PGT Physics interview questions and answers (2026)
Real questions, model answers, and a Class 12 demo lesson plan for a PGT Physics interview at CBSE, ICSE and IB schools — including the derivation panels love to ask on the board.
What this interview actually looks like
An honest breakdown of how Indian schools run this interview — not a generic template.
- 1Written subject test (30–45 min) — Class 11–12 numericals, one derivation, sometimes one NEET/JEE-style MCQ.
- 2Demo lesson (15–20 min) — Class 11 (Mechanics) or Class 12 (Electrostatics / EMI). Topic often given the same day.
- 3Subject panel (20–30 min) — HOD Physics + one senior teacher; probes conceptual depth and how you explain the counter-intuitive bits.
- 4Principal / HR round (15 min) — school fit, salary, joining date, lab-safety attitude.
- Two printed CVs + a one-page lesson plan
- Original degree, B.Ed, M.Sc, CTET / state TET certificates
- Your own whiteboard marker + a small compass or laser pointer
- One printed derivation you can put on the board in 90 seconds
Questions with model answers
Grouped by round. Each answer is 2–4 sentences — long enough to be real, short enough to remember. Dots show how often each is asked.
What they're really asking — Can you teach derivations as reasoning, not memorised strings?
Draw a Gaussian pillbox straddling the sheet with area A on each face. By symmetry the field is perpendicular to the sheet and equal on both faces, so flux is 2EA. Charge enclosed is σA. Gauss: 2EA = σA/ε₀ → E = σ/(2ε₀). Make the symmetry argument out loud — that's what the panel is scoring, not the algebra.
What they're really asking — Do you understand physics at the level of frames and invariance, or just formulas?
They're the same phenomenon (Faraday's law) but two different frames. Motional EMF is what an observer at rest sees when a rod moves through B — force qv×B pushes charges. Induced EMF is what an observer moving with the rod sees — a changing flux with no obvious magnetic force, resolved by a real electric field. Same answer, different bookkeeping. Show them with a rod on rails and switch frames.
A 15-minute demo you can teach on Monday
Panels don't score creativity — they score structure, board work and closure. This is the skeleton that works.
- Class 12 — Gauss's law applied to a spherical charge
- Class 12 — Lenz's law with a bar magnet and coil
- Class 11 — Newton's third law with a walking demonstration
- Class 11 — Projectile motion with a marble-and-desk demo
- Physical intuition before formula
- Board work — diagrams, labels, units
- Cold-calling students by name
- Time management — closing on time, not mid-derivation
- One clear takeaway at the end
Do the demo before saying a word — marble off desk, magnet through coil, or bell jar with feather. Make them predict before you explain.
State the law in one sentence. Draw the diagram on the board with axes labelled.
One numerical from NCERT, on the board, thinking out loud. Show units at every step.
Give them a variation of the same problem. Walk around, don't stand at the front.
Cold-call two students for the key idea. Close with a one-line application from their life.
Ask them back — questions for the interviewer
Most candidates freeze at “do you have any questions for us?” These signal that you take yourself seriously.
- How many periods per week does a PGT Physics teacher get, and how many practical batches?
- What's your investigatory project process — do students pick the topic or is it assigned?
- How do you split Class 12 batches between two PGTs — by section or by chapter?
- What's your CPD budget for subject workshops (IAPT, HBCSE, Perimeter Institute)?
- Do teachers get access to the lab outside class hours to prep demos?
- What's the appraisal cycle and what's measured — board results, feedback, or something else?