1st Year Physics Chapter 7 Notes (New Book 2025-26): Waves and Vibrations – All Punjab Boards
A plucked string, a ringing bell and a ripple spreading across a pond all begin with something moving to and fro. Waves and Vibrations, the seventh chapter of the new Class 11 Physics textbook prepared under PECTAA for the 2025-26 session, deals with that kind of motion and the way it travels.
This chapter can be pleasant to read and still tricky to answer. The ideas feel familiar from everyday sound and motion, but written questions ask you to define terms precisely, explain a process in order, and handle numbers with the correct units. Practice material for each of those demands makes the gap between reading and answering easier to close.
These 1st year physics chapter 7 notes give you five kinds of practice for the chapter: MCQs, short and long questions with answers, worked numericals, and the textbook exercise with solutions. The file is free, and you can download it right here.
The notes follow the new book only. Punjab replaced its earlier Class 11 Physics textbook from 2025-26, and the older book arranged its chapters differently. Material made for that book may use other chapter numbers and content, so look at the session printed on any notes before relying on them.
Students of the Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Multan, Sargodha, Sahiwal, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan boards all study from the same textbook, so one file serves each of them. The sections below explain what each part of the notes is for, the kinds of paper questions it relates to, and a simple way to work through it.
About Chapter 7 in brief
Judging by its title, Waves and Vibrations looks at objects that move back and forth about a fixed position, and at waves, which carry energy from one place to another. The two ideas are closely linked, because a vibrating source is usually what sets a wave going. What follows describes the notes rather than teaching the chapter, so keep your textbook open alongside them.
What’s inside the 1st year physics chapter 7 notes
The file is divided into five parts. Each one serves a different purpose in your preparation, and they work best when you use them in a deliberate order rather than all at once.
MCQs
This part is made up of multiple-choice questions on Chapter 7. In a chapter full of closely related terms, MCQs test whether you can tell one idea from its near neighbour, for example a quantity that describes how often a motion repeats and one that describes how far it reaches.
Attempt a set without the book, then mark any question you were unsure about. Each uncertain question points to a paragraph of the textbook worth reading again. Over a few rounds, the number of guesses should fall.
Short questions with answers
This part offers short questions together with answers. Questions of this kind on waves and vibrations tend to ask for a definition, a difference between two terms, or a one-line reason for something you can observe.
Use the answers as a check on your own wording. A short answer gains clarity when it names the right quantity, uses its unit correctly, and stops once the point is made. After reading a few, close the notes and try to answer similar questions in two or three sentences of your own.
Long questions with answers
This part contains long questions with detailed answers. Extended questions in a chapter like this one usually ask you to explain how a motion or a wave behaves, and some may call for a labelled sketch.
Read each long answer once for meaning, then a second time for order. Note the main stages in order, and decide where a diagram of your own would make the explanation clearer. When you write your own version, label any sketch neatly and keep each stage of the explanation in its own paragraph.
Numericals
This part is a set of solved numerical problems. Calculations in this chapter often connect a handful of wave or vibration quantities, so a small slip with a unit or a power of ten can throw the result far off.
Work through a problem on your own before looking at its solution. Then compare the route you took, not just the final figure. If your answer differs, find the exact line where your working went off course.
Solved exercise
In this part, the exercise at the end of the textbook’s Chapter 7 is solved. That exercise reflects the range of questions the chapter sets out to prepare you for, from quick conceptual items to calculations.
Try the exercise questions in rough before opening this part. Checking your own attempt against a solution teaches more than reading a solution cold, because you see exactly which step you would have missed.
Why these notes are useful
Having the chapter’s practice material in one file keeps it easy to find.
- Written for the 2025-26 textbook. The notes match the new PECTAA chapter rather than an older syllabus.
- Five types of practice together. Objective, written and numerical work for this chapter sits side by side.
- Worked numericals to check against. You can test your own method on each problem, not only your final answer.
- Free to download. There is no charge for the file on this page.
Notes are a support for study, not a replacement for it. The textbook, your teacher’s explanations and your own written practice remain the core of preparing this chapter.
Which exam questions these notes help with
The table below links each part of the notes to the type of question it can help you prepare for in the intermediate Physics paper. Your board sets the actual paper pattern, question choices and mark distribution, so check its official pairing scheme for the current session.
| Part of the notes | Paper questions it can help with |
| MCQs | Objective multiple-choice items |
| Short questions with answers | Brief written answers in the subjective part |
| Long questions with answers | Extended explanations in the subjective part |
| Numericals | Questions that ask you to calculate a result |
| Solved exercise | Questions taken from or modelled on the textbook exercise |
Guess papers and unofficial pairing schemes for waves and vibrations circulate each year, and they often disagree with one another. Studying the chapter thoroughly, and then confirming the pattern with your board, is a safer basis than any single prediction.
How to study with these notes
Waves and Vibrations rewards steady, repeated practice more than one long reading. Here is one possible plan:
- Read the chapter with a notebook open beside it. Note each new term and its unit in your notebook as you meet it.
- Sketch as you go. Draw simple diagrams of the motions and waves the chapter describes, so their shapes become familiar.
- Try the end-of-chapter questions in rough. Check nothing until you have finished.
- Set your attempt beside the solved exercise. Mark where your working differs and find out why.
- Practise the numericals step by step. For each problem, write down the given data, the quantity you need, and the formula that links them. Convert values to SI units before substituting, and write the unit beside the final answer.
- Learn from the worked short and long answers. Rewrite two or three from memory, then compare them with the notes.
- End the session with the MCQs. Use them as a final check, and go back to the textbook for any mistakes.
For a chapter with calculations, short daily sessions usually leave you more confident than one long sitting the night before a test.
Who should use these notes
The notes are meant for FSc part 1 students in Punjab who study from the new Physics textbook, whether in the pre-engineering or the pre-medical group. Any other intermediate student taking Physics under a Punjab board can use them as well.
Private candidates can benefit too, provided they are preparing from the 2025-26 book. If you are unsure which textbook applies to your session, confirm it with your college or board first.
Download the notes
The Chapter 7 file downloads free from this page, and there is no need to visit another website to get it.
Keep these Class 11 physics chapter 7 notes next to your rough work for the chapter, so that your attempts and the solutions are easy to compare during revision.
Frequently asked questions
Are these notes based on the old Waves chapter?
No. They are written for Chapter 7, Waves and Vibrations, of the new PECTAA textbook used in Punjab from 2025-26. Material for the earlier book is organised differently.
What does the Chapter 7 file contain?
It has MCQs, short questions with answers, long questions with answers, solved numericals, and the solved exercise from the textbook.
Will I be charged for the Chapter 7 file?
No. You can download it from this page without paying anything.
How can I get better at numericals on waves?
List the given values, convert them to SI units, choose the formula, and only then substitute. Asking whether your answer has a sensible size and the correct unit catches many errors.
Can students of the Multan or Sahiwal board use these notes?
Yes. All Punjab boards follow the same textbook, so the notes apply to each of them. Your own board’s pairing scheme gives the paper pattern for your session.