JEE Mains Previous Year Question Paper: Practise the Right Way

Pattern recap for Paper 1

Every shift paper has 25 questions in each of physics, chemistry and mathematics. Within a subject, Section A has 20 multiple choice items and Section B has 5 numerical value items, and there is no internal choice any more. You gain 4 for a right response and drop 1 for a wrong one, giving a ceiling of 300 in three hours. Unit by unit coverage is on our JEE Main syllabus page.

Older papers from before the trimmed syllabus still help with problem solving, but they include topics that have since been removed, and papers up to the 2024 cycle let you choose 5 of 10 numerical questions in each subject. Solve them for skill, but do not read the present topic balance from them.

What recent JEE Main papers have in common

• Maths is usually the longest. Calculus, coordinate geometry, vectors and 3D geometry tend to take the most time, and many students run short of minutes here.
• Chemistry rewards NCERT reading. Many inorganic and organic questions can be answered straight from the NCERT text, which makes it the subject where careful reading pays most.
• Physics mixes formula and concept. Mechanics, electricity and magnetism and modern physics appear in almost every shift, often with a graph or a units question.
• Difficulty varies by shift. One shift can feel much harder than the next; NTA's percentile system adjusts for this.

We have not shown chapter wise counts because they shift from paper to paper. Count them yourself across ten recent shifts and you will see your own pattern of strong and weak units.

Turning old papers into a mock test series

1. Weeks 1 to 4: solve chapter wise questions from past shifts right after you finish each unit, with no time limit.
2. Weeks 5 to 8: take one full paper a week in a single three hour sitting, on a screen if possible, in the slot (morning or afternoon) when your real shift is likely to be.
3. From week 9: two full papers a week. Spend the day after each one only on review.
4. Pick an order and keep it. Many students start with chemistry, then physics, and leave maths for last, but test what works for you in the first few papers.
5. Track three numbers per paper: attempts, accuracy and time spent per subject. Accuracy below about 80% means you are guessing too often.

Five practice questions in the JEE Main style

We wrote these to resemble the level of recent shifts; none comes from a real paper.

1. Physics (numerical): A ball is thrown straight up at 20 m/s. Ignoring air resistance and taking g = 10 m/s per second, what maximum height in metres does it reach? Key: 20, from v squared divided by 2g.
2. Physics (MCQ): Resistors of 4 ohm and 12 ohm are joined in parallel. Their equivalent resistance is: 3 ohm, 8 ohm, 16 ohm or 48 ohm? Key: 3 ohm, since 4 x 12 divided by 16 is 3.
3. Chemistry (numerical): How many moles are present in 22 g of carbon dioxide (molar mass 44 g per mol)? Key: 0.5.
4. Maths (numerical): Let p and q satisfy x squared minus 5x plus 6 = 0 (they are its two roots). Find p squared plus q squared. Key: 13, because (p + q) squared minus 2pq = 25 minus 12.
5. Maths (MCQ): The derivative of x squared times sin x, evaluated at x = 0, is: 0, 1, 2 or undefined? Key: 0, as both terms of 2x sin x + x squared cos x vanish at 0.

Official places to get a JEE mains previous year question paper

The official source is the National Testing Agency's JEE Main website, jeemain.nta.nic.in. After each session NTA puts out provisional answer keys; during the objection window, each candidate's login shows the paper from the shift they sat and the answers recorded for them. Final answer keys follow with the result. Save your own shift's paper while the window is open.

Many printed compilations of past papers are also sold. Planning to buy a jee main previous year question paper book? Make sure it is arranged to the current syllabus and that its answers agree with NTA's final keys.

From paper scores to a percentile goal

After each full paper, compare your score with the qualifying percentiles on our JEE Main cut off page, keeping in mind that marks and percentile do not map exactly. Confirm your attempts and class 12 rules on the JEE Main eligibility page. With an IIT as the goal, the JEE Advanced syllabus lists the extra topics you will need.