With three months to go, prioritise the chapters that have been worth the most marks a shift and where you are still losing marks. Across 101 JEE (Main) shifts from 2020 to 2025, Integral Calculus has been worth about 9.8 marks a shift out of Mathematics' 100, Electrostatics 7.5 out of Physics' 100, and Organic Chemistry: Some Basic Principles and Techniques 6.8 out of Chemistry's 100, rising to 10.8 in the 2024 and 2025 shifts. The ranked lists below give the figure for every chapter that matters, and the last section turns them into twelve weeks.
How are "marks a shift" worked out?
Each subject on today's paper is 25 questions at +4 each, so 100 marks; our post on the two sessions sets the pattern out. For each chapter we took its share of the subject's questions across the shifts we hold and multiplied by those 100 marks. A chapter with 7% of Physics questions has been worth about 7 marks of Physics a shift.
We use the share rather than raw counts because the shifts in our set do not all have the same number of questions: the 2021 to 2024 shifts carry 30 per subject, the 2020 and 2025 shifts 25. The share puts every year on the same footing.
Two columns are given. The first is the average over all 101 shifts. The second is the average over the 25 shifts from 2024 and 2025 alone, which is the closer picture of the paper as it is now set, and a smaller sample.
These are averages. Your shift will not hand you 7.5 Electrostatics marks; it will hand you one, two or three Electrostatics questions. Over a paper, though, the averages are what you are playing.
Which Mathematics chapters should I prioritise for JEE Main?
| Rank | Chapter | Marks a shift, 101 shifts | Marks a shift, 2024 and 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Integral Calculus | 9.8 | 10.6 |
| 2 | Matrices and Determinants | 7.6 | 7.1 |
| 3 | Three Dimensional Geometry | 7.1 | 7.0 |
| 4 | Limits, Continuity and Differentiability | 6.6 | 7.1 |
| 5 | Conic Sections | 6.4 | 6.4 |
| 6 | Sequences and Series | 6.1 | 6.4 |
| 7 | Differential Equations | 5.5 | 6.2 |
| 8 | Trigonometry | 5.5 | 3.9 |
| 9 | Vector Algebra | 5.0 | 5.9 |
| 10 | Applications of Derivatives | 4.8 | 3.8 |
| 11 | Binomial Theorem | 4.5 | 3.8 |
| 12 | Sets, Relations and Functions | 4.4 | 6.2 |
| 13 | Probability | 4.2 | 4.2 |
| 14 | Permutations and Combinations | 4.2 | 4.5 |
The first seven are worth about 49 of Mathematics' 100 marks a shift on the long-run figures. Mathematics is the most stable of the three subjects, and these numbers have held: Integral Calculus has been between 9% and 11% of the subject in every year we hold.
Two movements in the recent column are worth acting on. Sets, Relations and Functions has risen from 4.4 to 6.2 marks a shift, and Straight Lines from 2.9 to 4.2. Trigonometry and Applications of Derivatives have fallen, to 3.9 and 3.8. Mathematical Reasoning, worth 2.5 marks a shift over all 101 shifts, has no questions in our 2024 and 2025 shifts.
The chapters below the table, each worth about 2 to 4 marks a shift, are Complex Numbers (3.8), Quadratic Equations (3.5), Circles (3.2), Straight Lines (2.9) and Statistics (2.6).
Which Physics chapters should I prioritise for JEE Main?
| Rank | Chapter | Marks a shift, 101 shifts | Marks a shift, 2024 and 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Electrostatics | 7.5 | 7.7 |
| 2 | Optics | 7.2 | 8.3 |
| 3 | Properties of Bulk Matter | 6.7 | 7.3 |
| 4 | Magnetic Effects of Current and Magnetism | 6.5 | 7.4 |
| 5 | Electromagnetic Induction and Alternating Currents | 6.2 | 5.9 |
| 6 | Kinematics | 6.2 | 6.3 |
| 7 | Current Electricity | 6.1 | 6.4 |
| 8 | Oscillations and Waves | 5.5 | 3.9 |
| 9 | Atoms and Nuclei | 5.5 | 6.6 |
| 10 | Motion of System of Particles and Rigid Body | 4.6 | 4.3 |
| 11 | Laws of Motion | 4.6 | 5.3 |
| 12 | Electronic Devices | 4.3 | 3.6 |
| 13 | Gravitation | 4.1 | 3.4 |
| 14 | Physical World and Measurement | 3.9 | 5.2 |
Physics is flat. The heaviest chapter is worth 7.5 marks and the fourteenth 3.9. That has a practical consequence for the last three months: there is no single chapter to rescue Physics, and equally no chapter so heavy that a weak spot in it sinks the subject. Physics marks in the final stretch come from closing several medium gaps, not one large one.
