / Topic coverage

Modern Physics

Atoms, nuclei, photoelectric — shorter but high-accuracy scoring.

Weight lowIntensity Rotate · fortnightlyTrend Stable300-target 6.7 /100low
Path to 300

Mark budget for this portion

Full 300 plan →
At ~6.8% of physics weight, this portion should reliably deliver ~7 of your 100 physics marks — treat misses here as rank-droppers.
5Floor marks
6.7Target marks
7.7Stretch marks
6.8%Of subject weight
100Subject target
At a glance

Coverage metrics

16Tagged questions
6.8%Of Physics
2.29Average / year
2025Peak year (4 Q)
7/7Years present
Official · 2026

Syllabus map for this portion

Full Physics syllabus →
Full Modern Physics unit.

Must cover from syllabus

  • Radioactive decay law
  • BE / fission / fusion energy
  • Photoelectric + Bohr
  • X-rays + Moseley + de Broglie

Gaps / exclusions to watch

No special exclusions flagged — finish the unit list below.

Unit 01

Modern Physics

high

Exam focusRadioactivity, BE, fission/fusion energy, photoelectric, Bohr, X-rays, de Broglie.

Syllabus points

  • Nucleus; α, β, γ; radioactive decay law; decay constant; half/mean life
  • Binding energy; fission and fusion energy calculations
  • Photoelectric effect; Bohr hydrogen-like atoms
  • Characteristic and continuous X-rays; Moseley’s law; de Broglie matter waves

Do / check

  • Track units (eV/MeV) in nuclear energy
  • Write Einstein photoelectric equation before graphing
2020–2026

Year-wise appearance

Counts of tagged questions for this topic each year.

202
212
221
233
242
254
262

Reading the pattern

  • Modern Physics accounts for ~6.8% of tagged physics questions (2020–2026).
  • Trend signal: stable (early-window avg 1.7/yr vs recent avg 2.7/yr).
  • Appears in 7/7 tagged years; peak 2025 (4 Q), low 2022 (1 Q).
  • Dominant subtopics: Atoms/Nuclear/Photoelectric (16).
  • Question-type mix: Numerical 37.5%, Multi correct 31.2%, Single correct 18.8%, Matching 12.5%.
Internal breakdown

Subtopic coverage

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

  • Atoms/Nuclear/Photoelectric16 · 100%
SubtopicCountShareYears (count)
Atoms/Nuclear/Photoelectric16100%2020·2 2021·2 2022·1 2023·3 2024·2 2025·4 2026·2
Exam form

Type & difficulty mix

Question types

  • Numerical — 6 questions (37.5%)
  • Multi correct — 5 questions (31.2%)
  • Single correct — 3 questions (18.8%)
  • Matching — 2 questions (12.5%)

Difficulty (heuristic)

  • H — 11 questions
  • M — 5 questions

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

Focused study

Plan for this portion

Must know

  • Bohr transitions & ΔK/ΔE
  • Photoelectric equation graphs
  • Decay / binding energy basics

Common traps

  • Mixing frequency vs wavelength formulas
  • Sign of work function slips

Weekly drill checklist

  • 2 atom/nuclear
  • 1 photoelectric graph
  • 1 MC

Prerequisite chain

Dual nature→atoms→nuclei

Often joins with

OpticsWaves
Paper pointers

Sample tagged questions

Use these as deliberate practice targets from past papers.

YearPaperQSubtopicTypeDiff
2020P1Q7Atoms/Nuclear/PhotoelectricMCH
2020P2Q10Atoms/Nuclear/PhotoelectricMCH
2021P1Q14Atoms/Nuclear/PhotoelectricMCH
2021P2Q19Atoms/Nuclear/PhotoelectricNUMH
2022P2Q16Atoms/Nuclear/PhotoelectricSCM
2023P1Q8Atoms/Nuclear/PhotoelectricNUMH
Connections

Related mixed joins

Where this topic must connect with another concept in one stem.

Physics2023 · Paper 1 · Q8–Q10numerical

Modern Physics NUM + ray optics NUM chain

Modern Physics+Ray optics+Linked-style numericals

Knowledge bridge

Step 1: finish photoelectric/nuclear arithmetic cleanly. Step 2: switch to ray-optics formulae (mirror/lens/prism) without reusing constants wrongly. Step 3: track significant figures as required by the grid.

Why it feels hard

Formula-dense corridor; one wrong sign convention costs two questions.

What to practise

Keep a tiny optics sign-convention sticky note on your desk during NUM practice.

Open 2023 year review →
Physics

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