JEE (Main) Paper 1 has 75 questions: in each of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics, 20 multiple-choice questions (Section A) and 5 numerical-answer questions (Section B). The numericals are where a correct calculation can still lose you five marks.
The rule
The bulletin asks for numerical answers to be rounded off to the nearest integer. If your working gives 3.4, the answer is 3. If it gives 2.98, the answer is 3. If it gives 12.6, the answer is 13.
An unrounded answer is marked as a wrong answer, not as a blank — and a wrong numerical answer costs −1, the same as a wrong MCQ. So 3.4 in the box is not "nearly right"; it is four marks not gained and one mark lost.
The marking, section by section
| Right | Wrong | Blank | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Section A (MCQ) | +4 | −1 | 0 |
| Section B (numerical) | +4 | −1 | 0 |
Both sections mark the same way. The difference is only in how the answer is given: chosen for an MCQ, typed for a numerical.
Why it catches people
In practice books and on most apps, a numerical question accepts any value within a tolerance, so the habit never forms. Then, on the day, the calculation is right and the box is wrong.
Our mocks mark a numerical exactly as the paper does: the value must be the rounded integer, or it is wrong. It costs you a few marks in a mock, once. That is the point.
What to practise
- Finish the arithmetic. A numerical question is not done when you have the expression; it is done when you have the integer.
- Check the units the question asks for. Rounding the value in the wrong unit gives the wrong integer.
- Never leave a numerical blank because you are unsure of the last digit — do the rounding and commit. A blank is 0; a considered answer has a fair chance of +4.
Percentile, not marks
One more thing the bulletin makes clear: your rank in JEE (Main) comes from a percentile normalised across shifts, not from raw marks. Two sessions are held each year, usually in January and April, and the better score counts. A mock can tell you your marks; nothing outside the exam can tell you your percentile, and we do not pretend to. See the JEE (Main) page for the full pattern.
Checked against the official sources on 27 September 2026.