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Most talk about JEE Main is about Paper 1, the engineering paper. Paper 2 gets far less attention, so students who want to study architecture or planning often start preparing without knowing what it contains. This post sets out what NTA's 2026 bulletin says about Paper 2A (B.Arch) and Paper 2B (B.Planning), works two example questions and ends with a preparation plan.
NTA publishes a new information bulletin every year, and patterns can change. Everything below is from the JEE (Main) 2026 information bulletin and the JEE (Main) 2026 syllabus. Read the bulletin for your own exam year on jeemain.nta.nic.in before relying on any of it.
What is Paper 2, and who takes it?
The bulletin says JEE (Main) Paper 2 "is conducted for admission to B. Arch and B. Planning courses in the country". Paper 2A is for B.Arch and Paper 2B for B.Planning, and you can take either or both. Like Paper 1, both were held twice in the 2026 cycle, in January and April. Our post on how the two JEE Main sessions work explains which of your two scores counts for the merit list.
How is Paper 2A (B.Arch) structured?
Part I, Mathematics: 20 multiple-choice questions (Section A) and 5 numerical-value questions (Section B), 100 marks, on computer.
Part II, Aptitude Test: 50 multiple-choice questions, 200 marks, on computer.
Part III, Drawing Test: 2 questions, 100 marks, in pen and paper on an A4 drawing sheet.
That is 77 questions and 400 marks in 3 hours. MCQs and numerical questions score +4 for a correct answer and −1 for a wrong one, with no negative marking in the drawing test. Numerical answers are entered as integers, rounded to the nearest integer. The syllabus advises candidates to bring pencils, their own geometry box, erasers, colour pencils and crayons for the drawing test.
How is Paper 2B (B.Planning) structured?
Part I, Mathematics: 20 MCQs and 5 numerical questions, 100 marks.
Part II, Aptitude Test: 50 MCQs, 200 marks.
Part III, Planning-based questions: 25 MCQs, 100 marks.
That is 100 questions and 400 marks in 3 hours, all on computer, with the same +4 and −1 marking. Candidates taking both 2A and 2B get 3 hours 30 minutes for the combined paper.
What does each part's syllabus cover?
Mathematics follows the same 14 units as Paper 1 maths, from sets, relations and functions through calculus, coordinate geometry, vectors and 3D geometry, statistics and probability, to trigonometry. If you are also preparing for Paper 1, this part needs no separate study.
Aptitude has two units. The first is awareness of persons, buildings and materials, visualising 3D objects from 2D drawings and seeing different sides of 3D objects, and analytical reasoning and mental ability (visual, numerical and verbal). The second is 3D perception: scale and proportion, colour, texture, harmony and contrast, transformations of 2D and 3D forms, development of surfaces and volumes, and plans, elevations and 3D views.
Drawing (B.Arch only) asks for sketches from memory of urban scenes (public spaces, markets, festivals, street scenes, monuments), landscapes (riverfronts, jungles, gardens, trees) and rural life.
Planning (B.Planning only) covers general awareness, social sciences topics such as nationalism in India, resources and development, federalism, the constitution and urbanisation, and thinking skills: comprehension, map reading, critical reasoning, and charts, graphs and tables.
How are ties broken?
For B.Arch, the bulletin resolves equal total scores first by the mathematics score, then aptitude, then drawing, then by the ratio of wrong to right answers. For B.Planning the order is mathematics, aptitude, then planning. Mathematics comes first in both, so it is not a part to neglect.
Worked example 1: scoring the mathematics part
You attempt 22 of the 25 mathematics questions in Paper 2A: 18 correct and 4 wrong, and you leave 3 blank.
Correct: 18 × 4 = 72.
Wrong: 4 × (−1) = −4.
Blank: 0.
Raw score: 72 − 4 = 68 out of 100.
Each wrong guess costs 1 mark, and a right one gains 4. Our post on negative marking and when to guess works out when a guess is worth the risk.
Worked example 2: a visual reasoning question
Question. A wooden cube is painted on all six faces and cut into 27 equal small cubes. How many small cubes have exactly two painted faces?
A 3 × 3 × 3 cube has 8 corner cubes, each with three painted faces.
Each of the 12 edges has one cube between its corners, with two painted faces: 12 cubes.
Each of the 6 faces has one centre cube with one painted face: 6 cubes.
One cube in the very middle has no paint.
Check: 8 + 12 + 6 + 1 = 27.
Answer: 12. The habit to build is counting by position (corner, edge, face, centre) and then checking the total.
Can you get better at this kind of question? A meta-analysis by Uttal and colleagues (2013) pooled 217 studies of spatial training and found an average effect size of 0.47 for training over control groups. The gains lasted and carried over to spatial tasks people had not practised.
A preparation plan
Mathematics: follow your Paper 1 plan if you are taking both; otherwise work through the 14 units with mixed sets. When a method goes wrong, the Fermi Problem Library has a step-by-step solver that explains the reasoning, so you can see where your working went off.
Aptitude: three short sessions a week on 2D-to-3D visualisation, nets and folding, and plans and elevations of everyday objects.
Drawing (2A): sketch one scene from memory every day for 20 minutes: a market, a bus stop, a riverfront. Time yourself.
Planning (2B): read one news piece on cities or development a day, and practise map and chart questions.
Mock papers: in the last month, take full timed papers in the real split of computer and paper sections.
Today, download the bulletin for your exam year from jeemain.nta.nic.in and mark which paper, 2A or 2B or both, you will apply for.
