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Physics - Waves and Sound

Practise 21 NEST (NISER) previous year questions on Waves and Sound, 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.

Waves and Sound has been asked in 13 of the 16 years of NEST (NISER) papers analysed (2011–2026), with 21 questions in all. 5% of them were easy, 76% moderate and 19% tough. Most of its questions came from 2023, with 3 questions that year. In the last three years (2024–2026) it had 4 questions across 4 papers, about 1 per paper.

The chapter's 7 topics are not weighted equally: Organ Pipe (Vibration of Air Column) (4 questions, 19%), Doppler’s Effect (4 questions, 19%), and Vibration of String (4 questions, 19%) have been asked the most. Organ Pipe (Vibration of Air Column) has also led over the last five years, with 2 questions. Doppler’s Effect has produced the most tough questions (2).

  1. 1Two wave pulses, one rectangular and other triangular, approach each other as shown in the figure below. They overlap at the point P at time2026Interference and Superposition of Waves
  2. 2A tube of length 0.5 m open at both ends has a small hole in the middle. Air is blown through this hole. If the speed of sound in air is , t2025Vibration of String
  3. 3The magnitude of an earthquake is related to the energy it releases by a logarithmic scale, , where and are positive constants. An earthquak2025Properties of Sound Waves
  4. 4A resonating tube of length , open at one end, is partially filled with water. When placed in gaseous medium-X, a water column of height gen2024 (Session 2)Organ Pipe (Vibration of Air Column)
  5. 5A slow steady stream of water is falling onto a tall cylindrical bucket. Let denote the dominant frequency of the sound of the fall onto the2023 (Session 1)Properties of Sound Waves
  6. 6An elastic wave generates a stress of magnitude while propagating in a wire. The relation between its frequency and the wavevector is given 2023 (Session 1)Basics of Mechanical Waves
  7. 7Consider the following four cylindrical tubes all of equal radii. The tubes and are of length . The tubes and are of length 1.5 . If the fun2023 (Session 2)Organ Pipe (Vibration of Air Column)
  8. 8A device having a transmitter and a receiver on-board is moving with speed between two walls as shown in the figure. The transmitter sends o2022 (Session 1)Doppler’s Effect
  9. 9A mass of 2 Kg hangs vertically from the end of a string of mass 0.4 Kg and length 2 m . The time, a transverse pulse will take to travel fr2021 (Session 2)Basics of Mechanical Waves
  10. 10Standing waves of frequency 225 Hz are set up in a monoatomic gas kept in a cylindrical chamber closed at both ends and at temperature . The2020 (Session 1)Vibration of String
  11. 11A small source of sound is in uniform circular motion of radius and angular speed . It emits continuous sound of fixed frequency . A detecto2020 (Session 1)Doppler’s Effect
  12. 12A spring, fixed at one end, is connected to a steel wire of length . The other end of the steel wire is connected to an AC source providing 2019 (Session 1)Vibration of String
  13. 13A rope of length and uniform linear density is hanging from the ceiling. A transverse wave pulse, generated close to the free end of the rop2019 (Session 2)Basics of Mechanical Waves
  14. 14A source of sound emitting at a frequency is moving towards a wall with speed . If is the speed of sound then the beat frequency heard by a 2018Doppler’s Effect
  15. 15A tuning fork is used to set up a wave in a pipe of length closed at one end (see figure). Then,2018Organ Pipe (Vibration of Air Column)
  16. 16Two persons are playing shehnai made of the same material. Shehnai I is 1.5 times the length of shehnai II. Let and be the fundamental frequ2016Vibration of String
  17. 17Two speakers are driven by the same oscillator of frequency . They are located a distance from each other on a vertical pole. An observer fa2016Interference and Superposition of Waves
  18. 18A point source generates sound at constant frequency . An observer is moving at a constant speed along the line as shown in the figure and t2015Doppler’s Effect
  19. 19A standing wave pattern is formed when a plane electromagnetic wave from a transmitter falls on a perfect reflector at normal incidence. A r2013Stationary waves
  20. 20A siren produces a sound whose amplitude goes as . Tuning forks with natural frequency will resonate with the siren for the value(s) of give2013Interference and Superposition of Waves
  21. 21A tube of length 1 m , closed at one end, resonates at a frequency of 249 Hz . The speed of sound in air is . The total number of possible f2011Organ Pipe (Vibration of Air Column)

Frequently Asked Questions

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

This chapter includes 21 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 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 NEST (NISER) Physics?

Waves and Sound has appeared in 13 of the 16 years of NEST (NISER) papers covered here, with 21 questions across 15 papers - about one per paper it appears in.

4.What is the difficulty level of Waves and Sound questions in NEST (NISER)?

Of the 21 questions analysed for this chapter, 5% are easy, 76% moderate and 19% tough. 2023 had the most, with 3 questions.

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

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

  • Organ Pipe (Vibration of Air Column) - 4 questions (19%)
  • Doppler’s Effect - 4 questions (19%)
  • Vibration of String - 4 questions (19%)
  • Doppler’s Effect has produced the most tough questions (2).
6.Is Waves and Sound's weightage in NEST (NISER) going up or down?

Across all 15 papers analysed, Waves and Sound has averaged about 1.4 questions per paper. In the last three years (2024–2026), that average has fallen, at about 1.0 questions per paper. Use the year-wise numbers on this page for the exact trend before you decide how much time to give it.