JEE Advanced Paper Analysis: 2022–2026 Trends & Difficulty

Can you score 213 out of 360 in the JEE Advanced paper and still miss the rank list? Yes. The general qualifying cut-off in 2026 was only about 92 marks. But you also needed about 9 marks out of 120 in each subject. A student with 105 in Physics, 100 in Chemistry and 8 in Mathematics would be out. See how the subject minimum works.

That is one finding from five years of papers. We read the official JEE Advanced paper of every year from 2022 to 2026, Paper 1 and Paper 2, and the official IIT reports. These are the findings that matter most for JEE Advanced 2027:

• Is the JEE Advanced paper getting tougher every year? The general qualifying cut-off was about 15% of marks in 2022, then 23.89%, 30.34%, 20.56% and 25.56%. By our reading, a lower cut-off means a tougher paper. So 2022 was the toughest JEE Advanced paper and 2024 the easiest.
• Are numerical-answer questions still half of the paper? They carried 50% of the marks in 2023 and 2024 and about 37% in 2026. Multiple-correct questions rose from 20% to 30%.
• Will the time be enough? The JEE Advanced paper timing is 3 hours, which gives you 3.3 to 3.8 minutes for each question. The tightest were the 2022 papers and Paper 2 of 2026.
• Should you guess in the JEE Advanced paper? In a single-correct question, guess only if your chance of being right is above 25%. In 2026, a wrong multiple-correct answer costs 1 mark, not 2 as before. Numerical questions have no negative marking.
• Which chapters carry the most marks in the JEE Advanced paper? Differential calculus, Vectors and 3D geometry, Electrostatics, Thermodynamics, the p-block and organic reaction sequences led.
• Can 20% of the chapters give 80% of the marks? Half of the marks need about one third of the chapters, and 80% of the marks need about two thirds.

Every number about the JEE Advanced paper below comes from the official files. When a point is our own reading, we say so.

More questions students ask. Click one to go to its full section.

We start with the JEE Advanced 2026 question paper, because it is the latest one. Then we go back year by year.

What is the JEE Advanced paper pattern in 2026?

The JEE Advanced paper of 2026 had two compulsory papers of 180 marks each. Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics got equal marks in each paper. IIT Roorkee organised the exam on 17 May 2026. You can read the JEE Advanced paper PDF of 2026 on the official website. The full pattern is on our JEE Advanced exam pattern page. This section tells you what the JEE Advanced 2026 question paper actually contained.

How many questions are in JEE Advanced Paper 1 and Paper 2?

JEE Advanced Paper 1 had 48 questions and Paper 2 had 54 questions in 2026. So the JEE Advanced 2026 question paper had 102 questions in all. The table shows how they were split in each subject.

Two terms need a quick explanation. In a numerical-answer question, you type a number on the on-screen keypad. In a match-the-list question, you match the items of List-I with List-II and pick the option with the correct combination. Every subject carried 60 marks in each paper. Paper 2 had no match-the-list question. Its Section 4 gave one passage or stem for two questions, and each question carried 2 marks.

What is the marking scheme of the JEE Advanced 2026 paper?

In 2026, single-correct, multiple-correct and match-the-list questions had negative marking. Numerical questions had none. The table shows the marking scheme printed in the JEE Advanced paper.

Did the marking scheme change in 2026?

Yes, but only for multiple-correct questions. A wrong answer cost 2 marks in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. In 2026 it costs 1 mark. Paper 2 also got a new section where each question carries only 2 marks. The smaller penalty makes a guess on a multiple-correct question in the JEE Advanced paper less costly than before.

The paper has changed in many ways since 2022. The next section goes year by year.

How has the JEE Advanced paper changed from 2022 to 2026?

The JEE Advanced paper stayed at 360 marks, but the number of questions and the mix of question types changed almost every year. The table gives the organising IIT, the exam date and the number of questions for each year. After that, we look at the pattern of each year.

The JEE Advanced paper date of 2022 was first planned as 3 July 2022. It moved to 28 August after the JEE Main schedule changed. The official report for that year records this. Click a year below to see the question types of Paper 1 and Paper 2 of that year. The 2026 pattern is in the tables above.

Are numerical-answer questions getting fewer in the JEE Advanced paper?

