The Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) will have a new exam pattern from the academic year 2025, announced the National Testing Agency (NTA) yesterday, October 17.

According to the new format, the optional questions in Section B, which were introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, will be discontinued.

The optional questions were introduced as a relief measure in 2021 during the pandemic. Candidates could answer 5 out of 10 questions in Section B of any subject’s paper.

This format continued till the JEE paper in 2024. However, starting next year, Section B of the JEE will only contain 5 questions. This is a return to the pre-pandemic format of JEE, which was followed till 2021, reports Times of India.

Additionally, the NTA declared that the first part of JEE Main 2025's application procedure will shortly begin. Details of the application process will be posted on the NTA's official website.

JEE Main is the standardised national entrance exam for engineering and technical undergraduate courses, including Bachelor of Technology (BTech), Bachelor of Architecture (BArch), and Bachelor of Planning (BPlanning).

The exam is for three hours and contains three main subjects — Math, Physics and Chemistry. Each subject had 30 questions, with Section A containing 20 Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs), and Section B containing 10 numerical questions (5 optional). Under the new format, Section B will now have only 5 questions, all of which are compulsory.

Clearing the JEE Main exam will make candidates eligible for the JEE Advanced. JEE scores can be used to seek admission to Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) and other premier technical institutes.