JEE Main Eligibility Marks in 12th, Subjects, Age and Attempts

Eligibility for JEE Mains in one view

NTA's rules decide whether you can sit the paper. Admission rules, set by the institutes and applied through JoSAA, decide whether your rank can turn into a seat. Mixing the two up is the most common reason students worry needlessly or, worse, are surprised at counselling.

• To appear: class 12 passed or appearing, within the allowed years, with the subjects your paper needs. No minimum marks.
• To get a seat at an NIT, IIIT or CFTI: the 75% or top 20 percentile rule in class 12, plus a JEE Main rank within the closing rank for your choice.
• To move on to JEE Advanced: a Paper 1 percentile above your category's qualifying line, listed year by year in our JEE Main cut off guide.

JEE main eligibility marks in 12th, category wise

OBC NCL and Gen EWS candidates follow the same 75% rule as the general category; only SC, ST and PwD candidates get the 65% threshold. The top 20 percentile figure is worked out for each board and each year, using the marks of students who passed that year.

Is there a subject wise minimum?

No. The 75% rule looks at your aggregate marks, not at each subject separately. A lower score in one subject can be balanced by a higher score in another. What JoSAA does check is that you studied the required subjects, listed below, and passed them.

For architecture and planning seats, institutes and the architecture council may also apply their own marks conditions. Read the current information bulletin and the JoSAA business rules for the course you want.

Year of passing, attempts and age

You can take JEE Main in the year you appear for class 12 and in the two years after it, which gives a window of three consecutive years. With two sessions a year, that adds up to as many as six attempts. Students who passed class 12 earlier than that window cannot register.

NTA sets no age limit for JEE Main. However, if you plan to go on to JEE Advanced, the IITs apply their own birth date rule and a limit of two attempts in consecutive years; see the JEE Advanced eligibility page.

Nationality and other conditions

Indian nationals can apply, and the bulletin also opens the exam to OCI and PIO card holders and to foreign nationals, who may have separate seat rules at admission. Students who studied in a board outside India need the equivalence of their qualification accepted. Candidates with disabilities can ask for a scribe and extra time as allowed in the bulletin.

JEE main counselling eligibility and documents

JoSAA handles common seat allotment for the IITs, NITs, IIITs and the remaining centrally funded technical colleges, and a later special round fills vacant NIT and IIIT seats. State engineering counselling often uses JEE Main ranks too, but each state sets its own domicile and marks rules.

1. JEE Main score card and admit card
2. Class 10 pass certificate as birth date proof
3. Class 12 marksheet, and the board's top 20 percentile notice if you rely on it
4. Category certificate (OBC NCL with a current non creamy layer clause, EWS, SC or ST) in the central format
5. PwD certificate, if applicable
6. Photo ID and passport size photographs

Once you know you are eligible, plan your preparation with the JEE Main syllabus and practise with the JEE Main previous papers.