Yes. Numerical and integer-answer questions carried 50% of the marks in 2023 and 2024. In 2026 they carry about 37%. Multiple-correct questions moved the other way. The table shows the share of the 360 marks of the JEE Advanced paper for each type.

The remaining marks in each year are in single-correct and match-the-list questions. So the JEE Advanced paper of 2026 asked you to be right about several options at once more often than the 2023 or 2024 paper. If you practised only integer-answer problems, the 2026 paper would feel different.

The official numbers show which JEE Advanced paper was the toughest of the five. The next section gives the answer.

Which was the toughest JEE Advanced paper in the last five years?

By the official qualifying cut-offs, 2022 was the toughest JEE Advanced paper of the last five years. 2024 was the easiest. This is our reading of the official numbers, because the IITs do not publish a difficulty rating for any paper. CRL means Common Rank List. It is the list that ranks all candidates across categories. A tough year in the past does not tell you how tough the next paper will be.

Source: the official JEE Advanced reports for 2022 to 2026 on jeeadv.ac.in. In 2022, the topper scored the lowest marks and the qualifying cut-off was also the lowest. In 2024, the topper scored 355 out of 360 and the cut-off was the highest. The 2025 paper comes second on this measure of the toughest JEE Advanced paper, ahead of 2023 and 2026.

Why do qualifying marks show how tough a JEE Advanced paper was?

After the exam, the IITs lower the advertised qualifying marks. They do this so that at least twice the number of seats in each category qualify. The official reports say this for the JEE Advanced paper of every year.

This is why the cut-off shows the difficulty. If most students score low, the cut-off has to fall so that enough students qualify. If most students score well, the cut-off stays higher. So the cut-off is a fair way to rank the toughest JEE Advanced paper from official data. About 1.8 lakh students appeared in each year from 2023 to 2026, so the years can be compared fairly.

One point to remember: qualifying marks in the JEE Advanced paper only put you in the rank list. They do not give you a seat. Your seat depends on your rank, your category and the IIT and branch you choose in the joint seat allocation.

To see what your own marks mean for a rank, read our JEE Advanced marks vs rank guide.

How many students appeared and qualified in each year?

About 1.8 lakh students appeared in each year from 2023 to 2026. The number who qualified rose every year. This number is set to match the seat count, so it does not show an easier JEE Advanced paper.

What are the subject-wise qualifying marks in the JEE Advanced paper?

You must score the minimum in each of the three subjects of the JEE Advanced paper and also in aggregate. If you are short by even 1 mark in one subject, you are not in the rank list, whatever your total. The 2026 brochure advertised 10% in each subject and 35% in aggregate for the general (CRL) list. In every year, the IITs lowered both after the exam.

Take a 2026 example. A candidate in the JEE Advanced paper scores 105 in Physics, 100 in Chemistry and 8 in Mathematics. The total of 213 is far above the aggregate minimum of about 92. But 8 marks is below 7.30% of 120, which is 8.76. So the candidate is not in the rank list. The subject minimum is small, but it applies to each subject.

The official reports of the JEE Advanced paper do not give a subject-wise average. So we do not rank Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics by difficulty. Plan your time for all three.

Was Paper 2 harder than Paper 1?

No official number can answer this. The reports give only the combined marks of the two papers. So no one can call JEE Advanced Paper 2 harder using data. Students often say one paper was tougher after an exam, but their opinions differ from year to year. What the papers do show is the structure. Paper 2 of 2026 had 54 questions in the same three hours, so it left less time for each question than Paper 1. The next section works out that time. Prepare for both papers equally, because their question types differ.

What is the JEE Advanced paper timing, and how long do you get for each question?

The JEE Advanced paper timing is 3 hours for each paper. In 2026, JEE Advanced Paper 1 ran from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon. JEE Advanced Paper 2 ran from 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm on the same day, 17 May. The committee reports for 2022, 2023, 2025 and 2026 list the same two slots. The latest schedule and the next JEE Advanced paper date are on our JEE Advanced dates page.

How many minutes do you get for each question?

You get between 3.3 and 3.8 minutes for each question in a JEE Advanced paper. This is 180 minutes divided by the number of questions in the paper. The JEE Advanced paper timing is the same every year, so the number of questions decides how much pressure you feel.

Paper 2 of 2026 gave the same time for each question as the 2022 papers did. Keep this number in mind when you read the JEE Advanced 2026 question paper. It is only an average.

