JEE Main 2026 Overall Analysis: Session 1 ‘moderate’ in difficulty; toughest BE, BTech shift
Vaishnavi Shukla | January 29, 2026 | 03:12 PM IST | 2 mins read
NTA conducted the JEE Main 2026 session 1 exams from Jan 21 to 29 at various exam centres across the country. Results expected by February 12.
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The National Testing Agency (NTA) conducted the JEE Main 2026 session 1 entrance exams from January 21 to 28 in two shifts for BTech and BE and on January 29 BArch and BPlanning paper in a single shift. As per student’s feedback, the JEE Main 2026 Jan 23 evening shift paper was considered the “toughest.” JEE Main 2026 session 2 live updates
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While the NTA JEE Main 2026 Jan 24 shift 1 paper was the ‘easiest.’
However, most of the JEE Main 2026 session 1 papers were ‘moderate to tough’ in difficulty. The JEE Main 2026 Maths section was “lengthy” with heavy calculations in most of the papers, whereas the chemistry and physics sections remained “balanced.”
Based on student reactions and subject expert reviews, the JEE Main January session 1 paper featured “tricky numerical problems” in Mathematics, more “conceptually demanding” questions in Chemistry, while Physics was comparatively easier.
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JEE Main 2026 session 1 chemistry sections had statement-based, mixed concept questions, while physics was moderate in all the shifts, except for the Jan 23 evening shifts. Most of the questions were from the Class 11 syllabus covered across shifts.
Effective time management emerged as the key differentiator, particularly in Mathematics and Chemistry, as per subject experts.
JEE Main 2026 Session 1 Overall Analysis
The overall exam analysis for JEE Main 2026 session 1, based on students’ reactions for shifts 1 and 2 are shown in the table below.
Shift | Overall level | Physics | Chemistry | Mathematics |
Moderate | Moderate | Moderate to lengthy | Tough and lengthy | |
Tough | Moderate | Tough | Tough and lengthy | |
Moderate to Tough | Moderate to tough | Tough and lengthy | Moderate | |
Moderate | Easy to Moderate | Moderate | Tough | |
Moderate | Moderate | Tough | Moderate | |
Toughest | Tough and lengthy | Moderate | Tough and lengthy | |
Moderate | Moderate and lengthy | Moderate | Moderate and lengthy | |
Moderate | Easy to Moderate | Tough and calculative | Easy to moderate | |
Moderate to difficult | Easy to moderate | Moderate | Moderate | |
Easy to moderate | Easy to moderate | Moderate | Moderate |
NTA will announce the JEE Main 2026 session 1 results by February 12. JEE Main 2026 session 2 exam is scheduled to begin on April 2 to 9. The JEE Main session 2 date is yet to be announced. Once the dates are announced, candidates can register for the session 2 exam on jeemain.nta.nic.in.
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