NSMQ Questions And Answers 2026

You wonder why some contestants can quickly answer NSMQ questions even before the quiz mistress finishes reading those questions? Oh, it is not magical or they are superhumans, they just learnt these NSMQ past or trial questions. In principle, most of these questions are past questions or PASSCO!

As you prepare to embrace the upcoming edition of the 2026 NSMQ competition, here are complete trial questions you should try your hands on.

Checjk Also: NSMQ MATHEMATICS QUESTIONS

Answers are provided at the end of the post, so make sure you check them out.

Table of Contents

About NSMQ

In simple terms, the National Science and Math Quiz, NSMQ is a yearly Science and Mathematics based national level quiz competition for high schools across Ghana.

High Schools in Ghana compete at the regional level, and those who qualify eventually compete at the one-eighth stage. Also, based on the previous performances of some schools in the past year, that is, those that reached quarter finals in 2025, they are seeded, thus they don’t compete at the regional level but straight to the one-eighth stage of the competition.

Structure Of The NSMQ Competition

The NSMQ competition comes with five rounds, where each round has allocated marks:

NSMQ Round 1

Fundamentals: This includes questions across Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics.

All the contesting high schools usually receive 4 Biology, 4 Chemistry, 4 Physics, and 4 Mathematics questions, making 16 questions to answer.

NSMQ Round 2

Speed Race: This consist of quick-response applied questions. The Speed Race questions are thrown to all the contesting schools, and the first school to answer gets full three (3) points.

NSMQ Round 3

Problem of the Day: Each contesting school gets one high stake question worth 10 points. These contestants must solve a single question within 3 minutes.

NSMQ Round 4

True or False: Turn based statements are given to contestants with penalties for wrong answers.

NSMQ Round 5

Riddles: These are clue based, progressively scored riddles. Clues are given to the contesting schools. The schools are to compete against each other to find the answers to these riddles.

ROUND ONE (FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS)

PHYSICS 1

Preamble: Convert the given units into a unit containing SI Base units only.

i J s

ii Nm⁻¹

iii J s⁻¹

iv J m⁻²

BIOLOGY 1

Preamble: Mention the structures in mammals to which the following descriptions refer.

i Part of the skeleton that forms the intervertebral disc.

ii The bone to which the triceps muscle is attached at the elbow.

iii Bones that join with chest bone at one end and to the backbone at the other end.

iv A break in the bones where the ends of the bones are driven into each other

MATHEMATICS 1

Preamble to all four schools: An arithmetic progression has 3 as its first term. Also, the sum of the first 8 terms is twice the sum of the first 5 terms.

i Find the sum of the first 5 terms in terms of the common difference, 𝑥.

ii Find the sum of the first 8terms in terms of the common difference, 𝑥.

iii Find the sum of the first 10 terms in terms of the common difference, 𝑥.

iii Find the value of 𝑥, the common difference.

CHEMISTRY 1

i In which of these solid elements are the atoms not held by metallic bonds? Manganese; Silicon; Lithium;

ii Which of these elements, is/are non-metals? Boron; Iodine; Sulphur;

iii Which of these elements, is/are not metals? Mercury; Germanium; Calcium;

iv Which of these elements, is/are odd? Astatine; Polonium; Palladium;

PHYSICS 2

Preamble: An object moves along the 𝑥 axis with a constant acceleration of 2.0 m s⁻² in the positive direction.

If the object is moving at 5.0 m/s when it passes a certain point on the 𝑥 axis, what is its speed after it has travelled 8.0m from that point?

What is the speed of the object at the origin if its speed at 𝑥 = 24m is10.0m s⁻¹?

The speed of the object is 4.0 m/s at the origin. What is its speed at 𝑥 = -4m?

How far is the object from the origin when its speed is 7.0𝑚𝑠⁻¹ if its speed at the origin is 3.0ms⁻¹?

BIOLOGY 2

Preamble: Mention either the vitamin or mineral element whose deficiency results in the following.

Dental caries;

Pernicious Anaemia;

Microcytic Anaemia;

Scurvy;

MATHEMATICS 2

If 𝑥³+ 𝑥²− 𝑥 + z is divided by x − 2 and the remainder is 2 , calculate the value of

𝑧.

If 2𝑥³− 7𝑥²+ 𝑟𝑥 − 26 is divided by x − 2 and the remainder is − 24, calculate the

value of 𝑟.

If 18𝑥³+ 𝑤𝑥²− 8𝑥 + 9 is divided by 2x − 1 and the remainder is 6, calculate the

value of 𝑤.

If 𝑥⁵− 2𝑥³− 𝑘𝑥 − 1 is divided by x − 1 and the remainder is , calculate the value of 𝑘.

CHEMISTRY 2

Preamble: Gold is refined by electrolysing gold (I) trioxonitate (v) solution using pure gold as electrodes. If Gold is 197g, calculate the charge in Faraday required in refining

1.182kg of gold.

0.591kg of gold.

0.985kg of gold.

1.379kg of gold.

ROUND TWO (SPEED RACE)

PHYSICS

A 5.0 kg object is released from a height of 10.0m above ground. Taking the local acceleration due to gravity as 9.8ms⁻², calculate the kinetic energy of the object when it strikes the ground.

If the linear momentum of a photon in vacuum is ῤ, what is its energy?

A 50 kg object lies on a horizontal surface. Find the pressure the object exerts on the surface if the contact area between the surface and the object is 2.0𝑚² and the local acceleration due to gravity is 10ms⁻².

BIOLOGY

In a population of rats, the statistics show 60 births and 24 deaths per 1000 live births. Calculate the growth rate.

In respiration, the abbreviation ERV stands for…

The blood vessel that sends nutrient-rich blood from the gastrointestinal tract to the liver is called ….

MATHEMATICS

The probability of picking a footballer from a group of 120 sportsmen is 2/3. How many

sportsmen were not footballers?

Solve sin²𝑥 = , where .

Find the determinant of the matrix .

CHEMISTRY

In titration, if 20.00cm³ of 0.20moldm³ NaOH was neutralised by 26.70cm³ of

5.5gdm³ acid HA, what is the molar mass HA?

An impure tetraoxosulphate VI acid was prepared by dissolving 6.3g of it in 500cm³of solution. If 2.0g of calcium trioxocarbonate IV was neutralized by 200cm³ of the resultant solution. Calculate the percentage purity of the acid.

What is activation energy of a reaction?