Okay so the exam is May 17.

Five days. That is genuinely not a lot of time. And I know what that feels like because I have been in that spot where you open your notes and your brain just kind of goes blank for a second. Not because you do not know anything. But because there is so much and you do not know where to look first.

So I am not going to waste your time with general advice here. You have heard enough of that. What I want to do is show you the kinds of questions that actually trip students up in JEE Advanced. The ones where you know the topic but the question is twisted enough that you still get it wrong.

IIT Roorkee is setting the paper this year. They have a history of going deep on concepts rather than just testing formula recall. So going through these 30 questions carefully over the next few days is actually useful. Not just for practice but for reminding yourself of the traps that come up.

Physics: The Questions That Make You Doubt Yourself

Question 1

A ring of radius R has charge distributed as lambda = lambda0 cos(theta). Find the electric field at the centre.

The catch here is that students see a ring and jump to the standard formula. But this charge distribution is non uniform. You need integration. And you need to be careful about the direction of the field components cancelling or adding up. Most students lose it right there.

Question 2

Two conducting spheres of different radii are joined by a thin wire. Charges redistribute. Find the ratio of surface charge densities and compare the electric fields near each sphere.

Three things in one question. Equal potential after connection, surface charge density formula and field near a conductor. I have seen students get two out of three right and still mark the wrong answer because the final comparison step confuses them.

Question 3

A charged particle moves in a crossed electric and magnetic field in a straight line at constant speed. Find the condition on E and B.

Velocity selector. Looks easy. But the moment they ask for it in vector form or add an angle between the fields, it stops feeling easy. Practice this one in full vector notation at least once.

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Question 4

A disc of mass M and radius R rolls without slipping on an incline. A point mass m is fixed at the rim. Find the acceleration of the system.

The extra mass at the rim changes the moment of inertia and adds a torque that shifts with position. Students who set this up as a simple rolling problem get the wrong answer. You have to account for where m is at each instant.

Question 5

A uniform rod is held vertically on a smooth frictionless floor and let go. Find the speed of the centre of mass just before it hits the ground.

Frictionless floor. That detail changes everything. The base slides. Angular momentum about the base is not conserved. A lot of students use conservation of angular momentum here and get a wrong answer. The energy method is the right approach.

Question 6 

A sphere rolls up a rough incline and comes back. Given the coefficient of friction, find the total distance it covers before slipping begins.

Integer type questions on rotation are where a lot of rank gaps happen. The combination of friction condition, rolling constraint and energy tracking in one question is genuinely hard to keep clean. Practice writing each step separately.

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Question 7

A hydrogen atom absorbs a photon, jumps to an excited state, then emits two photons to return to ground state. Find all possible wavelengths.

Students who only know the Balmer series formula will miss the intermediate transition options. Think about every path the atom can take on its way down. There are more routes than most people consider.

Question 8

In a Young’s double slit setup, one slit gets a glass slab of thickness t and refractive index n. Find the shift of the central fringe and the new fringe width.

Fringe shift due to slab is one thing. Many students get that. But asking for fringe width in the same question catches them off guard because fringe width does not change due to the slab. Students who do not realise this change the wrong thing.

Question 9

A nucleus decays into two daughter particles. Given the Q value and masses, find the kinetic energy of each daughter.

Momentum conservation plus energy conservation in the same decay. The numbers can look messy but the method is simple once you write it down properly. Most errors come from sign mistakes or forgetting that the parent was at rest.

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Question 10

Starting from benzene, prepare 3 nitro 4 bromo benzoic acid in five steps or less. Show all reagents.

Order of substitution is everything here. Get it wrong and you end up with the wrong isomer. Think about which groups are already on the ring and where they direct the next one before you write your first step.

Question 11

Compound A with formula C8H8O gives a positive Tollens test and also decolourises bromine water. Identify A and explain both reactions.

Two tests, one compound. You need a structure that has both an aldehyde group and a carbon carbon double bond. The molecular formula is the starting point. Work out the degree of unsaturation first and the structure usually comes quickly after that.

Question 12

Why can Gabriel synthesis not be used to make secondary amines? Show the mechanism step where it fails.

Most students can state that Gabriel only gives primary amines. Very few can explain why the secondary amine attempt fails at the mechanism level. If you cannot draw that step clearly right now, go back and look at it today.

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Question 13

A cell has standard EMF of 1.1V. Find the equilibrium constant at 25 degrees Celsius. What happens to the EMF when the concentration of one ion is doubled?

Nernst equation and equilibrium constant in one question. Students who have only practised them separately tend to mix up the formulas when they appear together. The link between the two is the relationship delta G = minus nFE = minus RTlnK. Keep that line in your head.

Question 14

The complex [Co(en)2Cl2]+ exists in two forms. Draw both isomers, name the type of isomerism and say which one is optically active and why.

Geometric isomerism with a bidentate ligand and then optical activity on top. The cis form is optically active. The trans is not. But being able to draw it clearly and explain non superimposability is what gets you the full marks.

Question 15

Electrolysis of aqueous CuSO4 with copper electrodes. What happens at each electrode? What changes if platinum electrodes replace copper?

Active versus inert electrodes. A topic that sounds simple but confuses a lot of students in the exam because they forget that with active copper electrodes the anode dissolves instead of oxygen being released. That one detail changes the whole answer.

Question 16

For a first order reaction with half life 20 minutes, find the fraction remaining after 1 hour and the time for 90 percent completion.

Two calculations, one question. Students who rush get the first part right and make a unit error in the second. Write out both steps fully and check your units before moving on.

