Nobody knows the difficulty of a paper before it is written. Here is what we do know, and why it matters less than you think.
Last updated: 26 October 2026
Since your result is a percentile within your shift, a hard paper is hard for everyone in it. What decides your result is your accuracy and time management, not the paper's difficulty.
In recent sessions, students often reported that Physics and Chemistry felt manageable while Maths was long and calculation-heavy in several shifts. Some shifts were clearly harder than others, which normalisation is designed to balance. Expect at least one subject to feel long, and plan your section order for it.
Suppose your shift is hard and you score 140, while a friend in an easier shift scores 160. You might both end up near the same percentile, because percentiles are worked out inside each shift. What would really hurt you is panicking in the first 30 minutes and making careless mistakes.
No one knows before the exam. The pattern is the same: 75 compulsory questions with +4/−1 marking. Difficulty varies by shift and is balanced by normalisation.
Yes. The 2027 bulletin states negative marking for incorrect answers in both Section A and Section B.
It varies by shift. In many recent shifts, students found Maths the longest. Practise full mocks to find your own weak section.
Not by itself. Percentiles are calculated within each shift, so if everyone finds it hard, the percentile for the same marks is higher.
