⚙️ JEE Main
Joint Entrance Examination (Main) — NITs, IIITs, other centrally funded institutes, many state and private colleges — and it is the qualifying gate for JEE Advanced.
📋 The pattern
- Three subjects: Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics
- Each subject: 20 multiple-choice questions and 5 numerical-value questions (from the 2025 cycle all 5 are compulsory; earlier years allowed a choice of 5 from 10)
- 75 questions, 300 marks, 3 hours
- Marking: +4 for correct, −1 for incorrect, 0 for unattempted. Numerical questions carry the same negative marking from 2025.
- Computer-based, multiple shifts, scores normalised into a percentile across shifts
- Paper 2 (B.Arch/B.Planning) is a separate paper with a drawing or planning section
✅ Who can sit it
Pass in Class 12 with Physics, Mathematics and one of Chemistry, Biology, Biotechnology or a technical vocational subject. Three consecutive years of attempts.
💡 What candidates get wrong
- The percentile is not a percentage. A 99 percentile means you did better than 99 per cent of candidates, and in a field of over a million that still leaves ten thousand people ahead of you.
- Normalisation across shifts means your raw marks and your percentile can move differently. Do not try to game the shift.
- NCERT is the floor, not the ceiling, for Physics and Mathematics — but for Chemistry, and especially Inorganic Chemistry, NCERT is very nearly the whole paper.
- Attempting everything is a losing strategy. With −1, a candidate who attempts 60 with 90 per cent accuracy outscores one who attempts 75 with 70 per cent.
Exam patterns, syllabuses and eligibility rules change almost every year. Everything here is described as it stood in the 2025 cycle and is meant to orient you, not to replace the official information bulletin — read that document yourself before you plan anything, and check the official websites for dates.
📊 Where do the marks actually come from?
The topic weights across recent papers, subject by subject — so you revise in the right order.
