CORE SYLLABUS

some students today asked me about  the Pre-medical Test syllabus and its aim. Luckily, I visited web site of Medical Council of India. I got there Core Syllabus for Biology prepared by NATIONAL COUNCIL OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND TRAINING (NCERT) 2011. I would like to share that.

"In the present attempt of the NCERT to revise the Biology syllabus of the Classes XI and XII , several documents like ‘Learning without Burden’, the National Curriculum

Framework-2005, the report of the ‘National Focus Group on Teaching of Science’ as

well as reports of several external and internal reviews carried out, helped to decide the

main focus of the revision. Hence, the revised syllabus aims primarily at reducing the

information load while ensuring at the same time that ample opportunities and scope for

learning and appreciating basic concepts of Biology continues to be available within the

framework.

The Biology Syllabus reinforces the ideas introduced in the lower classes while the

children learn new concepts besides getting an exposure to contemporary areas of

Biology. The syllabus aims also at emphasizing the underlying principles that are

common to both animals and plants, as well as highlighting the interrelationships of

Biology with other areas of knowledge. The format of the syllabus allows a simple, clear,

sequential flow of concepts without any jarring jumps. The empirical experience gained

and practical exercises carried out during the course would prepare the student to handle

Biology easily at higher levels in case she / he opts to continue further studies in this area.

The revised syllabus stresses the connection of the study of Biology to real life problems use

of biological discoveries / innovations in everyday life-in environment, industry,

medicine, health and agriculture.

Since it was important that the quality of Biology education at the higher secondary level

was not compromised in any way, the reduction in load from the syllabus required a very

careful selection of topics to be taught. The Committee chose to leave topics out if: the

question about why the child needs to study the topics at the particular stage could not be

answered; if the topic had no direct relevance to the child i.e. was not contextual; if the

content was repetitive across stages with no change in expected understanding, and if any

topic was in isolation with no evident horizontal or vertical linkages. The need for a

network of ideas and cross-linking between the areas being identified was deemed very

important. While deciding on the units / topics and the depth of each topic for the higher

secondary level, a holistic view of the syllabus across all stages from the primary to the

higher secondary and beyond was taken. Reducing the use of too many technical terms

and avoiding very large numbers of examples will also help to make the content a little

lighter. The importance of careful selection of illustrations and their use to make the

concepts more explicit was stressed; in Biology the quality of illustrations can make or

mar any attempt at good textbooks / teaching.

The principal objective at this stage would be to explore the variations amongst the living

and developing respect for the diversities, and to appreciate that the most complex

biological phenomena are also built on essentially simple processes. Learning Biology

should uncover these elementary aspects and illustrate their linkage to more complex

phenomena. It was also felt that the contributions of scientists (women scientists in

particular) that led to critical and important discoveries in Biology should be highlighted,

not merely through a chronological listing, but through brief biographical discussions, in

a effort to bring out the processes that led to the discovery of principles and ideas in

Biology. These would stimulate critical and creative thinking. Besides, the proposed

course at the higher secondary stage provides substantial orientation to the students to

professional / career opportunities available in medicine, agriculture, research teaching

and industry.

The syllabus also takes up issues pertaining to environment, health and other ethical

issues that arise with any interference of human beings in the natural processes, which

have great relevance from the societal."

CONTENTS OF CLASS XI SYLLABUS

UNIT I: Diversity in Living World

Details:

• What is living? ; Biodiversity; Need for classification; Three domain of life;

Taxonomy & Systematics; Concept of species and taxonomical hierarchy;

Binomial nomenclature; Tools for study of Taxonomy – Museums, Zoos,

Herbaria, Botanical gardens.

• Five kingdom classification; salient features and classification of Monera; Protista

and Fungi into major groups; Lichens; Viruses and Viroids.

• Salient features and classification of plants into major groups-Algae, Bryophytes,

Pteridophytes, Gymnosperm and Angiosperm (three to five salient and

distinguishing features and at least two examples of each category); Angiosperms classification

up to class, characteristic features and examples).

• Salient features and classification of animals-non-chordate up to phyla level and

chordate up to classes level (three to five salient features and at least two

examples).

UNIT II: Structural Organisation in Animals and Plants

Details: • Morphology and modifications; Tissues; Anatomy and functions of different parts

of flowering plants: Root, stem, leaf, inflorescence- cymose and recemose,

flower, fruit and seed (To be dealt along with the relevant practical of the

Practical Syllabus).

• Animal tissues; Morphology, anatomy and functions of different systems

(digestive, circulatory, respiratory, nervous and reproductive) of an insect

(cockroach). (Brief account only)

UNIT III: Cell Structure and Function

Details:

• Cell theory and cell as the basic unit of life; Structure of prokaryotic and

eukaryotic cell; Plant cell and animal cell; Cell envelope, cell membrane, cell

wall; Cell organelles-structure and function; Endomembrane system-endoplasmic

reticulum, Golgi bodies, lysosomes, vacuoles; mitochondria, ribosomes, plastids,

micro bodies; Cytoskeleton, cilia, flagella, centrioles (ultra structure and

function); Nucleus-nuclear membrane, chromatin, nucleolus.

• Chemical constituents of living cells: Biomolecules-structure and function of

proteins, carbodydrates, lipid, nucleic acids; Enzymes-types, properties, enzyme

action.

• B Cell division: Cell cycle, mitosis, meiosis and their significance.