Each JEE Advanced paper has 180 marks and 180 minutes, so the average is also 1 minute for each mark. The table uses the 2026 marks.

Some questions will take 90 seconds and others 6 minutes. Use these figures to check your pace, not as a rule for each question.

Can you leave early, change answers or get extra time?

You cannot leave the hall before the JEE Advanced paper ends. You can change an answer at any time while the paper is running. The on-screen counter shows the time left. Eligible candidates with a disability who opted for compensatory time got 4 hours for each paper.

Should you guess in the JEE Advanced paper? Break-even odds by question type

Guess in the JEE Advanced paper only when your chance of being right is above the break-even figure for that question type. Break-even is the chance at which guessing neither gains nor loses marks on average. It equals the penalty divided by the sum of the reward and the penalty. The numbers below are our arithmetic from the marking scheme printed in the JEE Advanced 2026 paper, which helps students explore best courses after 12th.

When is a guess worth it in single-correct questions?

A blind guess among 4 options in the JEE Advanced paper is right once in 4 times, which is 25%. So on average you gain nothing. If you can remove one option with certainty, your chance becomes 1 in 3. Then a guess gains about 0.33 marks on average. If you can remove two options, the gain is higher still.

How does partial marking change multiple-correct questions?

In 2026, a multiple-correct question gives marks in these cases:

• +4 if you choose all the correct options.
• +3 if all four options are correct and you choose three.
• +2 if three or more are correct and you choose two correct ones.
• +1 if two or more are correct and you choose one correct option.

A wrong choice costs 1 mark. Suppose you choose only the one option you are sure of. You gain 1 mark if it is correct and lose 1 mark if it is not. So the break-even chance is 50%. Until 2025, a wrong answer cost 2 marks, and the same choice needed about 67%.

Numerical questions have no negative marking in the 2026 JEE Advanced paper, so leaving one blank gives you nothing. Your chance of being right is your own estimate. Check how accurate your estimates are when you write previous year papers.

The JEE Advanced paper timing and the marking scheme tell you how to attempt the paper. They do not tell you what is in it. The next three sections cover the subjects, starting with Physics.

Which Physics JEE Advanced questions repeat the most?

Electrostatics, optics, thermodynamics, modern physics and electromagnetic induction came in every JEE Advanced paper of the last five years. Physics JEE Advanced questions come from many chapters. Each year, one or two chapters get 4 to 6 questions. The table shows the biggest Physics chapters of each year. The count is for both papers together. Each year has 32 to 36 Physics questions worth 120 marks. Read "6 and 22" as 6 questions carrying 22 marks.

Electrostatics was the biggest Physics chapter in 2022, 2024 and 2025. In 2023 it had only 2 questions, and in 2026 it had 3, while rotational motion rose to 4 questions. So one chapter can change a lot between two years.

How many Physics questions use a figure or graph?

At least half of the Physics questions refer to a figure, graph or circuit diagram in every year. Going by the wording of the questions, the minimum count was 21 of 36 in 2022 and 17 of 34 in 2023. It was 19 of 34 in 2024, 18 of 32 in 2025 and 21 of 34 in 2026. In 2026, at least 13 of the 16 Physics questions in Paper 1 referred to a figure or plot. So when you practise Physics JEE Advanced questions, work from the printed diagram, not from a rewritten version.

Do measurement and error questions come every year?

Yes. Each JEE Advanced paper had 2 to 4 Physics JEE Advanced questions on units, dimensions, errors or experiments. Examples are a screw gauge or a vernier scale. In 2025 there were 4 such questions worth 14 marks. They included a vernier scale question and a significant figures question in Paper 1. These questions test a small set of rules, so they are worth practising early.

Physics is only a third of each JEE Advanced paper. The next section looks at Chemistry, where the pattern is clearer.

What do Chemistry questions in the JEE Advanced paper focus on?

Organic reaction sequences and carbonyl chemistry formed the largest Chemistry block in each year from 2023 to 2026. In 2022, p-block elements were the largest. Chemistry carries 120 marks in the two papers of every year, with 34 questions in most years. Chemistry JEE Advanced questions in the JEE Advanced paper lean on organic sequences more than on any other block. The table lists the biggest Chemistry blocks of each year. The last column reads the same way as in Physics.

