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JEE Main guidance: how the paper is cracked, from your own numbers
Joint Entrance Examination (Main) — Paper 1, B.E./B.Tech. Conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA). Arjun knows this paper from the site's own pattern pages — and reads your scores, your mocks and what you haven't touched before saying a word.
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Carries the marks · PhysicsKinematicsEst. Qs ~2 Open the chapter
The paper · JEE Main75 questions, 300 marksWrong answers cost marks
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Stages
3
The paper
75 questions, 300 marks
Marking
Wrong answers cost marks
Your guide
Arjun, free
How it's decided
JEE Main, stage by stage
Twice a year — Session 1 in January and Session 2 in April; the better of the two NTA scores is used. Computer-based test — 20 MCQs plus 5 numerical-value questions per subject.
JEE Main Paper 1 — Physics, Chemistry, MathematicsProduces the NTA score, percentile and All India Rank
75 questions, 300 marks, 180 minutes. Each subject has 20 MCQs and 5 compulsory numerical-value questions. +4 for a correct answer and −1 for a wrong one throughout, with 0 for unattempted.
Percentile normalisation across sessions and shiftsConverts raw marks to a comparable NTA score
Raw marks are converted to a percentile within each shift, then the better of a candidate's two session percentiles is taken. This is why raw marks alone never predict rank — the difficulty of your particular shift is normalised out.
JoSAA counselling, or JEE AdvancedWhere the rank is actually used
The rank feeds JoSAA counselling for seats at the NITs, IIITs and CFTIs. Separately, the top 2,50,000 rank holders across all categories become eligible to register for JEE Advanced, which is the only route to the IITs.
The paper
What you sit, and how it is marked
JEE Main Paper 1 (B.E./B.Tech) — Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics
75 questions300 marks180 minNegative marking
Scoring — produces the rank used for NIT/IIIT admission and JEE Advanced eligibility
Marking: +4 for a correct answer, −1 for a wrong one, 0 for unattempted — applied to Section A MCQs and Section B numericals alike.
Each subject carries exactly 25 questions and 100 marks: Section A with 20 MCQs and Section B with 5 numerical-value questions, all five compulsory since 2025. Numerical answers are typed, not chosen.
Where the marks come from
Where JEE Main's 300 marks come from
Three subjects, exactly equal in weight: Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics each contribute 25 questions and 100 marks. Every subject splits into Section A with 20 multiple-choice questions and Section B with 5 numerical-value questions — and since 2025 all five of Section B are compulsory, with no optional choice.
Physics100 marks · 33.3%
25 questions across 18 chapters. Electricity and magnetism together are the heaviest block, and Modern Physics — Dual Nature plus Atoms and Nuclei — is consistently the highest-yield-per-hour area because its formula set is small and its questions are direct.
Chemistry100 marks · 33.3%
25 questions across 18 chapters, split roughly evenly between Physical, Organic and Inorganic. Inorganic is the most memorisation-heavy and the fastest to attempt; Physical Chemistry carries most of the numerical questions.
Mathematics100 marks · 33.3%
25 questions across 16 chapters. Calculus — Limits, Derivatives, Applications and Integrals together — is the largest single block, followed by Coordinate Geometry. It is usually the most time-hungry subject on the paper.
What changed this cycle
Things last year's advice gets wrong
Section B is now fully compulsory. Until 2024 candidates chose 5 of 10 numerical-value questions per subject; from 2025 onward there are exactly 5 and all must be attempted, which removes the old strategy of skipping the two hardest numericals.
Negative marking now applies to Section B as well — a wrong numerical answer costs 1 mark, exactly like a wrong MCQ. Under the older optional format numericals carried no penalty, so a habit of guessing them is now actively expensive.
The exam runs in two sessions, January and April. A candidate may sit both, and the BETTER of the two NTA scores is used for ranking — so Session 1 can be treated as a genuine attempt rather than a rehearsal.
Ranking is by NTA score percentile computed per shift, not by raw marks, because the paper runs across many shifts. Ties are broken by subject-wise scores in the order Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, then by fewer incorrect answers.
The chapters that carry the marks
Where a plan for JEE Main usually starts
The highest-weight chapters in each subject, linked to their notes. Weights are estimates from previous papers where the conducting body publishes none. Your guide weighs these against your own scores.
How JEE and GATE papers are built, and how the people who clear them split their time. Pick one to start, or just talk — Arjun has read your profile either way.
1. JEE Main Paper 1 — Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics — Produces the NTA score, percentile and All India Rank. 2. Percentile normalisation across sessions and shifts — Converts raw marks to a comparable NTA score. 3. JoSAA counselling, or JEE Advanced — Where the rank is actually used.
How is the JEE Main paper marked?
JEE Main Paper 1 (B.E./B.Tech) — Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics: 75 questions, 300 marks, 180 min (200 min for PwD candidates with scribe eligibility), no sectional time lock. Marking: +4 for a correct answer, −1 for a wrong one, 0 for unattempted — applied to Section A MCQs and Section B numericals alike.
Is there negative marking in JEE Main?
Yes. +4 for a correct answer, −1 for a wrong one, 0 for unattempted — applied to Section A MCQs and Section B numericals alike.
What decides the final merit in JEE Main?
Three subjects, exactly equal in weight: Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics each contribute 25 questions and 100 marks. Every subject splits into Section A with 20 multiple-choice questions and Section B with 5 numerical-value questions — and since 2025 all five of Section B are compulsory, with no optional choice. NTA does not publish a topic-wise question distribution, so the per-chapter counts below are estimates from previous-year paper analyses.
What has changed in JEE Main recently?
Section B is now fully compulsory. Until 2024 candidates chose 5 of 10 numerical-value questions per subject; from 2025 onward there are exactly 5 and all must be attempted, which removes the old strategy of skipping the two hardest numericals.
What does the JEE Main guide know about me?
Only what you have done on the site: your scores by subject and chapter for JEE Main, what you have never been tested on, the kinds of mistake you make across topics, your mocks, your projected score, your error book, your last two weeks and your goals. You can open the exact page Arjun reads before you start.
Is it free?
Talking to Arjun, the AI guide, is free — up to four talks a day. Real guides who have cleared or teach JEE Main set their own prices, and many offer a free call or a short demo.
Every fact on this page comes from the exam's blueprint on this site. How the guide uses it: how Guidance works.