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Question 17

Find the area between y = x squared and y = x cubed from x = 0 to x = 1. Then find the point on y = x squared where the tangent line divides this area into two equal parts.

First part is standard. The second part is where people give up. You need to set up an integral from the tangent point and equate it to half the total area. It takes time but it is doable if you set it up right without panicking.

Question 18

Evaluate the integral of x squared sin x from 0 to pi. Then use that result to find the integral of x cubed cos x from 0 to pi.

Integration by parts twice for the first one. Then the second integral connects to the first through integration by parts again. Students who do not notice the connection redo everything from scratch and waste ten minutes.

Question 19

A function f is differentiable on [0,1] with f(0) = 0 and f(1) = 1. Show a point exists where f prime equals 1. Then show two distinct points exist where f prime equals half.

Mean Value Theorem. The first part is a one step application. The second part needs you to split the interval and apply MVT twice. Students who get the first part right and then stare blankly at the second usually have not practised the split interval version.

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Question 20

A matrix A satisfies A squared = A. Find all possible eigenvalues and show that the determinant of A can only be 0 or 1.

Idempotent matrices. Not covered deeply in most coaching classes. But if you think about what A squared = A means for an eigenvalue equation, it falls into place. Eigenvalues can only be 0 or 1. A determinant is just the product of eigenvalues. Two lines of reasoning, clean answer.

Question 21

z is a complex number with mod z = 1. Find the range of mod of (z squared + z + 1).

Put z = cos theta + i sin theta. The expression becomes a trig function. Find its range. Sounds long but once the substitution clicks it moves quickly. The range question at the end is what catches people because they forget to check boundary values.

Question 22

Find all values of k for which a given 3×3 system has infinitely many solutions. For one such k, find the general solution.

Setting the determinant to zero gives you k. That part most students can do. But writing the general solution after that is a different skill. Practice going from finding k all the way to writing the parametric solution in full.

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Probability Tricky JEE Advanced 2026

Question 23

Bag has 4 red and 6 blue balls. Three drawn without replacement. Given that the second is red, find the probability that the first and third are both blue.

Conditional probability with draws in a specific order. The temptation is to use a shortcut formula. Do not. Draw out the sample space or use Bayes properly. Students who try to do it in their head mostly get this wrong.

Question 24

How many 6 digit numbers from digits 1 to 9 without repetition have at least one group of 3 consecutive digits in increasing order?

Counting with a condition. Inclusion exclusion is the way to go. Students who try to count directly from scratch always get a wrong number. Set up the complement or use inclusion exclusion clearly.

Question 25 (Integer Type)

Two players take turns rolling a die. First to roll a 6 wins. Player A goes first. Find the probability A wins. Then give the integer value of 100 times that probability.

Infinite geometric series in probability. If you know the formula the answer comes in under a minute. If you try to add probabilities manually you will be there for a very long time. Know your geometric series sum and this one is free marks.

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Question 26 (Physics)

A gas goes through one isothermal, one adiabatic and one isobaric step in a cycle. Find the net work done and efficiency.

Three different processes in one cycle. Different formulas for each. The signs of work and heat in each step are where most errors happen. Draw a rough PV diagram first so you can see what is happening before you start calculating.

Question 27 (Chemistry)

A salt of a weak acid and strong base dissolves in water. Write the hydrolysis reaction, find Kh and calculate the pH of a 0.1M solution.

The step that gets students is Kh = Kw divided by Ka. Once you get that the rest follows. But the approximation you use to simplify the quadratic also needs to be checked. Do not just assume it is valid without verifying.

Question 28 (Maths)

Find all continuous real functions f satisfying f(x + y) = f(x) times f(y) for all real x and y.

Functional equation question. These come up and students who have never seen one freeze completely. The answer is an exponential function. But the path to get there using the continuity condition is what the question is actually testing. Look up at least two or three functional equation problems before exam day.

Question 29 (Physics)

A solenoid carries current I = I0 sin(wt). A small loop is placed coaxially inside. Find the induced EMF and current in the loop.

Time varying current means time varying flux. Apply Faraday’s law. The derivative of sin gives cos which introduces a phase shift. Students who do not track the phase properly write the EMF formula correctly but get the time dependence wrong.

Question 30 (Chemistry)

Arrange n-butane, isobutane, n-butanol and diethyl ether in increasing order of boiling point. Justify each position.

Boiling point ordering needs you to compare branching, dipole moment and hydrogen bonding together. Not just one of them. The tricky part is diethyl ether which has no OH group but still has a dipole. Compare it carefully with the alkanes before deciding its position.

Last 5 Days Before JEE Advanced 2026: What to Actually Do

I will keep this short because you do not have time to read a long strategy post right now.

Do not start new topics. Just do not. If a chapter is not in your head by now, cramming it in five days will just mix up what you already know. Use this time to go over your old mock test mistakes. The ones you marked and told yourself you would revisit. Now is that time.

Spend some time each day on integer type questions. No negative marking means no reason to leave them blank. But since there are no options either, you have to actually solve them. That skill needs a little practice to feel comfortable.

Sleep. Properly. Not five hours. Not four. Your brain actually stores and retrieves information better after proper rest. Students who stay up all night before the exam and feel sharp in the morning are usually not as sharp as they think once the paper starts.

On exam day read each question to the end before you start writing. JEE Advanced questions have the twist in the last line more often than you think. If you read half the question and start working, you might answer something the question was not even asking.

Good luck on May 17. You have put the work in. Trust that.

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