JEE Main 2026: The National Testing Agency (NTA) has released the schedule for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main 2026. According to the schedule released by the NTA, JEE Main Session 1 will be held from January 21 to 30, 2026, with the application process opening in one to two days. JEE Main Session 2 will be held from April 1 to 10, 2026, with the application process opening in January. JEE Main is considered the first step towards admission to IITs.

In this context, let's explore what score in JEE Main qualifies one to appear in JEE Advanced. What have been the trends in previous years? We will also learn the difference between JEE Main and JEE Advanced.

What is the difference between JEE Main and JEE Advanced?

Overall, the Joint Entrance Test (JEE) is conducted for admission to undergraduate engineering seats across the country. The JEE is conducted in two stages. The first stage is called JEE Main, while the second stage is JEE Advanced.

Admission to engineering seats in state engineering colleges, universities, and private engineering colleges is based on JEE Main scores. Admission to IITs and NITs is based on JEE Advanced scores. Only candidates with high scores in JEE Main are eligible to appear in JEE Advanced. JEE Main is conducted twice a year.

2.5 lakh candidates have the opportunity to appear in JEE Advanced
NTA conducts JEE Main twice a year. Only candidates scoring in the top 2.50 lakh are eligible to appear in JEE Advanced. JEE Advanced is held only once a year, organized by one of the IITs.

What is the percentile for JEE Advanced?
Over 2.5 lakh candidates who appear for JEE Main have the opportunity to appear for JEE Advanced. However, in terms of percentiles based on cutoffs, the cutoff for the General category in JEE Main 2025 was 93.1023262 percentiles. The cutoff for the OBC category was 79.4313582 percentile, the cutoff for the General EWS category was 80.3830119 percentile, and the cutoff for the SC category was 61.1526933 percentile.

JEE Main 2024 and JEE 2023 Trend
After the JEE Main 2025 qualifying cutoff for JEE Advanced, let's look at the trend for JEE Main 2024 and 2023. In JEE Main 2024, General category candidates qualified for JEE Advanced with a 93.2362181 percentile. Similarly, OBC category candidates qualified with a 79.6757881 percentile, and General EWS candidates qualified with an 81.3266412 percentile.

In JEE Main 2023, General category candidates qualified for JEE Advanced with a 90.7788642 percentile. Similarly, candidates belonging to the OBC category had qualified with a 73.6114227 percentile, while candidates belonging to the General EWS category had qualified with a 75.6229025 percentile.

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