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Physics - Waves and Sound

Practise 43 JEE Advanced previous year questions on Waves and Sound, compiled from papers spanning 2006 to 2026. Each question is pulled directly from the actual exam paper it appeared in, so you're practising in the exact style and difficulty JEE Advanced tests.

Waves and Sound has been asked in 20 of the 27 years of JEE Advanced papers analysed (2000–2026), with 43 questions in all. 33% of them were easy, 40% moderate and 28% tough. Most of its questions came from 2023, with 4 questions that year. In the last three years (2024–2026) it had 5 questions across 6 papers, about 0.8 per paper.

The chapter's 11 topics are not weighted equally: Doppler’s Effect (13 questions, 30%), Vibration of String (6 questions, 14%), and Interference and Superposition of Waves (5 questions, 12%) have been asked the most. Doppler’s Effect has also led over the last five years, with 3 questions. Doppler’s Effect has produced the most tough questions (5).

  1. 1List-I shows four configurations made of straight and semi-circular narrow tubes containing air. A sound wave of wavelength m enters these s2026 (Paper 1)Interference and Superposition of Waves
  2. 2Consider a system of three connected strings, and with uniform linear mass densities , and , respectively, as shown in the figure. and are c2025 (Paper 1)Interference and Superposition of Waves
  3. 3An audio transmitter and a receiver are hung vertically from two identical massless strings of length 8 m with their pivots well separated a2025 (Paper 2)Doppler’s Effect
  4. 4Two uniform strings of mass per unit length and , and length and , respectively, are joined at point , and tied at two fixed ends and , as s2024 (Paper 1)Vibration of String
  5. 5A source (S) of sound has frequency . When the observer and the source move towards each other at a speed with respect to the ground (as sho2024 (Paper 1)Doppler's Effect
  6. 6An ideal gas is in thermodynamic equilibrium. The number of degrees of freedom of a molecule of the gas is n . The internal energy of one mo2023 (Paper 2)Speed of Sound Waves
  7. 7A string of length 1 m and mass 2 10 5 kg is under tension T . When the string vibrates, two successive harmonics are found to occur at freq2023 (Paper 2)Vibration of String
  8. 8S 1 and S 2 are two identical sound sources of frequency 656 Hz . The source S 1 is located at O and S 2 moves anti-clockwise with a uniform2023 (Paper 2)Doppler's Effect
  9. 9S 1 and S 2 are two identical sound sources of frequency 656 Hz . The source S 1 is located at O and S 2 moves anti-clockwise with a uniform2023 (Paper 2)Doppler's Effect
  10. 10A source, approaching with speed u towards the open end of a stationary pipe of length L , is emitting a sound of frequency f s . The farthe2021 (Paper 2)Organ Pipe (Vibration of Air Column)
  11. 11A stationary tuning fork is in resonance with an air column in a pipe. If the tuning fork is moved with a speed of 2 m s - 1 in front of the2020 (Paper 1)Doppler's Effect
  12. 12A train S 1 , moving with a uniform velocity of 108 k m / h , approaches another train S 2 standing on a platform. An observer O moves with 2019 (Paper 1)Doppler's Effect
  13. 13Answer the following by appropriately matching the lists based on the information given in the paragraph. A musical instrument is made using2019 (Paper 2)Travelling Waves
  14. 14Answer the following by appropriately matching the lists based on the information given in the paragraph. A musical instrument is made using2019 (Paper 2)Travelling Waves
  15. 15Two men are walking along a horizontal straight line in the same direction. The man in front walks at a speed 1.0 m s - 1 and the man behind2018 (Paper 1)Doppler's Effect
  16. 16In an experiment to measure the speed of sound by a resonating air column, a tuning fork of frequency 500 H z is used. The length of the air2018 (Paper 2)Interference and Superposition of Waves
  17. 17A block M hangs vertically at the bottom end of a uniform rope of constant mass per unit length. The top end of the rope is attached to a fi2017 (Paper 1)Travelling Waves
  18. 18A stationary source emits sound of frequency f 0 = 492 H z . The sound is reflected by a large car approaching the source with a speed of 2 2017 (Paper 1)Doppler's Effect
  19. 19Two loudspeakers M and N are located 20m apart and emit sound at frequencies 118 Hz and 121 Hz, respectively. A car is initially at a point 2016 (Paper 1)Beats
  20. 20Four harmonic waves of equal frequencies and equal intensities I 0 have phase angles 0 , 3 , 2 3 and . When they are superposed, the intensi2015 (Paper 2)Interference and Superposition of Waves
  21. 21A student is performing an experiment using a resonance column and a tuning fork of frequency 244 s - 1 . He is told that the air in the tub2014 (Paper 1)Basics of Mechanical Waves
  22. 22One end of a taut string of length 3m along the x axis is fixed at x = 0. The speed of the waves in the string is 100 m s - 1 . The other en2014 (Paper 1)Stationary waves
  23. 23A horizontal stretched string, fixed at two ends, is vibrating in its fifth harmonic according to the equation, y x , t = 0.01 m sin 62.8 m 2013 (Paper 1)Stationary waves
  24. 24Two vehicles, each moving with speed u on the same horizontal straight road, are approaching each other. Wind blows along the road with velo2013 (Paper 2)Doppler's Effect
  25. 25A person blows into open-end of a long pipe. As a result, a high pressure pulse of air travels down the pipe. When this pulse reaches the ot2012 (Paper 1)Properties of Sound Waves
  26. 26A student is performing the experiment of resonance column. The diameter of the column tube is . The frequency of the tuning fork is . The a2012 (Paper 2)Organ Pipe (Vibration of Air Column)
  27. 27A police car with a siren of frequency is moving with uniform velocity towards a tall building which reflects the sound waves. The speed of 2011 (Paper 1)Doppler's Effect
  28. 28Paragraph: A dense collection of equal number of electrons and positive ions is called neutral plasma. Certain solids containing fixed posit2011 (Paper 1)Basics of Mechanical Waves
  29. 29Column I showns four systems, each of the same length , for producing standing waves. The lowest possible natural frequency of a system is c2011 (Paper 2)Organ Pipe (Vibration of Air Column)
  30. 30A stationary source is emitting sound at a fixed frequency , which is reflected by two cars approaching the source. The difference between t2010 (Paper 1)Doppler's Effect
  31. 31A hollow pipe of length is closed at one end. At its open end a long uniform string is vibrating in its second harmonic and it resonates wit2010 (Paper 2)Vibration of String
  32. 32A student performed the experiment to measure the speed of sound in air using resonance air-column method. Two resonances in the air-column 2009 (Paper 2)Speed of Sound Waves
  33. 33A long string, having a mass of , is fixed at both the ends. The tension in the string is . The string is set into vibration using an extern2009 (Paper 2)Vibration of String
  34. 34A transverse sinusoidal wave moves along a string in the positive -direction at a speed of . The wavelength of the wave is and its amplitude2008 (Paper 2)Travelling Waves
  35. 35A vibrating string of certain length under a tension resonates with a mode corresponding to the first overtone (third harmonic) of an air co2008 (Paper 2)Vibration of String
  36. 36In the experiment to determine the speed of sound using a resonance column:2007 (Paper 2)Speed of Sound Waves
  37. 37Paragraph: Two trains and are moving with speeds and , respectively in the same direction on the same straight track, with ahead of . The en2007 (Paper 2)Doppler's Effect
  38. 38Paragraph: Two trains and are moving with speeds and , respectively in the same direction on the same straight track, with ahead of . The en2007 (Paper 2)Doppler's Effect
  39. 39Paragraph: Two trains and are moving with speeds and , respectively in the same direction on the same straight track, with ahead of . The en2007 (Paper 2)Doppler's Effect
  40. 40A massless rod is suspended by two identical massless strings and of equal lengths. A block of mass ' ' is suspended point such that is equa2006Vibration of String
  41. 41Paragraph: Two plane harmonic sound waves are expressed by the equations. (All parameters are in MKS) Question: How many times does an obser2006Beats
  42. 42Paragraph: Two plane harmonic sound waves are expressed by the equations. (All parameters are in MKS) Question: What is the speed of the sou2006Basics of Mechanical Waves
  43. 43Paragraph: Two plane harmonic sound waves are expressed by the equations. (All parameters are in MKS) Question: At how many times the amplit2006Interference and Superposition of Waves

