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Physics - Oscillations

Practise 11 NEST (NISER) previous year questions on Oscillations, compiled from papers spanning 2011 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 NEST (NISER) tests.

Oscillations has been asked in 10 of the 16 years of NEST (NISER) papers analysed (2011–2026), with 11 questions in all. 0% of them were easy, 100% moderate and 0% tough. Most of its questions came from 2018, with 2 questions that year. In the last three years (2024–2026) it had 3 questions across 4 papers, about 0.8 per paper.

The chapter's 4 topics are not weighted equally: Simple Harmonic Motion (5 questions, 45%), Applications of SHM (4 questions, 36%), and Energy of Simple Harmonic Motion (1 question, 9%) have been asked the most. Simple Harmonic Motion has also led over the last five years, with 2 questions.

  1. 1Two point bodies of masses and are connected by a massless spring of spring constant and kept on a frictionless horizontal surface. The spri2026Applications of SHM
  2. 2A simple pendulum, suspended from the roof of a lift, is set to small oscillations. The lift starts moving downwards such that the distance 2025Applications of SHM
  3. 3A body of mass is subjected to a position dependent force , where and are positive constants. The motion is bounded with a maximum amplitude2024 (Session 1)Simple Harmonic Motion
  4. 4An arrow is released from a rigid bow at time . The magnitude of the tension in the bowstring as a function of time is best desribed by2023 (Session 2)Simple Harmonic Motion
  5. 5A particle performs simple harmonic motion. A large number of snapshots of its position are taken at random. A histogram of these positions 2018Simple Harmonic Motion
  6. 6A particle executes simple harmonic motion with time period , amplitude and maximum speed . The particle is at the mean position when . If i2018Simple Harmonic Motion
  7. 7A thin rod of mass 0.3 kg and length 0.2 m is suspended horizontally by a metal wire which passes through its centre of mass and is perpendi2017Angular oscillations
  8. 8The string of a simple pendulum is found to have a mass which is one-tenth that of the pendulum bob. The systematic error in the measurement2015Applications of SHM
  9. 9Consider two identical masses attached to 3 identical springs as shown in the figure. They can be set in motion in two different ways as fol2014Energy of Simple Harmonic Motion
  10. 10A disk of mass and radius is attached to a spring of constant as shown in the figure below. The disk rolls back and forth without slipping. 2012Applications of SHM
  11. 11A particle of mass that moves along the -axis has potential energy , where and are positive constants. Its initial velocity is at . It will 2011Simple Harmonic Motion

Frequently Asked Questions

1.How many questions are available for Oscillations?

This chapter includes 11 questions compiled from NEST (NISER) papers spanning 2011 to 2026.

2.Are these questions only from NEST (NISER), or from other exams too?

These are NEST (NISER) questions specifically for the Oscillations chapter. Questions from other exams like JEE Main or NTA Abhyas (JEE Main) are organised separately under their respective exam sections.

3.Is Oscillations an important chapter for NEST (NISER) Physics?

Oscillations has appeared in 10 of the 16 years of NEST (NISER) papers covered here, with 11 questions across 10 papers - about one per paper it appears in.

4.What is the difficulty level of Oscillations questions in NEST (NISER)?

Of the 11 questions analysed for this chapter, 0% are easy, 100% moderate and 0% tough. 2018 had the most, with 2 questions.

5.Which topics in Oscillations should I focus on?

These topics have carried the most weightage in Oscillations:

  • Simple Harmonic Motion - 5 questions (45%)
  • Applications of SHM - 4 questions (36%)
  • Energy of Simple Harmonic Motion - 1 question (9%)
6.Is Oscillations's weightage in NEST (NISER) going up or down?

Across all 10 papers analysed, Oscillations has averaged about 1.1 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.