The National Testing Agency (NTA) has successfully concluded the Joint Entrance Exam – Main (JEE Main) 2026 session 2 exam on April 8, 2026. The exam was conducted in two shifts: Morning (9 AM to 12 PM) and Evening (3 to 6 PM) across India and 15 cities abroad. The JEE Main Session 2 Exam 2026 was observed to be moderate to difficult in the paper level, as compared to the JEE Main Session 1 2026, which was lengthy and moderate in difficulty level.
The toughest shift JEE Main 2026 Exam for Session 2 was April 6 Shift 1, while the JEE Mains Toughest Shift 2026 of the January session remains the 2nd shift of January 23, according to students. The exam not only targeted conceptual clarity but also tested students with its length. Overall, the April session has been described as less tricky than January, with a heavy reliance on Previous Year Questions (PYQs). However, the length of the papers has remained a consistent hurdle for students aiming for high scores. According to initial student feedback and expert reviews, April 4, 2026 Shift 2 is currently rated as the easiest shift of the April 2026 session. Candidates can check out the detailed JEE Main 2026 Analysis further in the article.
JEE Main Jan vs April Sessions 2026: Day-wise and shift-wise analysis
Candidates can refer to the table below for the day-wise and shift-wise analysis of the JEE Main Session 2 2026.
| Date | Shift | Overall difficulty |
| April 2, 2026 | Shift 1 | Moderate |
| April 2, 2026 | Shift 2 | Moderate |
| April 4, 2026 | Shift 1 | Moderate |
| April 4, 2026 | Shift 2 | Easy to moderate |
| April 5, 2026 | Shift 1 | Moderate |
| April 5, 2026 | Shift 2 | Moderate |
| April 6, 2026 | Shift 1 | Tough |
| April 6, 2026 | Shift 2 | Tough to moderate |
| April 8, 2026 | Shift 1 | Moderate |
It must be noted that some shifts were termed as more difficult and lengthy than other shifts by students. The final JEE Main percentile 2026 will be released after the normalisation of scores.
JEE Main Jan vs April Sessions 2026: Overall analysis
The April 2026 session of JEE Main followed a consistent pattern where the students struggled with time management and the paper being lengthy. While the overall difficulty across most shifts was rated as moderate to tough, this was primarily due to the conceptual and time-consuming questions in the Mathematics sections. Physics and Chemistry remained the score boosters of the April session, with more NCERT-focused questions, which allowed prepared students to secure early marks before tackling the more demanding math problems.
