IIT-JEE 2012 Pattern and Analysis

IIT-JEE, the most challenging of the Engineering Entrance exams in the country; probably
conducted for the last time (since from 2013 we are looking forward to ISEET), it has not lost
its charm at all and has retained its glory as ever. IIT-JEE 2012 was conducted on 8
th
April
2012 in 1067 centres with about 5.6 lakh candidates. Paper 1 was from 9.00 12.00 hrs and
paper 2 from 14.00 to 17.00 hrs.

For the first time, the aspirants could use only a Black Ball Point pen on the OMR sheet and
JEE permitted students to carry a copy of their OMR sheets with them as they walk out of the
examination hall. Answer key to the JEE 2012 questions will be displayed on the JEE website
after 7
th
May, 2012.

There were 10 versions for IIT-JEE 2012 0 to 9. The order of subjects in both papers were
the same Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics and but the total marks, the number of
questions and types of questions in both papers were distinct from each other.

Paper 1
Paper1 had 70 questions in total for 210 marks - in the order of Physics, Chemistry and
Mathematics. Each subject had 20 questions and the pattern was exactly the same for all the
subjects.

Type of question
Number
of
questions
Marks for
a correct
answer
Negative
marking
Total
Marks for
the Section
Section I - Single Correct Answer Type 10 3 1 30
Section II - Multiple Correct Answers
Type
5 4 NIL 20
Section III - Integer Answer Type 5 4 NIL 20




Part 1 - Physics
Physics part of paper 1 of the IIT-JEE 2012 was commented to be a comfortable paper for the
aspirants even though a few questions involved tedious calculations.
Integration of concepts across the topics was not reflected in majority of the questions; this
was one reason which made this paper easier.
One may note as given below about 50 % of the Physics of paper 1 is categorized as Easy.
PHYSICS - PAPER I - Difficulty Analysis
(on a total of 70 marks)
49%
19%
33%
Easy
Medium
Difficult


The topic wise distribution of the questions is shown below:

PHYSICS - PAPER I - Topic wise Analysis
(on a total of 70 marks)
9%
24%
9%
4%
6%
48%
Electricity &
Magnetism
Heat &
thermodynamics
Mechanics
Modern Physics
General Physics
Optics







Part 2 Chemistry

Chemistry of Paper 1 of IIT-JEE 2012 contains questions of moderate difficulty level. More
emphasis was to Physical and Organic Chemistry portions and only a very nominal
representation was given to Inorganic Chemistry.
As given below about 50% of the paper was considered Easy and hence this was a student
friendly paper.
CHEMISTRY - PAPER I - Difficulty Analysis
(on a total of 70 marks)
10%
49%
41%
Easy
Medium
Difficult


The topic wise analysis of paper 1 for Chemistry is shown below.
CHEMISTRY - PAPER I - Topic wise Analysis
(on a total of 70 marks)
14%
40%
46%
Inorganic
Chemistry
Organic
Chemistry
Physical
Chemistry




Part 3 Mathematics

Mathematics part of paper 1 of IIT-JEE 2012 was a moderately difficult paper that involved
both algebraic manipulations and in-depth subject knowledge. One particular question in
Integral inequality was tricky since the aspirants might know only the standard results.
With only 30% of the marks under the easy category, this is a challenging paper.
MATHEMATICS - PAPER I - Difficulty Analysis
(on a total of 70 marks)
30%
36%
34%
Easy
Medium
Difficult


Calculus, Algebra and Coordinate Geometry had major shares but the other areas were also
well represented. Topic wise analysis is given below.

MATHEMATICS - PAPER I - Topic wise Analysis
(on a total of 70 marks)
20%
24%
20%
16%
6%
14%
Algebra
Coordinate
Geometry
Differential
Calculus
Integral Calculus
Trigonometry
Vectors, 3-D,
Matrices &
Determinants




Paper 2

Paper 2 had 60 questions in total - in the order of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. Each
subject had 20 questions and as in paper 1 the pattern was exactly the same across the
subjects. All Single correct questions had 3 marks for a correct answer whereas Multiple
correct questions had 4 marks, each subject had 66 marks and the maximum mark for the
paper was 198.

Type of question
Number
of
questions
Marks for
a correct
answer
Negative
marking
Total
Marks for
the Section
Section I - Single Correct Choice Type 8 3 1 24
Section II - Paragraph Type 6 3 1 18
Section III Multiple Correct answers
Type
6 4 NIL 16

Part 1 - Physics

Physics part of paper 2 of the IIT-JEE 2012 was more difficult than paper 1. There was an
ambiguity about the shaded portion in one of the single correct answer type questions (Qn.4
in version 0). In general comprehension based (paragraph type) questions were perceived as
difficult by the students especially questions using concepts from Rotational Dynamics (Qn.
13 & 14 in version 0)
The difficulty analysis and the topic wise analysis are shown below:

PHYSICS - PAPER 2 - Difficulty Analysis
(on a total of 66 marks)
62%
23%
15%
Easy
Medium
Difficult



PHYSICS - PAPER 2 - Topic wise Analysis
(on a total of 66 marks)
5%
40%
9%
5%
9%
32%
Electricity &
Magnetism
Heat &
thermodynamics
Mechanics
Modern Physics
Properties of Matter
Optics




Part 2 Chemistry

Chemistry part of Paper 2 of IIT-JEE 2012 was considered difficult compared to paper 1.
More in-depth knowledge was necessary to solve many questions of this paper. There was
one question (Qn.22 in version 0) that contained a likely improbable answer.

CHEMISTRY - PAPER 2 - Difficulty Analysis
(on a total of 66 marks)
33%
14%
53%
Easy
Medium
Difficult


Representation of Inorganic Chemistry in paper 2 compensated for the lesser representation
of the same in paper 1.
CHEMISTRY - PAPER 2 - Topic wise Analysis
(on a total of 66 marks)
35%
30%
35%
Inorganic
Chemistry
Organic
Chemistry
Physical
Chemistry




Part 3 Mathematics

Mathematics part of Paper 2 IIT-JEE 2012 was a hairline easier than paper 1. Though there
were quite a number of questions to choose from, some of the questions were time
consuming. Comprehension in Algebra on number theory was difficult from the student point
of view and one might not reach to prove the hypothesis in a direct way.


MATHEMATICS - PAPER 2 - Difficulty Analysis
(on a total of 66 marks)
45%
11%
44%
Easy
Medium
Difficult

Algebra had a major share compared to Calculus. The topic wise distribution is shown below:

MATHEMATICS - PAPER 2 - Topic wise Analysis
(on a total of 66 marks)
9%
17%
15%
11%
9%
39%
Algebra
Coordinate
Geometry
Differential
Calculus
Integral Calculus
Trigonometry
Vectors, 3-D,
Matrices &
Determinants