A few organic structures in these papers are drawings, so our organic counts for some years could be off by one question.

Is Chemistry balanced between organic, inorganic and physical?

Yes, to a large extent. In 2022, the split was 40 marks of organic, 37 of inorganic and 43 of physical chemistry out of 120. In 2024 it was 42, 38 and 40. In 2023, organic topics carried 41 of 120 marks. So each branch carries about one third of the Chemistry marks, and you cannot skip any of the three.

Mathematics has the most steady chapters of the three subjects.

Which Mathematics topics does the JEE Advanced paper test most?

Calculus, vectors and 3D geometry, matrices, probability and conics were the biggest Mathematics blocks. Each of them came in every one of the five years. Mathematics carries 120 marks in the two papers of every year. Mathematics JEE Advanced questions in each JEE Advanced paper are spread over many chapters. The table shows the biggest blocks of each year, with questions and marks in the last column.

Which Mathematics topics changed the most?

Differential calculus reached 5 questions in 2025 and again in 2026. Conics had 3 questions in 2025 and 5 in 2026. Trigonometry had 4 questions in 2026, and 3 of them were in Paper 1. Differential equations were a small block, with 0 to 2 questions in a year.

How much of the paper is Class 11 and how much is Class 12? The next section answers it.

How much of the JEE Advanced paper comes from Class 11 and Class 12?

Class 12 chapters carried about half of the marks or more in every year. Also, about 23% to 38% of the questions needed more than one chapter. The table gives our approximate placement by marks, using the NCERT order of chapters. It also gives our count of mixed-chapter questions. Each previous year JEE Advanced paper shows this pattern for skill courses after 12th.

The Class 12 share was lowest in 2024. About 17% of its marks were in questions that joined a Class 11 idea to a Class 12 one. So if you study Class 11 chapters lightly, you will lose marks in the Class 12 questions of the JEE Advanced paper too. A mixed-chapter question needs two chapters at once. In Mathematics alone, Class 11 chapters carried 59 of the 120 marks in 2022 and 50 in 2025, by our placement.

In the table, "mixed" marks belong to questions that join a Class 11 chapter with a Class 12 chapter. "Not placed" marks are those we could not assign to either class. Two examples show what a mixed question looks like. In Paper 1 of 2025, Physics Question 1 has a disc rolling inside a ring, held by a spring. You must find the time period of its oscillation. It joins simple harmonic motion with rotational motion. The second example is the 2026 Paper 2 Chemistry stem with Kjeldahl and Carius questions. It joins organic chemistry with the mole concept.

The full list of chapters is on our JEE Advanced syllabus page. The next section ranks every chapter by its marks.

Which chapters carry the most marks in the JEE Advanced paper?

Over 2022 to 2026, Differential calculus, Vectors and 3D geometry and Conic sections carried the most marks in Mathematics in the JEE Advanced paper. Electrostatics, Thermodynamics and Ray optics led in Physics. The p-block, organic reaction sequences and biomolecules led in Chemistry. The tables below rank every chapter of the JEE Advanced paper from the most marks to the least, helping students explore types of engineering.

Each subject has 600 marks over the five JEE Advanced papers, which is 120 marks a year. The share is a chapter's marks divided by 600. Chapters are grouped more widely here than in the yearly tables above, so a few numbers differ. A chapter can also move by a question or two, because the tags are our own.

How much does each Physics chapter carry?

Electrostatics and capacitors carried the most Physics marks in the JEE Advanced paper, at 12% of the five-year total. Fourteen of the 16 chapters were present in at least four of the five years.

How much does each Chemistry chapter carry?

The p-block and organic reaction sequences carried the most Chemistry marks in the JEE Advanced paper, at 9% each. Chemistry has more chapters than the other two subjects, so each chapter carries a smaller share.

The organic chapters overlap. In 2022 and 2023, questions that look like reaction sequences are counted under hydrocarbons, carbonyl compounds and similar chapters. In 2025 and 2026, they sit under organic reaction sequences. Read the organic rows together, not one by one.

How much does each Mathematics chapter carry?

Differential calculus and Vectors and 3D geometry carried the most Mathematics marks in the JEE Advanced paper, at 12% each. All 13 chapters came in at least four of the five years, and 11 came in all five.

