JEE Main 2026 Result Soon: Will Bonus Marks Be Awarded for Dropped Questions?
New Delhi, February 13, 2026: The Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main 2026 Session-1 results are expected to be declared soon, with the National Testing Agency (NTA) likely to publish the final answer key and scorecards by February 16, 2026. The delay from the earlier expected date is attributed to a thorough review of objections raised on the provisional answer key released earlier this month.
Why the Delay in Results?
After releasing the provisional answer key, lakhs of candidates submitted objections on various questions citing ambiguous data, incorrect options, or multiple correct answers. These objections required detailed review by expert committees — a process that has postponed the result announcement by several days.
Final Answer Key and Dropped Questions
Reports suggest that a number of questions across shifts could be dropped from the final answer key due to the issues identified. When a question is officially dropped:
- It is removed from scoring completely, and
- Bonus marks (+4) are usually awarded to all candidates who appeared in the affected session — regardless of whether they attempted that specific question.
However, NTA has not yet officially confirmed exactly how many questions will be dropped or whether bonus marks will be awarded — the final answer key will provide clarity on this.
What About Bonus Marks?
According to JEE Main rules and precedent:
- If a question is found to be incorrect beyond correction — such as wrong data or ambiguous wording — and is omitted from the final key, all candidates get full marks (+4) for that dropped question.
- If an answer is simply corrected rather than dropped, then only those who originally marked the correct option receive the full marks.
Expert analyses and student discussions suggest that several questions in Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics could be omitted. If this happens, affected candidates would benefit from bonus marks, which might influence their raw scores before percentile calculations.
What Happens Next?
Once the final answer key is published — expected ahead of the Session-1 result announcement — NTA will compute raw scores, apply normalization across shifts, and announce percentile scores that determine candidates’ ranks and qualifying status for JEE Advanced 2026.
Candidates will be able to check their results and download their scorecards using their application number and date of birth on the official JEE Main portals once the results are live.
