JEE Main 2026: NTA has released the complete schedule of JEE Main 2026. The first session will be held in January and the second in April. Registration for JEE Main 2026 first session can start any time now. Meanwhile, know what is the cutoff to appear in JEE Advanced.
JEE Advanced 2026: National Testing Agency (NTA) has released the complete schedule of JEE Main 2026. Registration for JEE Main 2026 first session is likely to start soon. Every year lakhs of students take part in this examination so that they can get admission in IIT, NIT and other top engineering colleges. But often a question remains in the minds of students that what is the difference between JEE Main and JEE Advanced? And what is the score to get a chance to appear for JEE Advanced? Know
When will JEE Main 2026 exam be held?
According to the schedule of NTA, the exam of JEE Main 2026 Session 1 will be held from January 21 to January 30, 2026. Registration will start in 1-2 days. Whereas, the exam of Session 2 will be held between 1st April to 10th April 2026. The application process for this will start in January 2026. This exam is considered the first step for admission to UG engineering courses in engineering colleges across the country.
What is the difference between JEE Main and JEE Advanced?
Many students do not understand why there are both JEE Main and JEE Advanced. Actually, JEE is conducted in two stages-
JEE Main: Through this, students get admission in NITs, IIITs, state and private engineering colleges.
JEE Advanced: This examination is only for admission in IITs (Indian Institute of Technology). Only those students who top JEE Main are eligible to appear for JEE Advanced.
How many students can appear for JEE Advanced?
NTA conducts JEE Main twice every year. Based on the results of both these sessions, only the top 2.5 lakh students get a chance to appear for JEE Advanced. JEE Advanced is conducted every year by an IIT and this examination is held once a year.
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What is the cutoff for JEE Advanced 2026?
Each category has different cutoff to qualify in JEE Main. If we talk about the cutoff of previous years-
| Year | category | cutoff percentile |
| 2025 | general | 93.1023262 |
| obc | 79.4313582 | |
| EWS | 80.3830119 | |
| SC | 61.1526933 | |
| 2024 | general | 93.2362181 |
| obc | 79.6757881 | |
| EWS | 81.3266412 | |
| 2023 | general | 90.7788642 |
| obc | 73.6114227 | |
| EWS | 75.6229025 |
According to statistics, every year the cutoff for general category remains between 90 to 93 percentile. Trends show that qualifying for JEE Advanced is becoming a little more difficult every year, as the number of students is increasing and the competition has also become quite high. Therefore, students who are dreaming of IIT, they will have to first score high percentile score in JEE Main.
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