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Sunday, 25 October

JEE Main · Chemistry · Class 11

Practical Chemistry (Qualitative Analysis): JEE Main previous year questions

9 questions in 8 of the 108 JEE Main shifts Lumi analysed, asked in 5 of 8 years. Here is what this chapter tests and how.

Questions
9
in 8 of 108 shifts · 5 of 8 years
Average a shift
0.1
of 25 Chemistry · 0.1 since 2024 0.0
Typical range
0.0–0.1
questions a shift; fewest 0.0, most 0.1
Weighted estimate
0.1
model, recent years count more · about 0.3 marks
  • Typical range (fact)
  • Average a shift (fact)
  • Weighted estimate (model)

Questions are counted per shift, out of the 25 each subject has, in the shifts Lumi analysed; papers that offered 30 a subject (2017, 2021–2024) are scaled to 25. Typical range: the middle six of the eight years (2017, 2020–2026), leaving out the single highest and lowest year. The average and the range are historical fact. The weighted estimate is a model: each year's share, with recent years counting more (half-life three years), and chapters NTA dropped from the syllabus set near zero. It is a guide to effort, not a forecast of the paper.

What to do

How to spend time on Practical Chemistry (Qualitative Analysis)

Priority

Lower priority

One of the 6 Chemistry chapters that shared the last fifth of Chemistry questions in the 108 shifts analysed. How bands are set

Past questions
9in 8 of 108 shifts
Study plan gives it
6 hover 12 months; 5 h over 6

Ideas asked most often

  1. Cation Flame Colors3×
  2. Acetate Neutral FeCl3 Test2×

Within each subject, chapters in NTA's 2026 syllabus are ranked by their average questions a shift over all 8 years analysed (history, not the model). Going down that list, the chapters that together held the first half of the subject's questions are Must do; the next ones, up to 80%, are Should do; the rest are Lower priority.

Key findings

Practical Chemistry (Qualitative Analysis) at a glance

  1. 01

    11%

    of its questions asked for a numerical answer, 0.4 times the Chemistry average.

  2. 02

    0%

    of its questions were rated hard, against 6% across all Chemistry questions in the same shifts.

Questions a shift, year by year

Out of the 25 Chemistry questions in a shift. Years differ in how many shifts Lumi analysed, so each year is scaled to one shift.

0240’170’200’210.1’220.1’230.1’240’250.1’26

Raw count: 2017: 0 in 1 shift · 2020: 0 in 12 shifts · 2021: 1 in 24 shifts · 2022: 2 in 24 shifts · 2023: 2 in 12 shifts · 2024: 3 in 18 shifts · 2025: 0 in 8 shifts · 2026: 1 in 9 shifts.

Kind of question

SHARE OF QUESTIONS
  • Recall, single correct33%
  • Match the list33%
  • Numerical answer11%
  • Multi-step11%
  • Application11%

Most common asks: identify cation and anion from test observations (1); identify compound by colour (1); molar mass of salt giving no coloured vapour (1).

Profile

This chapter in numbers

Where it ranks, how steady it is, and what it costs to study.

Rank, all JEE chapters
#70
of 70 by weighted estimate
Rank in Chemistry
#21
of 21 chapters
Share of Chemistry
0.2%
of its questions, all shifts analysed
Busiest year
2022
0.1 questions a shift
Year to year
Swings a lot
varies by about 0.1 questions a shift
Long-run direction
+0.01
questions a shift, per year
Easy questions
56%
0% rated hard
Numerical answer
11%
0.4× the Chemistry rate
With a figure
0%
graph, diagram or structure
Study time
6 h
5 h on a 6-month plan
Marks per study hour
0.05
#70 of 70 chapters
Foundation for others
50%
of its ideas are used in other chapters

Difficulty, year by year

Each question rated easy, medium or hard. Each bar is that year’s split, so years compare directly; the number is the questions in that year’s analysed shifts (1 to 24 shifts a year).

