Optics in JEE Main: weightage, trend and PYQs (2002–2026)

Optics has appeared in 353 JEE Main questions between 2002 and 2026. In the last five years it ranks #1 of 21 Physics chapters by how often it was asked, with 211 questions.

It is being asked more: about 42.2 questions a year in the last five years, up from 20.0 before that.

Year-wise weightage

Counts are questions per year across all sessions and shifts, so years with more shifts naturally have more.

Difficulty and question type

Of the 353 questions, 27% were easy, 60% medium and 13% hard. 94 were numerical-answer questions, so practise getting exact values, not just eliminating options.

Latest Optics questions

• JEE Main 2026 · 23 Jan Morning shift: Consider light travelling from a medium A to medium B separated by a plane interface. If the light undergoes total…
• JEE Main 2026 · 28 Jan Morning shift: Given below are two statements: Statement I: A plane wave after passing through prism remains as plane wave but…
• JEE Main 2026 · 22 Jan Evening shift: The wavelength of light, while it is passing through water is 540 nm. The refractive index of water is 4/3. The…
• JEE Main 2026 · 23 Jan Evening shift: When an unpolarized light falls at a particular angle on a glass plate (placed in air), it is observed that the…
• JEE Main 2026 · 24 Jan Morning shift: In a microscope of tube length 10 cm two convex lenses are arranged with focal length of 2 cm and 5 cm. Total…
• JEE Main 2026 · 8 Apr Evening shift: A thin biconvex lens is prepared from the glass (μ=1.5) both curved surfaces of which have equal radii of 20 cm each…
• JEE Main 2026 · 24 Jan Evening shift: Distance between an object and three times magnified real image is 40 cm. The focal length of the mirror used is _ _ _…
• JEE Main 2026 · 4 Apr Morning shift: A slit of width a is illuminated by light of wavelength λ. The linear separation between 1st and 3rd minima in the…

See all 353 with worked solutions on the Optics chapter page.