The Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main 2025 question papers will not have optional questions in section B, according to an announcement made by the National Testing Agency (NTA). This was done so that the paper pattern can return to its pre-covid era since changes were made during the Covid 19 pandemic in order to adjust to the circumstances.

According to the NTA, this change will be relevant for assessments in both engineering (BE/BTech, paper 1) and architecture and planning (BArch/BPlanning, paper 2).

Paper pattern: Now vs before

Since the past four years, students could select any five of the ten number problems in Section B of each topic. As a temporary solution during the epidemic, an optional format was put in place to give candidates flexibility in responding to the unique conditions. However, this option will be removed beginning with JEE Main 2025.

There will now only be five numerical questions in Section B for each subject, and candidates must answer every one of them. With this, the format will revert to what it was before the pandemic.

The additional questions were introduced in 2021 and were intended to solve a number of academic difficulties brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The question papers for the engineering entrance exam comprised 90 questions in the last four iterations. Section A included 20 questions each from Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics, while section B had 10 questions each from the three courses. Each of the three subjects in section B's questions required five attempts from the candidates.

The NTA will now adopt the previous JEE Mains format in 2025, with 25 questions each in physics, chemistry, and mathematics.