JEE main 2025: NTA drops 12 questions leaving students worried

As per the rules, if a question is dropped, full marks will be awarded to all candidates irrespective of whether they attempted that question or not

New Delhi: The National Testing Agency (NTA) has dropped 12 questions asked in different shifts of the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) main session 1 for paper 1 from the final answer key, leaving students worried about their prospects of getting an engineering course seat at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).

NTA conducted JEE main 2025 session 1 for paper 1 and paper 2 between January 22 and 30. (Representational image)

NTA dropped 8 questions from Physics; 2 each from Chemistry and Mathematics of paper 1 in the final answer key released on Monday. NTA released the JEE main results on Tuesday evening.

NTA in its information bulletin for JEE main 2025 said that it would drop a question if it was found to be incorrect. “The reason could be due to human error or technical error,” NTA said. As per the rules, if a question is dropped, full marks will be awarded to all candidates irrespective of whether they attempted that question or not.

NTA conducted JEE main 2025 session 1 for paper 1 and paper 2 between January 22 and 30. Paper 1 is conducted for admission to Bachelor of Engineering (BE) or Bachelor of Technology (BTech) at the National Institute of Technology (NITs), Indian Institute of Information and Technology (IIITs) and many other government and private technical education institutions. Paper 2 is conducted for admission to Bachelor of Architecture (BArch) and Bachelor of Planning (BPlanning) courses in the country.

“Although sufficient care will be taken for the correctness of questions, in the event that a question(s) needs to be dropped, full marks for that question(s) will be awarded to all candidates,” NTA said in its information bulletin.

Prachi Kumari, an IIT aspirant who appeared in JEE main 2025 paper 1 at a centre in Kota said, “I appeared in the second shift on January 29 and the final answer key shows that NTA has dropped two questions, one each in Mathematics and Physics in that shift. I wasted around 10 minutes in solving them which I could have utilised in solving other questions. I could not attempt all the questions due to a time limit of three hours. Though I will get marks for those two questions what about the questions that I could not attempt?”

NTA will conduct JEE main 2025 session 2 between April 1 and April 8. JEE main is also an eligibility test for JEE (Advanced), which is conducted for admission to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). IIT Kanpur will conduct the JEE Advanced 2025 on May 18.

Meanwhile, some coaching teachers have questioned the functioning of NTA.

“It is a matter of shame that NTA has dropped 12 questions in a highly competitive exam like JEE main. Students’ morale will go down due to the inefficiency of NTA. There will be many students who did not attempt these 12 questions but may end up getting 300 marks because they will get 48 marks as a bonus from NTA. This will send a wrong message to hard-working students and could hamper their chance of getting an IIT seat,” said Prabal Pratap, a Physics faculty at Allen Coaching Institute in Kota.

Pramod Maheshwari, founder of Career Point Coaching Institute said the dropping of 12 questions in JEE main 2025 puts a question on the credibility and competency of NTA. “NTA should ensure 100% accuracy of the paper to avoid causing loss to hard-working students,” he said.

NTA had dropped six questions in session 1 and four questions in session 2 for paper 1 of JEE main 2024. The agency had dropped five questions in session 1 and ten questions in session 2 for paper 1 of JEE main 2023. In JEE main 2022, NTA dropped four questions in session 1 and six questions in session 2 of paper 1.

NTA officials did not respond to HT’s queries.