Do 20% of the chapters give 80% of the marks?

No. The marks are spread across many chapters, so the 80/20 rule does not fit the JEE Advanced paper. The table shows how many chapters you need to cover half and four-fifths of the marks.

Half of the marks in the JEE Advanced paper need about one third of the chapters. Four-fifths of the marks need about two thirds of them. The first group for each subject is below.

• Mathematics: Differential calculus, Vectors and 3D geometry, Conic sections and circles, Probability and statistics, and Matrices and determinants.
• Physics: Electrostatics and capacitors, Thermodynamics, heat and kinetic theory, Ray optics, Modern physics, Units, measurement and errors, and Kinematics, laws of motion and collisions.
• Chemistry: p-block elements, Organic reaction sequences, Biomolecules and polymers, Coordination compounds, Chemical bonding, Thermodynamics, and Carbonyl compounds.

Use these chapters as your first pass for the JEE Advanced paper. Do not use them as a reason to leave the rest.

Which chapters carry the least marks, and can you skip them?

No chapter is safe to skip, but some carry very little. The smallest shares in the JEE Advanced paper were Inverse trigonometry in Mathematics, Electromagnetic waves in Physics, and the s-block with periodic properties in Chemistry. Small chapters can also come back strongly in one year.

• d- and f-block elements carried 11 marks, all in 2025 and 2026.
• Metallurgy carried 11 marks, all in 2022 and 2023.
• Complex numbers had no main-chapter question in 2026, but 33 marks in the four years before.
• In 2025, no Physics question had current electricity or fluid mechanics as its main chapter. Both came back in 2026 with 2 questions each.

So study the low-share chapters last, but do study them. Start with the first group above. Every chapter in it came in all five years, except organic reaction sequences and carbonyl compounds, which overlap with other organic rows.

Where can you get JEE Advanced questions with solutions?

Many students search for JEE Advanced questions with solutions. The official JEE Advanced website has the question paper of every year. These are the safest JEE Advanced questions with solutions to start from. For 2026, the site also has a file for each paper with the final answer under every question. These files give the answers, not the step-by-step working. The 2025 papers also carry the final answer under each question, and one Paper 2 question shows "marks to all". The 2022, 2023 and 2024 files are plain question papers. Download any JEE Advanced paper PDF only from this official site.

Each file in the table is an official JEE Advanced paper PDF in English. The JEE Advanced 2026 question paper and its final answers are the first two links. Our JEE Advanced question papers page lists the official papers in one place, and our JEE Advanced answer key page covers the answer keys.

If you read a step-by-step solution anywhere else, check its final answer against the official file. The next section shows how to use each JEE Advanced paper for JEE Advanced 2027.

How should you use these papers to prepare for JEE Advanced 2027?

Use each previous year JEE Advanced paper as a timed test. Score it with that year's printed scheme, and link every lost mark to a chapter. The 2027 pattern is not announced yet, so start with the 2026 paper, which is the latest.

What steps should you follow with each paper?

Follow these steps for every JEE Advanced paper, and keep a written record of the results. The steps work the same way with JEE Advanced questions with solutions from the official files or from a teacher.

1. Start with the 2026 paper, then go back to 2025, 2024, 2023 and 2022. Older papers have older patterns, as the year tabs above show.
2. Write one JEE Advanced paper in 3 hours, in one sitting, with the same section order as the paper.
3. Score it with the marking scheme printed in that year's paper. Multiple-correct questions had a penalty of 2 marks until 2025.
4. Sort every lost mark into one of four types: a concept gap, a calculation slip, a time problem or a guess penalty.
5. Write the chapter next to each concept gap. Match it with the tables in this article. A chapter that is weak and also came in all five years goes to the top of your revision list.
6. Check your marks in each subject separately, because each subject has its own qualifying minimum.
7. Do Paper 1 and Paper 2 separately, because the question types differ.
8. Revise the weak chapters, then repeat the test with a fresh paper.

Frequently asked questions on the JEE Advanced paper

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Data sources: the official JEE Advanced question papers for 2022 to 2026 and the official JEE Advanced 2026 information brochure. Candidate numbers, qualifying cut-offs, topper marks and exam dates come from the official reports for 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 on jeeadv.ac.in. Topic counts and the Class 11 and Class 12 placement are our own reading of those papers.