A topic-by-topic breakdown of the JAM-BT Biology section, built from a direct count of 168 real questions across the last 4 papers.
4past papers analysed
168Biology-section questions hand-classified
2022–25exam years covered
~57%of the section in the top 4 topics
The IIT JAM Biotechnology Biology section draws on 13 distinct topics. Every question from the four most recent official papers (BT2022 to BT2025, from IIT Bombay’s own archive) was read and classified into its topic, then tallied. The chart and table below show exactly how those 168 questions were distributed.
Why this data is reliableThis is a direct tally of 168 real Biology-section questions, individually classified across all 4 currently available official papers in the current exam format. Five topics, Ecological Principles, System Physiology (Plant and Animal), Diversity of Life Forms and Evolution & Behaviour, together account for about 24% of every Biology section, alongside the more commonly emphasised Cell Biology, Molecular Biology and Genetics.
Real topic-wise weightage, ranked
IIT JAM BT: share of Biology-section questions by topic
168 questions classified from 4 real papers, 2022 to 2025. The four darker bars are the high-yield topics.
Lesson Basket analysis of 4 IIT JAM BT papers.
The full table
“Avg. Qs per paper” scales each share to a 42-question Biology section, the average across the 4 papers analysed.
| Rank | Topic | Share of exam | Avg. Qs / paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Methods in Biology | 18.5% | 7.8 |
| 2 | Molecular Biology | 14.3% | 6.0 |
| 3 | Genetics | 11.9% | 5.0 |
| 3 | Cell Biology | 11.9% | 5.0 |
| 5 | System Physiology – Plant | 7.7% | 3.2 |
| 6 | Biomolecules | 7.1% | 3.0 |
| 7 | Evolution & Behaviour | 6% | 2.5 |
| 7 | Metabolism | 6% | 2.5 |
| 9 | Ecological Principles | 5.4% | 2.3 |
| 10 | Immunology | 4.2% | 1.8 |
| 11 | System Physiology – Animal | 3.6% | 1.5 |
| 12 | Developmental Biology | 2.4% | 1.0 |
| 13 | Diversity of Life Forms | 1.2% | 0.5 |
Where to actually spend your time
High-yield: top 4 topics, about 57% of the section
- Methods in Biology
- Molecular Biology
- Genetics
- Cell Biology
Low-yield: bottom 3 topics, under 8% combined
- System Physiology – Animal
- Developmental Biology
- Diversity of Life Forms
How to use this
- Start with Methods in BiologyIt is the single biggest topic in the Biology section: techniques, instrumentation and experimental design questions outnumber even Molecular Biology and Genetics.
- Cover the “outside the core” topics deliberatelyEcological Principles, plant and animal physiology, Evolution & Behaviour and Diversity of Life Forms together make up roughly a quarter of the real exam, more than Cell Biology alone.
- Use the full 13-topic listFive of these topics sit outside the commonly cited 8-topic “core” list, but still carry about a quarter of the real exam’s weight between them.
- Leave Diversity of Life Forms for lastAt 1.2% it is the lowest-yield topic here.
Methodology
Every Biology-section question in the 4 papers below was read individually and tagged into one of 13 topics, then tallied. Source: IIT Bombay’s official JAM question paper archive.
JAM-BT 2022JAM-BT 2023JAM-BT 2024JAM-BT 2025
Keep going
Free testFree IIT JAM BT mock test60 questions, 100 marks, with the real MCQ, MSQ and NAT sections.Take the test →Exam guideIIT JAM Biotechnology 2027 guideKey dates, eligibility, marking scheme and the official syllabus.Read the guide →Free notesRecombinant DNA technology notesFive lessons for the Methods in Biology topics.Start revising →
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