JEE Main · Physics · Magnetism and Matter

Earth's Magnetism: JEE Main previous year questions

Name: Earth's Magnetism: JEE Main previous year questions
Creator: Lumi

6 questions in the 108 JEE Main shifts Lumi analysed, in 3 of 8 years. Pattern: Comes in cycles. 0 came in 2024–26. Here is how it is asked and which ideas come back.

Questions: 6; in 6 of 108 shifts
Years asked: 3/8; last asked 2023
Chance in a shift: 9%; calibrated model, how we compute it
Weighted estimate: 0.0; model; history: 0.0 a shift on average, typically 0.0–0.1

Key findings

01
Asked in 3 of 8 years with analysed shifts and in 6 of 108 shifts: 6 questions, #186 of 196 topics. Last asked in 2023.
02
67% of its questions since 2020 tested an idea no earlier year had asked; 2 repeated an idea from the year before.
03
The most repeated idea is Magnetic Inclination (Dip), asked 2 times in 2 shifts (2022, 2023), most often as “ratio of earth field from oscillations and dip”.
04
JEE Main has asked 4 of the 58 ideas in this topic; 53 have never been asked, directly or inside another question.
05
Mostly asked as single correct (83%); 17% need a numerical answer, 33% are easy and 17% hard.
06
The skill tested most is calculation (50%), then multi-step (33%).

Questions a shift, year by year

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

Raw count: 2017: 0 in 1 shift · 2020: 0 in 12 shifts · 2021: 1 in 24 shifts · 2022: 4 in 24 shifts · 2023: 1 in 12 shifts · 2024: 0 in 18 shifts · 2025: 0 in 8 shifts · 2026: 0 in 9 shifts.

Up to 2023: 0.1; a shift, of 25
Since 2024: 0.0; -0.1
Usual gap: 1.0 yrs; between years asking it
Shifts with it: 6/108; 6% of analysed shifts

How it is asked

Difficulty, format and skill

Across all 6 questions on Earth's Magnetism since 2017.

Difficulty

QUESTIONS

231

Easy2 · 33%
Medium3 · 50%
Hard1 · 17%

Format

Single correct · 5 Q83%
Numerical value · 1 Q17%

Skill tested

Calculation · 3 Q50%
Multi-step · 2 Q33%
Conceptual · 1 Q17%

Repeats

New idea, or one asked before?

Each column is a year. Blue questions tested an idea no earlier year had asked; navy ones went back to an idea from an earlier year. 2017 is the first year, so everything in it counts as new. Heights are question counts, and Lumi analysed 1 to 24 shifts a year, so compare the split inside a column rather than heights across years.

’17’20’21’22’23’24’25’26

Idea asked for the first time
Idea asked in an earlier year

Coverage of the topic

JEE Main has asked 4 of the 58 ideas in this topic. 53 have never been asked yet.

Asked directly4 · 7%
Touched inside another question1 · 2%
Never asked53 · 91%

Ideas come from Lumi’s JEE syllabus map. A never-asked idea is not a safe skip: across all of JEE Main, 22% of questions since 2024 tested an idea no earlier year had asked.

Drill down

Idea, year, question

Every idea JEE Main tested in this topic, with its eight years. Open one to read the questions.

ideaAskedShareYears’17’20’21’22’23’24’25’26

OpenRepeated2 · 33%33%2/8
- 27 Jul ’22 S1 · Q43
  A magnet hung at 45° with magnetic meridian makes an angle of 60° with the horizontal. The actual value of the angle of dip is -
  mediumSingle correctAsked the year before
- 22 Jul ’21 S2 · Q2
  Choose the correct option :
  mediumSingle correctNew idea
OpenRepeated2 · 33%33%2/8
Open1 · 17%17%1/8
Open1 · 17%17%1/8

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

Every idea inside this topic

4 different ideas were tested; 2 came more than once.

Magnetic Inclination (Dip)2×
ratio of earth field from oscillations and dip
Numerical value · 2 shifts · 1 numerical
Apparent Dip Calculation2×
true dip from apparent dip
Single correct · 2 shifts
Field Vector Components1×
total field from dip angle and horizontal component
Single correct · 1 shift
Vibration Magnetometer Time Period1×
ratio of total field from oscillation frequency and dip
Single correct · 1 shift

Idea	Times	Shifts	Format	Numerical
Magnetic Inclination (Dip)ratio of earth field from oscillations and dip	2	2	Numerical valueCalculation	1
Apparent Dip Calculationtrue dip from apparent dip	2	2	Single correctCalculation	–
Field Vector Componentstotal field from dip angle and horizontal component	1	1	Single correctCalculation	–
Vibration Magnetometer Time Periodratio of total field from oscillation frequency and dip	1	1	Single correctMulti-step	–

Times and shifts count every analysed shift. Across JEE Main, 78% of questions since 2024 went back to an idea an earlier year had asked; the rest were new. All repeated ideas

Every question

Earth's Magnetism questions, year by year

The opening words of each question as it appeared in the official paper, with the idea it tested. Open one for its options and the official answer.

JEE Main 20231 question in 1 shift

12 Apr, Shift 1Q51
A compass needle oscillates 20 times per minute at a place where the dip is $30^\circ$ and 30 times per minute where the dip is…
Idea: Magnetic Inclination (Dip)
Asked the year beforeHardNumerical value

JEE Main 20224 questions in 4 shifts

27 Jul, Shift 1Q43
A magnet hung at 45° with magnetic meridian makes an angle of 60° with the horizontal. The actual value of the angle of dip is -
Idea: Apparent Dip Calculation
Asked the year beforeMediumSingle correct
27 Jul, Shift 2Q42
A compass needle of oscillation magnetometer oscillates 20 times per minute at a place P of dip $30^\circ$ . The number of oscillations per…
Idea: Vibration Magnetometer Time Period
New ideaMediumSingle correct
29 Jul, Shift 2Q48
The vertical component of the earth's magnetic field is $6\times10^{-5}$ T at any place where the angle of dip is $37^\circ$ . The earth's…
Idea: Magnetic Inclination (Dip)
New ideaEasySingle correct
29 Jun, Shift 1Q45
At a certain place the angle of dip is $30^\circ$ and the horizontal component of earth's magnetic field is 0.5 G. The earth's total…
Idea: Field Vector Components
New ideaEasySingle correct

JEE Main 20211 question in 1 shift

22 Jul, Shift 2Q2
Choose the correct option :
Idea: Apparent Dip Calculation
New ideaMediumSingle correct

Questions from the official JEE Main Paper 1 shifts published by NTA (CBSE for 2017). Questions NTA dropped are left out. Topic and idea tags, counts and notes are Lumi’s.