JEE Main 2025 row: Students flag errors in Physics, Chemistry, Maths; Experts demand grace marks

The National Testing Agency (NTA) has once again come under fire, this time over alleged factual errors in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main 2025 – one of India’s most competitive engineering entrance exams.

The controversy erupted after students from Kota in Rajasthan — widely known as the coaching hub for JEE aspirants — raised serious objections to several questions in the exam, following the release of answer keys and response sheets on April 11.
Students have reportedly identified at least nine questions across the Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics papers that they claim contain errors. Their objections have gained traction with expert validation from leading coaching institutions, intensifying criticism of the NTA’s handling of high-stakes exams.

According to these experts, four of the disputed questions are from physics, three from chemistry, and two from mathematics. They argue that the inaccuracies are not minor technical ambiguities but fundamental factual mistakes that could impact the scores of lakhs of candidates.

In Physics, one expert pointed out a flawed question involving hydrogen-like ions, where the atomic number was wrongly assumed to be 2 instead of 3. Another physics question reportedly miscalculated the correct answer in a current electricity problem, offering 125mA instead of the correct 5mA. A third question on equivalent resistance did not present a valid answer option at all.

Experts have called on the NTA to either drop these erroneous questions or award grace marks to affected candidates. One coaching institute director confirmed that formal objections had been submitted with supporting evidence, stressing the need for corrective action to ensure fairness.

The issue has reignited concerns about the NTA’s reliability, especially in light of recent controversies surrounding the CUET-UG 2024 and NEET-UG answer key discrepancies.

As of now, the NTA has not released any official statement addressing the current set of complaints.