JEE Advanced Eligibility Criteria 2026: Number of Attempts, Age Limit, Qualification

JEE Advanced Eligibility Criteria 2026

IIT Kanpur has updated JEE Advanced 2026 eligibility criteria on the official website, jeeadv.ac.in. JEE Advanced 2026 eligibility criteria updated can be accessed on this page. The number of attempts for JEE Advanced 2026 is restricted to two attempts in two consecutive years. Applicants should verify the eligibility criteria before submitting the JEE Advanced 2026 application form. Eligibility criteria involve performance in JEE Mains, age, attempts, previous admission to IITs and so on. Only eligible ones can sit for the IIT JEE Advanced examination. The authority is holding the JEE Advanced 2026 exam on 18 May 2026.

The board has started JEE Advanced 2026 registration process was initiated on April 23, 2026. Nevertheless, candidates who have withdrawn between November 5 to 18, 2025, are exempted. All such candidates are eligible for three attempts in the JEE Advanced 2026 exam. Candidates should be among the top 2,50,000 successful candidates (all categories) in the B.E./B.Tech. paper (Paper I) of JEE Main 2026 to qualify. The percentage slot allocation category-wise for shortlisting candidates is as follows: 10% for GEN-EWS, 27% for OBC-NCL, 15% for SC, 7.5% for ST, and 40.5% for the OPEN category. In each one of the above five categories, a 5% horizontal reservation is present for PwD candidates. Candidates can see the IIT JEE Advanced exam eligibility criteria 2026 on this page.

JEE Advanced Eligibility Criteria 2026: Overview

Here, students can check the overview of JEE Advanced 2026 Eligibility Criteria, which is listed table below: 

JEE Advanced 2026 Eligibility Criteria

Candidates can check the IIT JEE Advanced eligibility criteria 2026 PDF on this website. The eligibility criteria provide the requirements that the applicants should fulfill for eligibility to appear for the entrance test. For General and OBC applicants, a 12th percentile of 75% is required for JEE Advanced. For SC/ST applicants, the requirement is 65%. Also, the candidates are required to achieve a qualifying examination score within the top 20% in their category. JEE Advanced eligibility includes age, attempts, qualifying exam marks, JEE Advanced qualifying percentile, and minimum marks in JEE Main 2026, etc. The following are the detailed JEE Advanced eligibility criteria.

Criterion 1 - Performance in JEE Main

Contenders must qualify in JEE Main (Paper 1). They must also be within the top 2,50,000 contenders. The percentage reservation for the categories below is as follows:

1. GEN-EWS - 10%
2. OBC-NCL - 27%
3. SC - 15%
4. ST - 7.5%
5. OPEN - 40.5%
6. PwD - 5% horizontal reservation in all of the above.

Category-wise distribution of top 2,50,000* candidates (Criterion 1)

*Total number of candidates can go above 2,50,000 with “tied” ranks/scores in any category.

Criterion 2: Age Limit for JEE Advanced

1. Candidates must have been born on or after October 1, 2000, to meet the JEE Advanced attempt limit.
2. There is a relaxation of 5 years for SC, ST, and PwD candidates (born on or after October 1, 1994).

Exemption to the Two-Attempt Limit

The Supreme Court of India issued an order on January 10, 2026, allowing those candidates who have withdrawn from their courses and quit from November 2025 can enrol for JEE Advanced 2026.

Criterion 4: JEE Advanced 2026 Eligibility Criteria- Class 12 exam appearance

1. JEE Advanced 2026 will be for students who took the Class 12 (or equivalent) exam for the first time in 2023, 2024, or 2026, with mathematics, physics, and chemistry as mandatory subjects.
2. Candidates who took the class 10+2 examination in 2023 or previous years are not eligible
3. Also, if the result is announced for academic year 2022-23 on or after September 21, 2023, then the candidates of that board, who appeared for their 12th standard qualifying examination in 2023, will also be considered eligible for JEE Advanced 2026 if they also satisfy the other eligibility conditions. But if the class 12th examination board announced the results for the academic year 2022-2023 before September 21, 2023, and the result of a specific candidate was kept pending, then the candidate will not be able to take JEE Advanced 2026.

