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Teachers often tell students to "do Exemplar" after the NCERT textbook, and many try to do the whole book. That is slow, and some of it is no longer on the syllabus. Used well, the Exemplar books are a useful free resource for boards and entrance exams. This post covers what is in them, what to skip, how to practise with them, and three worked problems.
What are NCERT Exemplar problems?
NCERT publishes Exemplar Problems books for science and mathematics, free to download from its Exemplar Problems page. Each chapter follows the textbook chapter and groups questions by type. In the Class 12 physics book, for example, the chapter on electrostatic potential and capacitance has:
MCQ I: multiple-choice questions with one correct option
MCQ II: multiple-choice questions where more than one option can be correct
VSA, SA and LA: very short, short and long answer questions
Answers and hints for every chapter are in a separate answers section at the end of the book.
The MCQ II section is the one most students skip and most need. Having to judge every option, rather than spot one, is close to the reasoning entrance exams reward.
Which Exemplar chapters are still on the syllabus?
This is the step most students miss. The Exemplar books were written before the current rationalised syllabus, and they have not been cut to match it.
A clear case is Class 12 physics. The Exemplar book has a Chapter 15 on communication systems, and its own design of question paper allots 5 of 70 marks to that unit. The CBSE Class 12 physics curriculum for 2026-27 ends at Chapter 14, Semiconductor Electronics, and has no communication systems unit. The official JEE (Main) 2026 syllabus does not list it either. So skip that chapter, and ignore the Exemplar's old marks table; use the current CBSE sample paper for the paper pattern.
The same check applies to every subject. Before you start a chapter, find it in your current curriculum document. If a topic inside a chapter has been dropped, cross out those questions.
How should you use Exemplar for boards versus entrance exams?
The same book serves both, with a different emphasis.
For boards: focus on VSA and SA questions. Write full answers in exam style, with diagrams and units, then compare with the answer section.
For JEE and NEET: focus on MCQ I and MCQ II. Time yourself, and for MCQ II, write a one-line reason for accepting or rejecting every option.
For both: use Exemplar after the textbook exercises, not instead of them.
Three worked examples from the Class 12 physics Exemplar
1. Question 2.8 (MCQ II): equipotential surfaces. The options say equipotential surfaces (a) are closer where the electric field is large, (b) are more crowded near sharp edges of a conductor, (c) are more crowded near regions of large charge density, and (d) are always equally spaced.
Reason through each. Field strength is the potential change per unit distance, so a large field means the same potential step happens over a shorter distance: (a) is true. Sharp edges and regions of high charge density have strong fields, so (b) and (c) follow from (a). Equal spacing happens only in a uniform field, so (d) is false in general. The answer section gives (a), (b), (c).
2. Question 2.10 (MCQ II): a region of constant potential. If potential does not change anywhere in a region, its rate of change is zero, so the electric field there is zero: option (b). By Gauss's law, zero field throughout the region means no net charge inside it: option (c). The answer section gives (b), (c).
3. Question 2.20 (SA): removing a dielectric. A capacitor with a dielectric is charged from a DC source, the battery is disconnected, and then the dielectric is removed. What happens to capacitance, energy, field, charge and voltage?
With the battery disconnected, charge Q cannot change. Removing the dielectric lowers C. Then V = Q/C rises, the field between the plates rises with V, and the stored energy Q²/2C rises. The answer section agrees: C decreases, charge stays the same, and energy, field and voltage increase.
Put sample numbers on it to check. Take C = 10 μF with the dielectric (dielectric constant 2, so 5 μF without it), charged to 12 V. Then Q = 10 μF × 12 V = 120 μC. After removal, V = 120 μC ÷ 5 μF = 24 V. Energy before is ½ × 10 μF × (12 V)² = 720 μJ; after, it is ½ × 5 μF × (24 V)² = 1440 μJ. The energy doubles, and the extra comes from the work you do pulling the dielectric out.
Which mistakes waste Exemplar practice?
Doing chapters that are off the syllabus. Filter first.
Reading the answer section first. If you read the answer before trying, you are reviewing, not practising.
Ticking options without reasons in MCQ II. One wrong reason can hide behind a right tick.
A routine that uses Exemplar well
After each textbook chapter, do that chapter's MCQ I and MCQ II under time, with a reason for every option.
Mark with the answer section and write the correct idea next to every miss.
Re-test after a gap. In Roediger and Karpicke (2006), students who practised recall remembered more two days and a week later than students who restudied, even though restudying felt more effective.
Mix chapters each week. In Rohrer, Dedrick and Stershic (2015), interleaved practice gave higher test scores than practising one type at a time. Our spaced revision schedule shows how to plan the gaps.
When an Exemplar answer gives the result but not the reasoning you need, the Fermi Problem Library has worked problems with a step-by-step solver that explains the reasoning, so you can see each step instead of just the final option.
This week, take one finished chapter, check it against your current syllabus, and do its MCQ II section with a reason written for every option.
