Instructions

• 75 questions, 300 marks, 3 hours. Per subject: 20 MCQs (Section A) and 5 numericals (Section B), all compulsory.
• +4 right, −1 wrong, 0 blank, in both sections. A numerical is typed as an integer (round as the question says).
• Percentile within your own shift decides rank, and the better of your two sessions counts. A brutal paper is brutal for the whole shift: never abandon the plan mid-paper.
• Ties go to Maths, then Physics, then Chemistry, then fewer wrong answers per right one. Careless wrong answers cost rank even when totals tie.
• Accuracy beats attempts. Score = attempts × (5 × accuracy − 1).

Attempts	Accuracy	Score
50	95%	187.5
60	85%	195
70	75%	192.5
60	90%	210

At 60 attempts, every 5 points of accuracy is 15 marks.

Two phases. The first two hours are for the questions you know, worked at near-zero errors. The unsure ones come after, where mistakes are expected and priced in.

1. Round 1, about 70 min: every subject in your order, only the questions whose method is clear and short. Tag and skip the rest.
2. Round 2, about 50 min: method clear but long.
3. Round 3, about 45 min: method unclear, with the guessing rule below.
4. Last 10–15 min: no new problems. Check every numerical entry and that every answer is saved.

The park line. On the first pass, park a question at about 2:30. A question you come back to gets about 5:00 in all. At 3:00, commit or leave: time sunk into a question you then leave blank buys nothing.

Keeping time without a watch. No watch is allowed in the hall; keep time with the exam's own countdown. When a question looks long, write the time remaining beside its number on the rough sheet, and park it 2½ minutes on.

Subject order. A common default is Chemistry → Physics → Maths: Chemistry is fastest and banks calm marks; Maths is longest. Try two orders across your mocks, keep the one with the higher average and smaller swings, and freeze it at least three weeks before the exam. Never improvise it in the hall.

Time budget, all rounds together: Chemistry 40–45 min, Physics 45–50, Maths 75–80, 10–15 spare.

If one subject goes badly, stick to the plan and move on.

An MCQ you are p likely to get right is worth 5p − 1 marks. Guessing pays above 20%.

Situation	Chance right	Expected marks
Blind guess, 4 options	25%	+0.25
One option ruled out	33%	+0.67
Two ruled out	50%	+1.50
Fairly sure	about 70%	+2.50
Numerical, no working	about 0%	−1.00

• MCQ with at least one option ruled out: answer it.
• Nothing ruled out: leave it blank. Wrong options are built from common mistakes, so a hunch can be worse than random.
• Never guess a numerical without working. But give all 15 numericals a real attempt: one you can set up is not a guess.
• "Hard for everyone" is no reason to skip. If a clean setup appears at first look, attempt it.
• Mark your guesses in mocks. If they hit well above 20%, guess more boldly; below it, your "eliminations" are mistakes.

Ways to rule an option out: wrong units or dimensions; a limiting case (set a variable to 0, 1 or ∞); substitute n = 1, 2 or x = 0 in the question and the options; plug the options back in; symmetry; a rough order of magnitude; sanity (a probability over 1, a negative length).

• Practise on 4 A4 sheets for a full paper, both sides: Chemistry 1, Physics 1, Maths 2. A one-subject or shorter test gets its share (a 15-question Maths set: 2). NTA fixes no number; reports say 3 to 6, more on request, so train on fewer than the hall is likely to give.
• One subject per sheet, each labelled with your name, roll number and C1, P1, M1 or M2.
• Each side in columns, with a parked strip across the top of the front: the numbers of the questions you parked, so the return trip starts there.
• Every question in its own box: its number circled, the working, side sums inside the box, the final answer boxed, a line under it.
• Tick a box only once the answer is saved on screen. The final recheck then reads the ticks, not the working.
• Wrong working gets one line through it, never scribbled out: you may need it again.
• Write the time remaining beside a question's number when it looks long; park it 2½ minutes later.
• What goes inside a box is yours to choose. Scattered sheets cost time on parked questions and in the final recheck.
• In the hall: name and roll number on every sheet, use only the pen given, and hand every sheet back. Swapping sheets counts as unfair means.

