JEE Main · Physics · Motion in a Plane

Projectile Motion: JEE Main previous year questions

Name: Projectile Motion: JEE Main previous year questions
Creator: Lumi

44 questions in the 108 JEE Main shifts Lumi analysed, in 6 of 8 years. Pattern: Asked most years. 15 came in 2024–26. Here is how it is asked and which ideas come back.

Questions: 44; in 40 of 108 shifts
Years asked: 6/8; last asked 2026
Chance in a shift: 47%; calibrated model, how we compute it
Weighted estimate: 0.4; model; history: 0.3 a shift on average, typically 0.0–0.6

Key findings

01
Asked in 6 of 8 years with analysed shifts and in 40 of 108 shifts: 44 questions, #73 of 196 topics.
02
39% of its questions since 2020 tested an idea no earlier year had asked; 24 repeated an idea from the year before.
03
The most repeated idea is Ground-to-Ground Parameters, asked 19 times in 19 shifts (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026), most often as “ratio of ranges at two angles”.
04
JEE Main has asked 12 of the 57 ideas in this topic; 42 have never been asked, directly or inside another question.
05
Mostly asked as single correct (66%); 27% need a numerical answer, 43% are easy and 5% hard. It went up from 0.3 to 0.5 questions a shift since 2024.
06
The skill tested most is calculation (48%), then multi-step (25%).

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: 5 in 24 shifts · 2022: 17 in 24 shifts · 2023: 7 in 12 shifts · 2024: 6 in 18 shifts · 2025: 5 in 8 shifts · 2026: 4 in 9 shifts.

Up to 2023: 0.3; a shift, of 25
Since 2024: 0.5; 0.2
Usual gap: 1.0 yrs; between years asking it
Shifts with it: 40/108; 37% of analysed shifts

Revise first

Ground-to-Ground Parameters · asked 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026
Instantaneous Projectile Velocity · asked 2022, 2023, 2026
Horizontal Projection from Height · asked 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025

How it is asked

Difficulty, format and skill

Across all 44 questions on Projectile Motion since 2017.

Difficulty

QUESTIONS

1923

Easy19 · 43%
Medium23 · 52%
Hard2 · 5%

Format

Single correct · 29 Q66%
Numerical value · 12 Q27%
Assertion–reason · 2 Q5%
Diagram based · 1 Q2%

Skill tested

Calculation · 21 Q48%
Multi-step · 11 Q25%
Application · 9 Q20%
Conceptual · 2 Q5%
Data or graph · 1 Q2%

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 12 of the 57 ideas in this topic. 42 have never been asked yet.

1242

Asked directly12 · 21%
Touched inside another question3 · 5%
Never asked42 · 74%

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

OpenRepeated19 · 43%43%6/86542
- 4 Apr ’26 S1 · Q31
  The two projectiles are projected with the same initial velocities at the $15^\circ$ and $30^\circ$ with respect to the horizontal. The…
  easySingle correctAsked the year before
- 4 Apr ’26 S2 · Q47
  A gun mounted on the ground fires bullets in all directions with same speed. The farthest distance the bullets could reach is 6.4 m. The…
  easyNumerical valueAsked the year before
- 3 Apr ’25 S1 · Q29
  The angle of projection of a particle is measured from the vertical axis as $\phi$ and the maximum height reached by the particle is…
  mediumDiagram basedAsked the year before
- 3 Apr ’25 S2 · Q27
  A particle is projected with velocity $u$ so that its horizontal range is three times the maximum height attained by it. The horizontal…
  mediumSingle correctAsked the year before
- 7 Apr ’25 S1 · Q31
  Two projectiles are fired from ground with same initial speeds from same point at angles $(45^\circ + \alpha)$ and $(45^\circ - \alpha)$ …
  mediumSingle correctAsked the year before
- 8 Apr ’25 S2 · Q30
  Two balls with same mass and initial velocity, are projected at different angles in such a way that maximum height reached by first ball…
  mediumSingle correctAsked the year before
- 8 Apr ’24 S2 · Q32
  The angle of projection for a projectile to have same horizontal range and maximum height is :
  easySingle correctAsked the year before
- 6 Apr ’23 S1 · Q47
  Given below are two statements : one is labelled as Assertion A and the other is labelled as Reason R. Assertion A : When a body is…
  easyAssertion–reasonAsked the year before
- 8 Apr ’23 S1 · Q39
  Two projectiles A and B are thrown with initial velocities of $40\ \mathrm{m/s}$ and $60\ \mathrm{m/s}$ at angles $30^\circ$ and…
  mediumSingle correctAsked the year before
- 10 Apr ’23 S1 · Q39
  The range of the projectile projected at an angle of $15^\circ$ with horizontal is 50 m. If the projectile is projected with same velocity…
  easySingle correctAsked the year before
- 10 Apr ’23 S2 · Q38
  Two projectiles are projected at $30^\circ$ and $60^\circ$ with the horizontal with the same speed. The ratio of the maximum height…
  easySingle correctAsked the year before
- 11 Apr ’23 S1 · Q60
  A projectile fired at $30^\circ$ to the ground is observed to be at same height at time 3s and 5s after projection, during its flight. The…
  mediumNumerical valueAsked the year before
- 25 Jul ’22 S2 · Q48
  A ball is projected from the ground with a speed 15 ms $^{-1}$ at an angle $\theta$ with horizontal so that its range and maximum height…
  easySingle correctAsked the year before
- 26 Jul ’22 S1 · Q49
  Two projectiles thrown at $30°$ and $45°$ with the horizontal respectively, reach the maximum height in same time. The ratio of their…
  easySingle correctAsked the year before
- 26 Jul ’22 S2 · Q31
  Two projectiles are thrown with same initial velocity making an angle of $45^\circ$ and $30^\circ$ with the horizontal respectively. The…
  easySingle correctAsked the year before
- 27 Jul ’22 S1 · Q60
  A ball of mass m is thrown vertically upward. Another ball of mass 2 m is thrown at an angle $\theta$ with the vertical. Both the balls…
  mediumNumerical valueAsked the year before
- 29 Jul ’22 S1 · Q35
  A ball is projected with kinetic energy E, at an angle of $60^\circ$ to the horizontal. The kinetic energy of this ball at the highest…
  easySingle correctAsked the year before
- 30 Jun ’22 S1 · Q34
  Read the question
  mediumSingle correctAsked the year before
- 27 Aug ’21 S2 · Q4
  Read the question
  easySingle correctNew idea
OpenRepeated5 · 11%11%3/822
OpenRepeated4 · 9%9%2/83
OpenRepeated4 · 9%9%4/8
OpenRepeated4 · 9%9%3/82
Open2 · 5%5%1/82
Open1 · 2%2%1/8
Open1 · 2%2%1/8
Open1 · 2%2%1/8
Open1 · 2%2%1/8
Open1 · 2%2%1/8
Open1 · 2%2%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