UNIT IV: Plant Physiology

Details:-

• Transport in plants: Movement of water, gases and nutrients; Cell to cell

transport-Diffusion, facilitated diffusion, active transport; Plant – water relations

– Imbibitions, water potential, osmosis, plasmolysis; Long distance transport of

water – Absorption, apoplast, symplast, transpiration pull, root pressure and

guttation; Transpiration-Opening and closing of stomata; Uptake and

translocation of mineral nutrients-Transport of food, phloem transport, Mass flow

hypothesis; Diffusion of gases (brief mention).

• Mineral nutrition: Essential minerals, macro and micronutrients and their role;

Deficiency symptoms; Mineral toxicity; Elementary idea of Hydroponics as a

method to study mineral nutrition; Nitrogen metabolism-Nitrogen cycle,

biological nitrogen fixation.

CONTENTS OF CLASS XII SYLLABUS

UNIT I: Reproduction

Details:-

• Reproduction in organisms: Reproduction, a characteristic feature of all

organisms for continuation of species; Modes of reproduction – Asexual and

sexual; Asexual reproduction; Modes-Binary fission, sporulation, budding,

gemmule, fragmentation; vegetative propagation in plants.

• Sexual reproduction in flowering plants: Flower structure; Development of male

and female – gametophytes; Pollination-types, agencies and examples;

Outbreedings devices; Pollen-Pistil interaction; Double fertilization; Post

fertilization events-Development of endosperm and embryo, Development of seed

and formation of fruit; Special modes-apomixis, parthenocarpy, polyembryony;

Significance of seed and fruit formation.

• Human Reproduction: Male and female reproductive systems; Microscopic

anatomy of testis and ovary; Gametogenesis-spermatogenesis & oogenesis;

Menstrual cycle; Fertilisation, embryo development upto blastocyst formation,

implantation; Pregnancy and placenta formation (Elementary idea); Parturition

(Elementary idea); Lactation (Elementary idea).

• Reproductive health: Need for reproductive health and prevention of sexually

transmitted diseases (STD); Birth control-Need and Methods, Contraception and

Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP); Amniocentesis; Infertility and assisted

reproductive technologies – IVF, ZIFT, GIFT (Elementary idea for general

awareness).

UNIT II: Genetics and Evolution

Details:-

• Heredity and variation: Mendelian Inheritance; Deviations from Mendelism-

Incomplete dominance, Co-dominance, Multiple alleles and Inheritance of blood

groups, Pleiotropy; Elementary idea of polygenic inheritance; Chromosome

theory of inheritance; Chromosomes and genes; Sex determination-In humans,

birds, honey bee; Linkage and crossing over; Sex linked inheritance-Haemophilia,

Colour blindness; Mendelian disorders in humans-Thalassemia; Chromosomal

disorders in humans; Down’s syndrome, Turner’s and Klinefelter’s syndromes.

• Molecular basis of Inheritance: Search for genetic material and DNA as genetic

material; Structure of DNA and RNA; DNA packaging; DNA replication; Central

dogma; Transcription, genetic code, translation; Gene expression and regulation-

Lac Operon; Genome and human genome project; DNA finger printing.

• Evolution: Origin of life; Biological evolution and evidences for biological

evolution (Paleontological, comparative anatomy, embryology and molecular

evidence); Darwin’s contribution, Modern Synthetic theory of Evolution;

Mechanism of evolution-Variation (Mutation and Recombination) and Natural

Selection with examples, types of natural selection; Gene flow and genetic dirft;

Hardy-Weinberg’s principle; Adaptive Radiation; Human evolution.

UNIT III: Biology and Human Welfare

Details:-

• Health and Disease; Pathogens; parasites causing human diseases (Malaria,

Filariasis, Ascariasis. Typhoid, Pneumonia, common cold, amoebiasis, ring

worm); Basic concepts of immunology-vaccines; Cancer, HIV and AIDs;

Adolescence, drug and alcohol abuse.

• Improvement in food production; Plant breeding, tissue culture, single cell

protein, Biofortification; Apiculture and Animal husbandry.

• Microbes in human welfare: In household food processing, industrial production,

sewage treatment, energy generation and as biocontrol agents and biofertilizers.

UNIT IV: Biotechnology and Its Applications

Details:-

• Principles and process of Biotechnology: Genetic engineering (Recombinant

DNA technology).

• Application of Biotechnology in health and agriculture: Human insulin and

vaccine production, gene therapy; Genetically modified organisms-Bt crops;

Transgenic Animals; Biosafety issues-Biopiracy and patents.

UNIT V: Ecology and environment

Details:-

• Organisms and environment: Habitat and niche; Population and ecological

adaptations; Population interactions-mutualism, competition, predation,

parasitism; Population attributes-growth, birth rate and death rate, age

distribution.

• Ecosystem: Patterns, components; productivity and decomposition; Energy flow;

Pyramids of number, biomass, energy; Nutrient cycling (carbon and

phosphorous); Ecological succession; Ecological Services-Carbon fixation,

pollination, oxygen release.

• Biodiversity and its conservation: Concept of Biodiversity; Patterns of

Biodiversity; Importance of Biodiversity; Loss of Biodiversity; Biodiversity

conservation; Hotspots, endangered organisms, extinction, Red Data Book,

biosphere reserves, National parks and sanctuaries.

• Environmental issues: air pollution and its control; Water pollution and its

control; Agrochemicals and their effects; Solid waste management; Radioactive

waste management; Greenhouse effect and global warning; Ozone depletion;

Deforestation; Any three case studies as success stories addressing environmental

issues.

(22July2011_NEET-UG Core Syllabus_Draft1)

You may visit the web site of MCI and download the same.


Thanks!