Frequently Asked Questions

1.How many questions are available for Waves and Sound?

This chapter includes 43 questions compiled from JEE Advanced papers spanning 2006 to 2026.

2.Are these questions only from JEE Advanced, or from other exams too?

These are JEE Advanced questions specifically for the Waves and Sound chapter. Questions from other exams like JEE Main or NTA Abhyas (JEE Main) are organised separately under their respective exam sections.

3.Is Waves and Sound an important chapter for JEE Advanced Physics?

Waves and Sound has appeared in 20 of the 21 years of JEE Advanced papers covered here, with 43 questions across 27 papers - about 2 per paper it appears in.

4.What is the difficulty level of Waves and Sound questions in JEE Advanced?

Of the 43 questions analysed for this chapter, 33% are easy, 40% moderate and 28% tough. 2023 had the most, with 4 questions.

5.Which topics in Waves and Sound should I focus on?

These topics have carried the most weightage in Waves and Sound:

  • Doppler’s Effect - 13 questions (30%)
  • Vibration of String - 6 questions (14%)
  • Interference and Superposition of Waves - 5 questions (12%)
  • Doppler’s Effect has produced the most tough questions (5).
6.Is Waves and Sound's weightage in JEE Advanced going up or down?

Across all 27 papers analysed, Waves and Sound has averaged about 1.6 questions per paper. In the last three years (2024–2026), that average has fallen, at about 0.8 questions per paper. Use the year-wise numbers on this page for the exact trend before you decide how much time to give it.