India's largest engineering entrance exam — the gateway to NITs, IIITs, and CFTIs, and the qualifier for JEE Advanced.
Conducted by the National Testing Agency, JEE Main is the gateway to 31 NITs, 25 IIITs, 29 CFTIs, and also serves as the qualifying exam for JEE Advanced.
| Parameter | Detail |
|---|---|
| Paper 1 (B.E./B.Tech) | Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics — 75 of 90 questions attempted |
| Section split | 20 MCQ + 10 numerical per subject (5 numerical mandatory) |
| Marking | MCQ: +4 correct, −1 wrong; Numerical: +4 correct, 0 wrong (no negative) |
| Duration | 3 hours (3h20m for PwD candidates) |
| Attempts | 3 consecutive years × 2 sessions = 6 total attempts |
| High-weightage Maths | Calculus, Coordinate Geometry, Matrices, Probability, Complex Numbers |
| High-weightage Physics | Mechanics, Electrostatics & Magnetism, Modern Physics, Optics |
| High-weightage Chemistry | Organic (reactions, named reactions), Physical (mole concept, equilibrium) |
| Percentile | Approx. AIR | General category options |
|---|---|---|
| 99.5+ | Top ~600 | Old IITs (via JEE Advanced) |
| 99–99.5 | ~600–6,000 | NIT Trichy top branches, JEE Advanced |
| 98–99 | ~6,000–12,000 | NIT Trichy mid branches, top NITs |
| 97–98 | ~12,000–20,000 | NIT Surathkal/Warangal branches |
| 95–97 | ~20,000–40,000 | Lower NITs, IIITs, CFTIs |
| 90–95 | ~40,000–90,000 | Lower NITs, IIITs |
| 85–90 | ~90,000–1.5L | IIITs, some CFTIs |
All figures are indicative — verify current-year opening/closing ranks at josaa.nic.in before finalising choices.
Neither is universally better, and you should appear in both. January typically has a slightly less-prepared candidate pool, so percentiles can run higher for the same raw score; April gives more preparation time. Your best NTA score across both sessions is used for ranking, so there's no downside to attempting both.
There's no minimum percentage to appear for JEE Main itself. But to be eligible for NITs, IIITs, and GFTIs through JoSAA, you need at least 75% aggregate in Class 12 (65% for SC/ST/PwD). This applies equally to Tamil Nadu State Board and CBSE students — a strong JEE rank with 74% boards still cannot get an NIT seat.
A structured mock-test schedule beats last-minute cramming, every cycle.