JEE Main has two papers, Paper-I and Paper-II. Candidates may opt for either or both of them. Both papers contain multiple choice questions. Paper-I is for admission to B.E./B.Tech courses and is conducted in a Computer Based Test mode. Paper-II is for admission in B.Arch and B.Planning courses and will also be conducted in Computer Based Test mode except for one paper, namely the ‘Drawing Test’ which shall be conducted in Pen and Paper mode or offline mode. From January 2020 an additional Paper – III is being introduced for B.Planning courses separately.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, JEE Main 2021 has a change in paper format and number of attempts. Now there will be 20 single choice questions and 10 numerical questions out of which only five numerical questions are to be attempted. The marking scheme is same as earlier i.e. for SCQs, +4 marks for correct answer and -1 marks for incorrect answer and 0 marks for not answered, and for numerical type questions, +4 marks for correct and 0 for incorrect.
Number of attempts are now increased to four saying that it would help students to not waste their next year if unfortunately they couldn’t attend the papers due to board exams or if they get suffered by ongoing disease or any other.
JEE Main, unlike JEE Advanced, has a fixed exam structure and is not subject to change every year. Till 2018 JEE exam, paper-1 is of three hours duration and consists of thirty single choice questions in each of the three subjects (physics, chemistry and maths). 4 marks are awarded for correct answers and 1 mark is deducted for incorrect answers. Students taking this exam are usually in the age group 16-18.
A new pattern consisting of 20+5 questions per subject was introduced in January 2020 with 20 single choice questions + 5 numerical type question. In single-choice questions 4 marks are awarded for correct answers and no marks are deducted from numerical type questions.
From 2013 to 2016, the marks obtained in the class XII school board examination used to be accorded a 40% weightage in deciding the JEE Main all India ranks.
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