The four electricity and magnetism chapters (Electrostatics, Magnetic Effects, Electromagnetic Induction and Current Electricity) have been worth about 26 marks a shift between them over all 101 shifts, and about 27 in 2024 and 2025. If your Physics is uneven, that block is the place to start.
Physical World and Measurement is the quiet riser: 3.9 marks over all shifts, 5.2 in the recent ones, and much of it dimensional analysis and error analysis, which are fast to revise. Atoms and Nuclei rose too, to 6.6. Oscillations and Waves fell, to 3.9.
Below the table: Work, Energy and Power (3.7), Dual Nature of Matter and Radiation (3.6), Thermodynamics (3.5), Kinetic Theory (3.5), Electromagnetic Waves (3.2) and Experimental Skills (1.5). Communication Systems, worth 2.1 marks over all shifts, has no questions in our 2024 and 2025 shifts.
Which Chemistry chapters should I prioritise for JEE Main?
Chemistry is where the recent column matters most, so the table is ranked by it.
| Rank | Chapter | Marks a shift, 101 shifts | Marks a shift, 2024 and 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Organic Chemistry: Some Basic Principles and Techniques | 6.8 | 10.8 |
| 2 | Chemical Bonding and Molecular Structure | 5.1 | 7.0 |
| 3 | Coordination Compounds | 5.6 | 6.9 |
| 4 | d- and f-Block Elements | 4.9 | 6.4 |
| 5 | Hydrocarbons | 4.9 | 5.9 |
| 6 | p-Block Elements | 5.0 | 4.9 |
| 7 | Solutions | 4.2 | 4.9 |
| 8 | Aldehydes, Ketones and Carboxylic Acids | 4.3 | 4.8 |
| 9 | Electrochemistry | 3.7 | 4.8 |
| 10 | Thermodynamics | 3.7 | 4.5 |
| 11 | Haloalkanes and Haloarenes | 2.9 | 4.2 |
| 12 | Chemical Kinetics | 3.6 | 3.9 |
| 13 | Amines | 4.3 | 3.8 |
| 14 | Alcohols, Phenols and Ethers | 3.2 | 3.8 |
Why rank by the recent figure? In our 2024 and 2025 shifts, eight Chemistry chapters that carried regular questions before have none or one: Surface Chemistry, s-Block Elements, Hydrogen, Chemistry in Everyday Life, Isolation of Metals, Environmental Chemistry, Polymers and Solid State. Over all 101 shifts those eight were worth about 16 marks a shift between them. Those marks did not vanish; they went to the chapters that remain, which is why nearly every chapter in the table is worth more in the recent column.
The Organic basic principles chapter has gained most: 10.8 marks a shift recently. Much of it is qualitative and quantitative analysis, purification methods and isomerism. Chemical Bonding (7.0) and Coordination Compounds (6.9) follow, and both are quick to turn into marks for a student who has the ideas, because the questions repeat their shapes.
Before you act on the dropped chapters, check the current syllabus on the official JEE (Main) site. We are reporting what the shifts asked, not what may be set.
Below the table, each worth around 3 to 4 marks a shift recently: Structure of Atom (3.6), Some Basic Concepts of Chemistry (3.5), Equilibrium (3.5), Biomolecules (3.5) and Classification of Elements and Periodicity (3.1).
How many marks do the top chapters cover together?
On the long-run figures, the top ten chapters are worth about 62 marks of Physics, 49 of Chemistry and 64 of Mathematics a shift. That is roughly 175 of the paper's 300 marks, from 30 chapters.
That does not mean the other 125 marks are optional. It means that if you have a choice between a fourth pass at Gravitation and a first proper pass at the Organic basic principles chapter, the numbers make the choice for you.
How should I use these numbers in the last three months?