  • 2017
  • 2020
  • 20211
  • 20222
  • 20232
  • 20243
  • 2025
  • 20261
  • Easy
  • Medium
  • Hard

What it asks you to do

SHARE OF QUESTIONS
  • Recall67%
  • Multi-step22%
  • Application11%

Topics

What repeats, topic by topic

This chapter's questions per topic in each year's analysed shifts. The number is the count; the shade is scaled to one shift, so a year with more analysed shifts (1 to 24 a year) does not look darker. 1 questions had no close topic in Lumi's map and count for the chapter only.

’17’20’21’22’23’24’25’26
01+questions in that year’s analysed shifts, shaded per shift
  • Cation Analysis

    As a topic: 21 questions in 6 of 8 years, most often single correct, 10% numerical answer.

  • Anion Analysis

    As a topic: 19 questions in 7 of 8 years, most often single correct, 5% numerical answer.

Drill down

Topic, idea, question

Open a topic to see every idea JEE Main tested inside it, then open an idea to read the questions. Each row shows its 8 years.

  • Open5 · 56%

    4 ideas inside

    • OpenRepeated2 · 40%
    • Open1 · 20%
    • Open1 · 20%
    • Open1 · 20%
  • Open3 · 33%

Squares are the 8 years with analysed shifts, 2017 to 2026. A number is the questions that year when there is more than one; the shade is scaled to one shift, so a year with more analysed shifts (1 to 24 a year) does not look darker. Share is of the level above.

Ideas

The exact ideas JEE Main has asked

Inside the topics, 6 different ideas were tested; 2 came more than once. These are the repeats, then the ideas new since 2024.

Dots are the 8 years with analysed shifts, 2017 to 2026.

Every question

All 9 Practical Chemistry (Qualitative Analysis) questions

Newest first, shift by shift. Each opens with its options and the official answer.

JEE Main 20261 question

  1. 2 Apr 2026, Shift 1 · Q70A salt with few drops of conc. HCl gives apple green colour in flame test. The group precipitate of the salt is dissolved in acetic acid…MediumSingle correct

JEE Main 20243 questions

  1. 6 Apr 2024, Shift 1 · Q72Match List I with List II LIST I (Precipitating reagent and conditions) A. NH4Cl+NH4OH\mathrm{NH_4Cl + NH_4OH} B. NH4OH+Na2CO3\mathrm{NH_4OH + Na_2CO_3} C.…MediumMatch the list
  2. 31 Jan 2024, Shift 1 · Q80The compound that is white in color isEasySingle correct
  3. 31 Jan 2024, Shift 1 · Q90Molar mass of the salt from NaBr\mathrm{NaBr}, NaNO3\mathrm{NaNO_3}, KI\mathrm{KI} and CaF2\mathrm{CaF_2} which does not evolve coloured vapours…EasyNumerical value

JEE Main 20232 questions

  1. 11 Apr 2023, Shift 1 · Q80When a solution of mixture having two inorganic salts was treated with freshly prepared ferrous sulphate in acidic medium, a dark brown…EasySingle correct
  2. 13 Apr 2023, Shift 2 · Q73In the wet tests for detection of various cations by precipitation, Ba2+\mathrm{Ba^{2+}} cations are detected by obtaining precipitate ofEasySingle correct

JEE Main 20222 questions

  1. 24 Jun 2022, Shift 2 · Q80In the flame test of a mixture of salts, a green flame with blue centre was observed. Which one of the following cations may be present?EasySingle correct
  2. 27 Jun 2022, Shift 2 · Q80Match List I with List II. List I (Anion) | List II (gas evolved on reaction with dil.H2SO4\mathrm{H_2SO_4}) A. CO32−\mathrm{CO_3^{2-}} | I.…MediumMatch the list

JEE Main 20211 question

  1. 3 Aug 2021, Shift 2 · Q48Match List I with II List I | List II (Ion detected) A. Borax Bead test | I. As3+\mathrm{As^{3+}} B. Charcoal cavity test | II.…MediumMatch the list

Questions from the official JEE Main papers published by NTA. Chapter, topic and idea tags, counts and notes are Lumi’s. Pattern: Asked most years.

More Chemistry, Class 11

All JEE Main chaptersJEE Main Chemistry analysisStudy plan