12 different ideas were tested; 6 came more than once.

Ground-to-Ground Parameters19×
ratio of ranges at two angles
Single correct · 19 shifts · 3 numerical
Trajectory Equation Application5×
equation of trajectory from velocity vector
Single correct · 5 shifts · 1 numerical
Complementary Angles Range and Ratios4×
range from two flight times
Numerical value · 4 shifts · 2 numerical
Instantaneous Projectile Velocity4×
projectile angle from coordinates
Single correct · 4 shifts · 1 numerical
Horizontal Projection from Height4×
displacement of object dropped from moving helicopter
Single correct · 4 shifts · 1 numerical
Angle of Elevation of Maximum Height2×
angle of projection from maximum height and circular speed
Numerical value · 2 shifts · 1 numerical
Angled Projection from Height1×
ratio of projection speeds from tower
Single correct · 1 shift
Horizontal Projection onto a Staircase1×
minimum speed to reach staircase step
Numerical value · 1 shift · 1 numerical
Height at Maximum Range1×
maximum height from maximum range
Single correct · 1 shift
Relative Motion of Two Projectiles1×
launch angle to hit moving aircraft
Numerical value · 1 shift · 1 numerical
Velocity Vector Angle as a Function of Time1×
projectile angle from time and range
Single correct · 1 shift
Change in Momentum During Flight1×
momentum change between two points of projectile
Numerical value · 1 shift · 1 numerical

Idea	Times	Shifts	Format	Numerical
Ground-to-Ground Parametersratio of ranges at two angles	19	19	Single correctCalculation	3
Trajectory Equation Applicationequation of trajectory from velocity vector	5	5	Single correctCalculation	1
Complementary Angles Range and Ratiosrange from two flight times	4	4	Numerical valueCalculation	2
Instantaneous Projectile Velocityprojectile angle from coordinates	4	4	Single correctCalculation	1
Horizontal Projection from Heightdisplacement of object dropped from moving helicopter	4	4	Single correctCalculation	1
Angle of Elevation of Maximum Heightangle of projection from maximum height and circular speed	2	2	Numerical valueCalculation	1
Angled Projection from Heightratio of projection speeds from tower	1	1	Single correctMulti-step	–
Horizontal Projection onto a Staircaseminimum speed to reach staircase step	1	1	Numerical valueCalculation	1
Height at Maximum Rangemaximum height from maximum range	1	1	Single correctApplication	–
Relative Motion of Two Projectileslaunch angle to hit moving aircraft	1	1	Numerical valueMulti-step	1
Velocity Vector Angle as a Function of Timeprojectile angle from time and range	1	1	Single correctMulti-step	–
Change in Momentum During Flightmomentum change between two points of projectile	1	1	Numerical valueCalculation	1

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

Projectile Motion questions, year by year

The newest 40 show their opening words as they appeared in the official paper; older ones name the idea they tested. Open one for its options and the official answer.

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.

Key findings

Questions a shift, year by year

Difficulty, format and skill

Difficulty

Format

Skill tested

New idea, or one asked before?

Coverage of the topic

Idea, year, question

Every idea inside this topic

Projectile Motion questions, year by year

JEE Main 20264 questions in 3 shifts

JEE Main 20255 questions in 5 shifts

JEE Main 20246 questions in 5 shifts

JEE Main 20237 questions in 7 shifts

JEE Main 202217 questions in 15 shifts

JEE Main 20215 questions in 5 shifts

More topics in Motion in a Plane