The numbers rank chapters for the paper. They do not rank chapters for you. A chapter worth 7 marks a shift where you already score 6 has one mark left in it. A chapter worth 4 where you score 1 has three. So the working list is:
marks a shift × the fraction you are losing in that chapter
Take your last three or four full mocks, work out your accuracy by chapter, and multiply. Our post on analysing a mock shows how to sort the lost marks. The top fifteen of that list, across all three subjects, is your plan.
Then the twelve weeks:
Weeks 1 to 4: the big gaps. Take the top five chapters on your list, wherever they are. For each, one honest revision pass of the NCERT chapter and your notes, then 40 to 60 questions from the last five years of shifts, timed. Every wrong answer goes into your mistake book. One full paper a week, on the same weekday.
Weeks 5 to 8: the middle of the list. The next ten chapters, two or three a week, with the same rhythm. Two full papers a week now. Redo the mistake book from weeks 1 to 4 at the end of week 6.
Weeks 9 to 12: papers and upkeep. Three full papers a week in the exam's time slot, a day of analysis after each, and short revision of the heavy chapters so they stay warm. Nothing new after week 10.
Three rules run through all twelve weeks:
- Keep the heavy chapters in every week, even when they are not on your gap list. Integral Calculus, the four electricity and magnetism chapters, and the top four of Chemistry should each see some questions every week, because they are where the most marks a shift sit.
- Practise numericals as typed answers. Some Basic Concepts of Chemistry and Solutions are mostly numerical in our count, and so is a good share of Current Electricity and rigid body. Our post on the rounding rule explains why a right value can still be marked wrong.
- Do not start a chapter from zero in the last month. A half-learned chapter costs −1 a question. The negative marking post has the arithmetic.
If January has already happened, your subject percentiles from it are the first input to this list; the two sessions post explains how to read them.
How we counted
We counted every question in the complete previous-year papers held in the Nikaalle database, each classified to the NCERT-based chapter and topic it tests. Papers with pages missing from the official file are left out.
For JEE (Main) that is 101 shifts of Paper 1: 14 from 2020, 26 from 2021, 24 from 2022, 12 from 2023, 18 from 2024 and 7 from 2025, 8,775 questions in all. "Marks a shift" is each chapter's share of its subject's questions multiplied by the 100 marks each subject carries on the current paper. The recent column uses only the 25 shifts from 2024 and 2025.
The limits:
- The classification is ours. Questions that touch two chapters are filed under one.
- Averages hide the spread. A chapter worth 6 marks a shift might give one question in one shift and three in another.
- The recent column is a smaller sample. 25 shifts, and 7 of them from 2025.
- Marks assume every question is answered right. The figure is what a chapter has been worth, not what anyone scored from it.
- The paper is set fresh each time. These are past patterns, not a forecast.
The full chapter tables, with question counts and year-by-year shares, are in our chapter-wise weightage post.
Frequently asked questions
Which chapters should I revise first for JEE Main in the last three months?
The chapters with the most marks a shift that you are still losing marks in. By marks a shift alone: Integral Calculus (9.8), Matrices and Determinants (7.6), Electrostatics (7.5), Optics (7.2) and, on recent shifts, Organic Chemistry basic principles (10.8).
How many marks is Integral Calculus worth in JEE Main?
About 9.8 marks a shift on average across 101 shifts, and 10.6 in the 2024 and 2025 shifts, out of Mathematics' 100. It is the heaviest single chapter in the paper.
Which Chemistry chapter carries the most marks in recent JEE Main shifts?
Organic Chemistry: Some Basic Principles and Techniques, at about 10.8 marks a shift in the 2024 and 2025 shifts, up from 6.8 across all 101. Chemical Bonding (7.0) and Coordination Compounds (6.9) follow.
Is it too late to start a new chapter three months before JEE Main?
Three months out, no, if the chapter is worth several marks a shift and you give it a proper pass with questions. In the last month, yes: a half-learned chapter tends to cost marks at −1 a question rather than add them.
Should I skip low-weightage chapters before JEE Main?
Rank them lower, not off. A chapter worth 3 marks a shift is still most of a question, and often an easy one. Leave a chapter only when you have checked the current syllabus or when the time has truly run out.
Sources
- Nikaalle analysis of 101 previous-year JEE (Main) shifts, 2020 to 2025 (method above)
- https://jeemain.nta.nic.in
- https://ncert.nic.in
Checked against the official sources on 25 October 2026.