Human Physiology for NEET: a complete revision guide

Human Physiology is one of the largest sources of NEET Biology questions. This guide covers the facts, values and diagrams to revise in each chapter.

Paper Predict Notes · 27 Jan 2026

Human Physiology is one of the biggest units in Class 11 Biology, and one of the most consistently tested in NEET. It is also very NCERT-dependent: many questions use NCERT values, tables and diagrams directly. This guide goes chapter by chapter through what to revise.

Breathing and Exchange of Gases

• Respiratory volumes (NCERT values): tidal volume about 500 mL, inspiratory reserve volume about 2500 to 3000 mL, expiratory reserve volume about 1000 to 1100 mL, residual volume about 1100 to 1200 mL.
• Capacities are sums of volumes. Vital capacity is ERV + TV + IRV. Total lung capacity adds residual volume.
• Transport of gases: most oxygen is carried by haemoglobin as oxyhaemoglobin. Carbon dioxide is carried mainly as bicarbonate, with some bound to haemoglobin and a small amount dissolved.
• Oxygen dissociation curve: sigmoid shape, and the factors that shift it.

Body Fluids and Circulation

• Blood components and the order of abundance of white blood cells.
• ABO and Rh blood groups, including erythroblastosis foetalis.
• Cardiac cycle: about 0.8 seconds at 72 beats per minute. Stroke volume is about 70 mL and cardiac output about 5000 mL per minute.
• Conduction: SA node, AV node, bundle of His, Purkinje fibres.
• ECG: P wave (atrial depolarisation), QRS complex (ventricular depolarisation), T wave (ventricular repolarisation).
• Double circulation and the difference between pulmonary and systemic circulation.

Excretory Products and their Elimination

• Nephron structure: glomerulus, Bowman's capsule, PCT, loop of Henle, DCT and collecting duct.
• Glomerular filtration rate: about 125 mL per minute, or about 180 litres per day.
• Reabsorption and secretion in each part of the nephron.
• Counter-current mechanism in the loop of Henle and vasa recta.
• Regulation: ADH, the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system and ANF.

Learn which part of the nephron reabsorbs what. Questions often name a segment and ask about its function.

Locomotion and Movement

• Muscle contraction: the sliding filament theory, the role of calcium, actin and myosin.
• Skeletal system: the main divisions and the number of bones as given in NCERT.
• Joints: fibrous, cartilaginous and synovial, with examples.
• Disorders: myasthenia gravis, muscular dystrophy, tetany, arthritis, osteoporosis and gout.

Neural Control and Coordination

• Nerve impulse: resting potential, depolarisation and repolarisation.
• Synapse: electrical and chemical synapses, neurotransmitters.
• Parts of the brain and their functions.
• Eye: structure, rods and cones, and the pathway of light.
• Ear: structure, the organ of Corti, and how hearing and balance work.

Chemical Coordination and Integration

This chapter is a favourite for match-the-following questions.

• Hypothalamus and pituitary hormones and their targets.
• Thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal, pancreas, gonads, pineal and thymus hormones and their effects.
• Disorders from too much or too little of a hormone, such as goitre, diabetes insipidus and diabetes mellitus.
• Mechanism of action: hormones acting through membrane receptors versus intracellular receptors.

Make a single table of gland, hormone, function and disorder, and revise it repeatedly.

Diagrams to master

• Human respiratory system
• Heart (sectional view) and ECG
• Nephron
• Sarcomere
• Neuron and synapse
• Eye and ear

Draw each from memory and check the labels against NCERT.

How to revise Human Physiology

1. Read each chapter in NCERT line by line.
2. Make a values sheet with every number NCERT gives.
3. Make a hormone table.
4. Practise the diagrams.
5. Solve PYQs chapter by chapter and mark the source lines.

Frequently asked questions

Which Human Physiology chapters are most important?

All six are tested. Chemical Coordination, Excretion and Circulation are especially common sources of questions.

Do I need to memorise NCERT values?

Yes. Values such as respiratory volumes, GFR and cardiac output are asked directly.

How long does it take to revise this unit?

Plan about a week for a thorough first revision, with short revisions of values and hormones afterwards.

The short version

Revise Human Physiology from NCERT, make a values sheet and a hormone table, practise the six key diagrams, and solve PYQs chapter by chapter. It is one of the most reliable sources of NEET Biology marks.

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