JEE Main 2026 Final Answer Key Out: 9 Questions Dropped by NTA, How Will It Impact Results?

The National Testing Agency (NTA) released the final answer key for JEE Main 2026 Session 1 today. And in a major update—NTA has removed nine questions from the paper.

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Students can download the final answer key PDF directly from the official website, jeemain.nta.nic.in. No login is required. The PDF is freely available on the portal.

👉 Download the JEE Main 20206 Final Answer Keys PDF

Why Were 9 Questions Dropped?

After NTA released the provisional answer key, students got a window to challenge answers they believed were wrong. NTA then sent those challenged questions to a panel of subject experts for review.

Based on the experts' recommendations, NTA either accepted or rejected each claim. In this case, 9 questions didn't hold up under review. NTA decided to drop them entirely from the final evaluation.

How Do Dropped Questions Affect Your Score?

This is the part most students are wondering about. When NTA drops a question, it means that question won't count against anyone. Every student who attempted that paper gets full marks for those dropped questions — regardless of what they answered.

So if you attempted a dropped question and marked the wrong answer, you won't lose marks. And if you got it right, you still get your four marks.

This changes the game a bit. Students who lost marks on these 9 questions in their rough calculations will now see a boost in their actual scores. That could shift percentiles and ranks noticeably — especially in a competitive exam like JEE Main where even one mark matters.

CFI Raised Objections Against 17 Questions

Before the final answer key came out, the Coaching Federation of India (CFI) made some serious accusations. CFI claimed that NTA's provisional answer key had multiple errors. They said these mistakes could drastically affect student rankings.

CFI identified 17 problematic questions in total. Their concerns ranged from ambiguous wording and calculation errors to incorrect answer options and questions with more than one correct response.

Out of those 17, CFI said 10 questions were fundamentally flawed and demanded bonus marks for them. They flagged the remaining 7 for technical inaccuracies.

NTA has dropped 9 questions in the final key. It's not yet clear how many of those overlap with the 17 questions CFI flagged. But the fact that NTA dropped a significant number does suggest that several objections had merit.

How to Download the JEE Main 2026 Session-1 Final Answer Key

Check the steps below to download the JEE Mains final keys:

1. Visit the official website of JEE Mains - jeemain.nta.nic.in 2026.
2. On the home page of the website, look for the "final answer key link"
3. Open the link, and the JEE Mains final answer key 2026 PDF will be displayed.
4. Download it and use it for the final raw marks calculation using the JEE Mains response sheet 2026.

When Will JEE Main 2026 Session-1 Results Be Declared?

NTA is expected to announce Session-1 results by 12 February 2026. The results will be available on the same official website — jeemain.nta.nic.in.

Once results are out, students can download their scorecards with NTA scores, percentiles, and subject-wise breakdowns.

What Should Students Do Now?

Download the final answer key and recalculate your score. Pay close attention to the 9 dropped questions. If you'd marked wrong answers on any of them, your actual score will be higher than what you estimated earlier.

If you're appearing for Session-2, don't wait for results to start preparing. Use the gap to work on areas where you felt weak during Session-1.

Keep checking jeemain.nta.nic.in regularly. NTA could release results any day now.

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