• The keyboard is off. Everything is by mouse, numericals included, on an on-screen keypad.
• Only "Save & Next" saves. Clicking another question number does not save the one you are on.
• "Mark for Review & Next" with an answer selected is evaluated; marked for review with no answer is not. Use the first for a guess you may revisit.
• To change an answer: open it, Clear Response, answer again.
• The countdown is top right; at zero the paper submits itself.
• Dark or light mode, font size and a magnifier are available: try them in NTA's free official mock (nta.ac.in), which shows this exact screen. Sit it several times, so the screen costs no thought on the day.
• If the computer fails, you get another and the lost time back.

	Morning	Afternoon
Entry, frisking, biometrics	07:00–08:30	13:00–14:30
Gate closes	08:30	14:30
Paper	09:00–12:00	15:00–18:00

NTA says report two hours early. No re-test if you miss your shift.

Carry: the admit card printed on A4 with its self-declaration filled in; 2 passport photos, the same as the one uploaded; one original photo ID (Aadhaar card, school ID, passport, PAN …); water in a transparent bottle.

Leave at home: phone, any watch or band, calculator, pen, pencil, geometry box, paper, wallet, belt, cap, jewellery or anything metal, food. Nothing can be stored at the centre. Wear plain clothes, no metal.

The last 2–3 days: nothing new. Revise your short notes, formula sheets and mistakes; keep your normal sleep.

• Choose by marks at risk, in a real JEE Main paper, against the weeks left; not by marks lost in coaching tests. A chapter JEE Main rarely asks can rightly be left.
• A chapter under 65% on your tests is weak. Where the tests and your own rating disagree, the tests decide; where tests are thin, a timed 15-question check settles it.
• Practise right after your class revises a chapter. That is a second repetition, not a split one.
• The chapter loop: a weak or shaky chapter gets 15 past-paper questions, timed at 36 minutes, within two days; under 12 right, another 15. Then every chapter closes with a timed chapter test on questions you haven't seen.
• Only a test closes a weakness. Practice shrinks it; a timed test afterwards closes it.
• Hard (Advanced-level) questions come after the chapter's Main past papers, never instead. About 3 minutes to find the method; if it doesn't come, read the solution and write the idea into your short note. No 10-minute grinds.
• One theory source, one question bank and the past papers per subject. Every extra source splits the repetition that builds speed. Nothing new in the last months.
• Physics: concept, then the standard problem types, then past papers. Keep formulas with the conditions they hold under. Physical Chemistry: like Maths, timed numericals without a calculator. Inorganic: NCERT line by line, 3–4 times, a little every day. Organic: mechanisms and reagents, not memorised reactions. Maths: daily, timed; know each chapter's standard question types cold.
• Touch two subjects every day, Maths every day. Class 11 is about 45% of the paper: give it weekly time.
• Clear doubts within 48 hours. A doubt left a week becomes a gap.
• Revise from three things you build: a 1–2 page short note per chapter, a formula sheet per subject, your mistakes. Come back to a chapter a day, a week and a month after you study it.

• Sit every full paper like the exam: one sitting, in your shift's slot (9–12 or 3–6), phone away, on a computer. One a week, rising to two in December and three in January.
• Analyse each paper before the next. Never change the plan on one paper: watch the trend.
• Tag the day after, never the same day: every wrong or skipped question gets a reason. A tired judgement tags too kindly.

Tag	Means	The fix
Concept gap	Didn't know the idea or method	The chapter's note, then 15–20 questions on it
Careless	Knew it, slipped	A personal checklist, not more study
Time trap	Stayed too long	The 2:30 park line
Rushed	Moved on before thinking	A slower first read in the first phase

• Errors in the first two hours should fall toward zero. If they don't, slow the first read.
• Keep the newest past papers unseen for your final full mocks: they show the current pattern and give a score you can read as a rank.
• One outside test series gives other question setters and an All-India comparison. One, not several.

• 8 hours' sleep, with one wake time all seven days. The exam starts at 9 am; train the body for it.
• At least 30 minutes of exercise or walking a day.
• Tired students lose marks to silly mistakes. When the plan slips, find the bottleneck (homework, a bad week, a chapter being avoided) rather than adding hours.