JEE Main 2026 Day 1 Shift 1 Analysis: Moderate to Tough Paper

The first day of the JEE Main 2026 exam, Shift 1, was held on January 21, 2026 . Students who took the exam found it to be of moderate to tough difficulty. The National Testing Agency (NTA) conducted this important engineering entrance exam across many centres in India.

The morning shift of the exam took place from 9 AM to 12 PM . After the exam, students and experts shared their first thoughts. They said the Physics and Maths sections were tough for many, while Chemistry was generally found to be easy.

JEE Main 2026 Day 1 Shift 1: Exam Details

The JEE Main exam is for students who want to study B.Tech or B.E. It had 75 multiple-choice questions . The total marks for the paper were 300 . The NTA is holding the first session of JEE Main exams for Paper 1 (B.Tech/B.E.) on January 21, 22, 23, 24, and 28, 2026 . The exam for B.Arch/B.Plan is scheduled for January 29, 2026 .

Overall Exam Difficulty

Based on what students and experts said, the overall difficulty level for Day 1, Shift 1 was moderate . The paper had a mix of easy, moderate, and some difficult questions. Compared to previous years, this paper was long, meaning it had many questions, but students could still manage to complete it.

Section-wise Analysis of JEE Main Shift 1

Students shared their views on each section of the exam. Here is a breakdown of how difficult each subject was:

Student Feedback on the Paper

Many students described the Shift 1 paper as moderate to tough . However, they noted that the questions were based on the official syllabus. Chemistry was considered a high-scoring section. Mathematics was difficult and required a lot of focus and accurate answers. Physics was also tough for students.

In the Maths section, most questions came from 'Vector' and '3D' topics. Students also mentioned something unusual in Chemistry. They said some questions had 5 to 6 options , which is different from the usual 4 options provided in JEE Main exams.

Overall, the 2026 exam was similar to JEE Main exams from the previous year in terms of style and content.

Expected Cut-off Scores for JEE Main 2026

If the difficulty level of the upcoming exam shifts stays similar, the cut-off scores for JEE Main might either remain the same or increase slightly compared to last year. Here are the expected cut-off scores for different categories: