NSEJS Syllabus : Topic-Wise Guide

The NSEJS syllabus covers Physics, Chemistry and Biology at secondary school level, with equal emphasis on all three. IAPT, the conducting body, describes it as broadly equivalent to the secondary stage (up to and including class 10) of the CBSE system, and publishes a syllabus document that groups the content into ten areas.

This page walks through those ten areas topic by topic, shows how they map to the three subjects, and suggests an order of study.

Table of Contents

NSEJS Syllabus at a Glance

Points to Know Before You Start

IAPT's own brochure for the 2026 cycle states only the level and the subjects. The detailed topic list sits in a separate syllabus document on the IAPT website. That file's web address carries the years 2022-2023 even though the IAPT page presents it as the syllabus for the 2026-27 cycle. We could not find a separate, newer NSEJS topic list, so the topics below follow that document. Check the official website for any revision before you finalise your plan.

• Three sciences, not four: IAPT's high school science exam notice says NSEJS no longer includes Mathematics as a subject. Some older pages still list four subjects.

• School books are the base: The level is school science, so class 8, 9 and 10 science textbooks cover most of what is asked. The difference is in the depth of reasoning and the style of questions.

• No topic-wise weightage is published: IAPT states equal emphasis on the three subjects. It does not publish marks per topic, so treat any chapter-wise weightage table on other sites as an estimate.

Official Syllabus by Area

Area I: Matter, Nature and Behaviour

• States of matter, their properties and changes of state.

• Elements, compounds, mixtures and solutions, concentration, and separation of the parts of a mixture.

• Atoms and molecules, the law of constant proportions, atomic and molecular masses, and the mole concept.

• Atomic structure with electrons, protons and neutrons, valency, chemical formulae, isotopes and isobars.

Area II: Chemical Substances, Nature and Behaviour

• Chemical equations, balancing, and the types of reaction: combination, decomposition, displacement, double displacement, precipitation, neutralisation, oxidation and reduction.

• Acids, bases and salts, the pH scale, and common compounds and their uses.

• Metals and non-metals, the reactivity series, ionic compounds, metallurgy, corrosion and its prevention.

• Carbon compounds: bonding, homologous series, functional groups and naming, reactions, ethanol and ethanoic acid, soaps and detergents.

• Periodic classification: early attempts, the modern periodic table and periodic trends.

Area III: Organization in the Living World

• Cell structure: prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, membranes, organelles, the nucleus and chromosomes.

• Plant and animal tissues.

• Biological diversity: the basics of classification, the hierarchy of categories, and the major plant and animal groups.

• Health and disease: infectious and non-infectious diseases, microbial causes, prevention and treatment.

Area IV: Life Processes

• Nutrition, respiration, transport and excretion in plants and animals.

• Control and coordination: tropisms and hormones in plants, and the nervous system, reflexes and hormones in animals.

• Reproduction, both asexual and sexual, including reproductive health and family planning.

• Heredity and evolution: Mendel's laws, sex determination and basic ideas of evolution.

Area V: Motion, Force and Work

• Motion: distance, displacement, speed, velocity, uniform and non-uniform motion, graphs, equations of motion and uniform circular motion.

• Force: Newton's laws, inertia, mass, momentum, action and reaction, and conservation of momentum.

• Gravitation: the universal law, gravity, mass and weight, and free fall.

• Floatation: thrust, pressure, Archimedes' principle, buoyancy and relative density.

• Work, energy and power, including kinetic and potential energy and conservation of energy.

• Sound: propagation, speed, the hearing range, ultrasound, reflection, echo and SONAR, and the working of the ear.

Area VI: Effects of Current

• Electric current, potential difference, Ohm's law, resistance and resistivity.

• Series and parallel combinations of resistors, the heating effect of current, and electric power with the relations among power, voltage, current and resistance.

• Magnetic field and field lines, the force on a current-carrying conductor, Fleming's rules, the electric motor and the generator.

• Electromagnetic induction, direct and alternating current, the advantages of AC and domestic circuits.

Area VII: Light

• Spherical mirrors: terms, the mirror formula and magnification.

• Refraction: its laws, refractive index, spherical lenses, the lens formula, magnification and the power of a lens.

• The human eye, defects of vision and their correction, and everyday uses of mirrors and lenses.