Criterion A5: JEE Advanced 2026 Eligibility Criteria For IITs

1. A candidate MUST NOT have been admitted in an IIT under any academic program included in the JoSAA Business Rules of 2025 or previous, whether or not the candidate remained in the program OR accepted an IIT seat by reporting "online" / at a "reporting centre" in the past. Applicants whose admission to IITs was withdrawn (for any reason) after taking admission in any IIT are also NOT eligible to take JEE (Advanced) 2026.
2. Admitted candidates in a preparatory course for the first time in 2025 in any of the IITs are eligible to appear for JEE (Advanced) 2026.
3. The candidates who were allotted a seat in an IIT under JoSAA but did not report "online" OR, (ii) withdrew before the last round of seat allotment, OR, (iii) got their seat cancelled (for any reason) before the last round of seat allotment for IITs, are eligible to sit for JEE (Advanced) 2026.
4. But in each of the aforementioned instances, the candidate must also meet the requirements outlined in Criterion A1 to Criterion A4.

The following qualifying examinations will be considered equivalent to 12th standard:

1. Final 10+2 examination by a Central or State Board approved by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU).
2. Two-year Intermediate or Pre-University examination conducted by a University or Board approved by the Association of Indian Universities.
3. Final examination of the two-year course of the Joint Services Wing of the National Defence Academy.
4. Senior Secondary School Examination by the National Institute of Open Schooling with a minimum of five subjects.
5. Public School, Board or University examination in India or a foreign nation is considered equivalent to the 10+2 system by the AIU.
6. H.S.C. vocational examination.
7. A diploma accepted by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) or a State Board of Technical Education with a minimum duration of 3 years.
8. General Certificate of Education (GCE) examination (London, Cambridge or Sri Lanka) at the Advanced (A) level.
9. Cambridge University High School Certificate Examination or International Baccalaureate Diploma of the International Baccalaureate Office, Geneva.

JEE Advanced 2026 Eligibility Marks in 12th Standard

For IIT admissions, the applicants will have to fulfil the JEE Advanced 2026 eligibility criteria. Additionally, the candidates can also refer to the eligibility marks of JEE Advanced to figure out how many marks they need to score in class 12:

1. 12th percentage needed to appear for the JEE Advanced exam is 75% for General and OBC. Whereas, the JEE Advanced eligibility 12th percentage for SC/ST students is 65%.
2. The candidates must be in the top 20 category percentile of the qualifying exam.
3. When determining total marks, the candidates must consider scores in Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Language, and one additional subject.

Process of Total Marks Calculation for 12th (or equivalent) Examination

1. If the marks awarded in a subject are not out of 100, then the marks shall be scaled (up or down) to 100 so that the aggregate total marks are out of 500.
2. Assume that a Board provides only letter grades without indicating an equivalent percentage of marks on the grade sheet. Then the candidate shall have to provide a certificate from the Board indicating the equivalent marks and produce the same at the time of acceptance of the seat allotted. If the candidate does not provide the certificate, then the decision will be finalised by the Joint Implementation Committee.
3. In case any one of the subjects Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Language is not assessed during the final year, then marks for the same subject of the earlier year/s will be utilised to compute the percentage of aggregate marks.
4. Those who sat for the 12th standard (or equivalent) board exam for the first time in 2025 and reappeared in all subjects in 2026 will have to remember that the best of both performances shall be taken into consideration.
5. If a Board awards aggregate marks based on 11th and 12th standard examinations, then aggregate marks will be based only on 12th standard marks. If a Board awards aggregate marks based on all three years' results of a 3-year diploma or equivalent duration courses, then only marks obtained in the third year will be taken into account. Likewise, for Boards that have a semester system, marks obtained in the last two semesters will be taken into account.
6. Where a Board does not provide marks scored in specific subjects but only the aggregate marks, then the aggregate marks provided by the Board will be taken into account.

JEE Advanced 2026 Eligibility for Foreign Students

The application window for JEE Advanced 2026 will be available to all Indian citizens. International applicants, who constitute less than 10% of the SNQ, are also eligible. Applicants must have passed their Class 12 exams in the academic year 2026-2027.

Factors that Determine the JEE Advanced Cut-Off

Here are various factors that determine the JEE Advanced cutoff 2026:

1. Previous year’s cutoff trends
2. The total number of applicants for JEE Advanced
3. The difficulty level of the exam
4. Candidates’ performance in the JEE Advanced 2026
5. The number of seats available for admission

Eligibility Criteria for Cutoff of JEE Advanced 2026

1. Category-wise JEE Advanced cutoff marks of the top 20 percentile are determined from the marks obtained by the candidates who cleared in their respective boards during the respective year.
2. JEE Advanced PwD category cutoff marks will be equal to the lowest of the cutoff marks of the other categories.
3. The top 20th percentile cut-off for the year 2026 will be applied to those applicants who cleared 12th standard (or equivalent) exam in the same year. Likewise, the cut-off of 2025 will be applied to applicants who cleared the exam in the year 2026.
4. Those who had appeared for the qualifying exam for the first time in 2025 and want to reappear in 2026 for qualifying in the top 20th percentile cutoff will be required to reattempt all of the subjects. The top 20th percentile cutoff of 2025 will be applicable for such candidates.
5. Where a Board does not reveal the top 20 percentile cutoff, the candidates will be required to present a certificate from the particular board declaring that he/she is in the top 20 percentile among the passed candidates.

IIT JEE Advanced 2026 Cutoff (Qualifying Marks)

Minimum percentage of marks prescribed for inclusion in the rank list

JEE Advanced Past Year's Cut-Off (Qualifying)

Candidates can check the cutoff to predict the expected JEE Advanced qualifying percentile in 2026. Below is the JEE Advanced qualifying percentile 2026.

JEE Advanced 2025 Cutoff (Qualifying Marks)

JEE Advanced 2025 Cutoff for Inclusion in a Rank List

JEE Advanced 2024 Cutoff (Qualifying Marks)

Check the qualifying marks to know what the minimum marks are in JEE Advanced to get IIT for general, OBC, and SC/ST. However, the minimum marks in JEE Advanced will vary from year to year.

JEE Advanced Past Year Aggregate Marks Reservation Category-wise

Relaxation in JEE Advanced Exam Eligibility Criterion 2026

Those candidates who registered for JEE Advanced successfully but did not appear in both papers, i.e. Paper 1 and Paper 2, were eligible to appear for JEE Advanced 2026 and are not required to meet eligibility criteria 1 to 4 above. But they have to register for the JEE Advanced successfully in the online registration portal and pay the registration fee.

Criterion 5: JEE Advanced 2026 Eligibility Criteria - Earlier Admissions at IITs

Candidates who were previously admitted to an IIT through JoSAA 2025 are not eligible for JEE Advanced, irrespective of whether they continued in the programme or not. Also, those candidates who had accepted an IIT seat by reporting at a reporting centre earlier will not be considered eligible for admission. Besides the aforementioned eligibility criteria, the candidates whose admissions to IITs have been cancelled after joining will also not be eligible for JEE Advanced 2026, according to the condition.

However, candidates who were admitted to a preparatory course in some of the IITs for the first time in 2025 will be permitted to appear for JEE Advanced 2026. Those candidates who had paid the acceptance fee for a seat in JoSAA 2025 will also be considered eligible for JEE Advanced 2026 if they satisfy the following conditions:

1. If the candidates did not report at any reporting centres OR
2. Withdrew before the last round of seat allotment OR
3. Had their seat cancelled (for whatever reason) before the final round of seat allotment.
   

JEE Advanced 2026 Statistics

The authority will release JEE Advanced 2026 statistics on the official website. The statistics will include the information about the number of students who appeared and how many students qualify for JEE Advanced. Knowing the number of qualifying candidates will provide information about the ratio of qualifying candidates category-wise. Candidates can refer to last year's statistics to understand how many students qualify for the JEE Advanced, about the number of applied candidates.

JEE Advanced 2025 Statistics: Summary of Number of Candidates

JEE Advanced 2024 Statistics: Summary of Number of Candidates

Changes in JEE Advanced Eligibility Criteria in 2026

Upcoming JEE Advanced eligibility criteria are expected to include important changes designed to simplify the application process while ensuring fairness and inclusivity.

1. The 75% Class 12th marks requirement and board-wise top 20 percentile criteria have been removed.
2. Foreign nationals can directly apply for JEE Advanced without appearing in JEE Main.
3. Age relaxation is provided for SC/ST/PwD candidates.
4. The maximum number of attempts remains two in consecutive years.
5. Category-wise reservations continue as before.