• Prisms, dispersion and scattering of light, with everyday examples.

Area VIII: Our Environment

• Physical resources: air, water and soil, the role of air in respiration, combustion and climate, and rainfall across India.

• Air, water and soil pollution at an introductory level, and the effects of ozone layer depletion.

• Biogeochemical cycles of water, oxygen, carbon and nitrogen.

Area IX: Natural Resources

• Forms of energy, and conventional and non-conventional sources: fossil fuels, solar, biogas, wind, water, tidal and nuclear.

• Renewable and non-renewable energy.

• Ecosystems, environmental problems, waste and its solutions, and biodegradable and non-biodegradable materials.

• Resource management: conservation, forests and wildlife, coal and petroleum, people's participation, big dams, water harvesting and sustainability.

Area X: Food Production

• Breeding and selection for quality improvement.

• Fertilisers and manures.

• Protection from pests and diseases.

• Organic farming.

Subject-Wise View of the Syllabus

The official document does not split the ten areas by subject. The grouping below is our planning aid. Areas IX and VIII straddle two subjects, so they are placed where most of their content falls.

Topics That Connect Across Subjects

Olympiad-style questions often sit between two subjects. Studying these links once saves time and helps in Part B, where every statement must be judged.

How the Syllabus Turns into Questions

Knowing the topic list is only half the job. The same topic can appear as a direct fact in Part A and as a multi-statement judgement in Part B, so it helps to prepare each area at three levels.

• Recall level: Definitions, laws, units, names of organelles and types of reaction. These are the quickest marks in Part A and need regular revision.

• Application level: Using a formula or rule in a new situation, such as combining resistors, predicting the product of a reaction, or reading a food chain.

• Reasoning level: Deciding which of several statements about a situation are true. Part B favours this level, because partial knowledge does not earn marks.

Common weak spots by subject

• Physics: Sign conventions in mirror and lens formulae, the difference between distance and displacement, and mixing up series and parallel results.

• Chemistry: Balancing equations with polyatomic ions, valency of common ions, and the difference between a mixture and a compound.

• Biology: Lookalike terms such as tropism and taxis, mitosis and meiosis, and the roles of different hormones.

Keep a one-page list of such lookalike terms and sign rules. A short daily glance at it protects marks that are easy to lose under time pressure.

Mathematics Needed for NSEJS

IAPT's syllabus document lists class 10 mathematics as a prerequisite, naming polynomials, linear and quadratic equations, number systems, triangles, trigonometry, circles, surface areas and volumes, and statistics. In the exam this shows up as calculation inside science questions, such as finding the equivalent resistance, balancing a reaction by atom count, or using the mirror formula.

• Algebra: Rearranging formulae and solving simple equations quickly.

• Ratios and units: Converting units and handling powers of ten without a calculator habit.

• Geometry and trigonometry: Similar triangles for ray diagrams, and basic ratios for motion and light.

• Reading graphs: Distance-time and velocity-time graphs appear often in the motion area.

The brochure does not say whether calculators are allowed, so confirm with your centre before the exam and practise without one.

How to Cover the Syllabus

A six-week plan works for most students who have the school textbooks in hand. Adjust it to the time you have left before the exam.

1. Week 1 and 2, physics core: Areas V and VI. Solve numerical problems after each concept, not only at the end.

2. Week 3, light and chemistry basics: Area VII and Area I. Learn the mole concept and the atom structure thoroughly.

3. Week 4, chemistry reactions: Area II. Practise balancing equations and writing the products of common reaction types.

4. Week 5, biology: Areas III and IV. Use diagrams and flow charts, and make a list of terms with similar names.

5. Week 6, environment and food production: Areas VIII, IX and X, then a full revision of error notes.

Once a topic is done, attempt a short test on it before moving ahead. You can use topic-wise NSEJS practice tests on Testkart to check each area, and then move to full papers in the final stretch.

Syllabus for INJSO and Later Stages

The documents we reviewed do not publish a separate INJSO topic list. The syllabus document names INJSO as the Indian counterpart of NSEJS, so the same ten areas are the safest base for the second stage. Questions at that stage can go deeper and may need written reasoning. Watch the IAPT notices after the NSEJS result for any details on the second-stage paper. Students who qualify can keep using their Testkart test history to spot the areas that need deeper work before INJSO.

Official website: https://iapt.org.in/