JEE Advanced Eligibility Criteria 2026 (OUT): Number of Attempts, 75% Criteria Requirement, Age Limit

Before you start JEE Advanced 2026 application process, you must clearly have an idea what is the eligibility for JEE Advanced. Check details regarding number of attempts, minimum marks needed in JEE Main 2026 for JEE Advanced 2026, class 12 percentage, and all details here.

JEE Advanced 2026 Eligibility and Exceptions

JEE Advanced Eligibility Criteria 2026: The IIT Roorkee has released JEE Advanced 2026 eligibility criteria. Candidates can check complete details about the eligibility criteria on this page and the JEE Advanced official website - jeeadv.ac.in. There are five important aspects of the eligibility criteria of JEE Advanced 2026 - JEE Mains qualification, attempt limit, age, year of passing class 12 boards and earlier admission to the IITs. The candidates who will satisfy these five major aspects of the JEE Advanced eligibility 2026 will be eligible to apply for the exam in the coming session.

On this page, check all details on the JEE Advanced 2026 eligibility criteria, including how many attempts you get, what your age should be to apply for JEE Advanced 2026 and more details. JEE Advanced 2026 exam date is May 17, 2026

Latest News: IIT Roorkee releases complete details of JEE Advanced exam eligibility criteria 2026

JEE Advanced 2026 Eligibility for Indian Nationals

The conditions of eligibility criteria that are applicable in JEE Advanced 2026 are:

Criteria 1: JEE Main Scores

Candidates should be among the top 2,50,000 successful candidates (including all categories) in BE/BTech Paper of JEE Main 2026. The number of top JEE Main 2026 candidates that can apply for JEE Advanced 2026 is as follows:

Also Read: Documents Required for JEE Advanced Registration 2026: Check Specifications of Photo, Signature, Certificates

Criteria 2: JEE Advanced Age Limit 2026

Students born on or after October 1, 2001, can apply for the test. Five years of relaxation are given to SC, ST, and PwD students. This means candidates of SC/ST/PwD who were born on or after October 1, 1996, are also eligible to apply.

Criteria 3: Number of JEE Advanced 2026 Attempt

A student can appear twice in two consecutive years for the JEE Advanced for the year of passing class 12. This means if you are appearing JEE Advanced 2026 exam, then the exam in 2027 will be last attempt.

Criteria 4: Appearance Year of Class 12 / Qualifying Exam

A candidate should have appeared for the Class 12 exam or equivalent for the first time either in 2025 or 2026 with Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics as compulsory subjects. Those who had appeared for the Class 12 or equivalent exam in 2024 or earlier are NOT eligible for JEE Advanced 2026, irrespective of the combination of subjects attempted/offered.

Note: The meaning of appearance in Class 12 boards or similar is that the Board itself has declared that year's result. It doesn't matter if the exam was held or not. Also, it will be an appearance, even when the student's result was withheld. 

Criteria 5: Earlier Admission to the IITs

A candidate should NOT have been admitted to an IIT irrespective of whether or not the candidate continued in the program OR accepted an IIT seat by reporting “online” / at a “reporting centre” in the past. Candidates whose admission to IITs was cancelled (for whatever reason) after joining any IIT are also NOT eligible to appear for JEE (Advanced) 2026.

Candidates who have been admitted to a preparatory course in any of the IITs for the first time in 2025 can appear in JEE (Advanced) 2026. The candidates who were allocated a seat in an IIT through JoSAA 2025, but:

• did not report “online” / at any “reporting centre” OR,
• withdrew before the last round of seat allotment, OR,
• had their seat cancelled (for whatever reason) before the last round of seat allotment for IITs, are eligible to appear for JEE (Advanced) 2026.

However, in all of the above cases, the candidate is also required to fulfil the conditions mentioned from Criterion 1 to Criterion 4.

Download detailed JEE Advanced 2026 eligibility criteria here

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JEE Advanced 2026: 75% Criteria Requirement

There are no minimum marks required in class 12 to qualify for JEE Advanced 2026. However, to gain admission to the IITs, candidates must achieve 75% class 12. If a candidate fails to meet these minimum score criteria, they will not be offered admission to the IITs, even if they pass JEE Advanced 2026.

JEE Advanced IIT admission criteria:

Students must have passed class 12 or equivalent with 75% aggregate marks (65% for SC, ST and PwD candidates ).

or

Passed the class 12 exam or equivalent with a minimum of five subjects, and are among the category-wise top 20 percentile candidates in their board exam.

Subjects considered for 75% marks calculation in class 12:

The marks scored in Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics are considered to calculate the aggregate marks and cut-off marks for fulfilling the top 20 percentile criterion.
Also, the marks of the language subject will be taken into consideration. If the candidate has taken more than one language, then the language with the higher marks will be considered. Moreover,  any subject other than the above four (the subject with the highest marks will be considered).

JEE Advanced 2026 Eligibility for Foreign Nationals

Who is a foreign national? Check below:

Eligibility Criteria for Appearing in JEE (Advanced) 2026 for Foreign Nationals

• JEE Advanced Age Limit: Candidates should have been born on or after October 1, 2000. In countries where a minimum stint in the armed forces (or allied) for a certain period is mandatory before/after Class XII (or equivalent) examination, the candidate will be given a relaxation of the required number of years. In such cases, the candidate is required to upload a certificate/testimonial issued by the competent authority to this effect at the time of registration.
• Number of JEE Advanced attempts: A candidate can attempt JEE (Advanced) a maximum of two times in consecutive years
• Appearance year of class 12 / qualifying exam: A candidate should have appeared for the Class XII (or equivalent) examination for the first time in either 2025 or 2026 with the subjects Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics as compulsory subjects. A Foreign national must have passed class XII (or equivalent) Board examination with a minimum of five subjects and secured at least 75% aggregate marks. Also, candidates must have passed Class XII (or equivalent) Board examination with a minimum of five subjects and be within the top 20 percentile of successful candidates in their respective Class XII (or equivalent) board examination. The marks scored in the following five subjects will be considered for calculating the aggregate marks and the cut-off marks for fulfilling the top 20 percentile criterion.
  • Maths
  • Physics
  • Chemistry
  • A language (if the candidate has taken more than one language, then the language with the higher marks will be considered)
  • Any subject other than the above four (the subject with the highest marks will be considered).
• Earlier admission to IITs: A candidate should NOT have been admitted to an IIT, irrespective of whether or not the candidate continued in the program OR accepted a seat at an IIT by reporting “online” / at a “reporting centre” through JoSAA in the past. Candidates whose admission to IITs was cancelled (for whatever reason) after joining any IIT are also NOT eligible to appear for JEE (Advanced) 2026.

JEE Advanced 2026 Eligibility Criteria for OCI/PIO Candidates

OCI/PIO card holders who have secured OCI/PIO card before 04.03.2021, are considered as Indian nationals for seat allocation to IITs. Candidates who have secured OCI/PIO cards on or after 04.03.2021 will be considered as foreign nationals. However, these candidates are not eligible for benefits of any kind of reservation (for example GEN-EWS, OBC-NCL, SC, ST) except for OPEN-PwD. These candidates shall be required to be in the Open and Open-PwD rank lists in JEE (Main) 2026 to appear for JEE (Advanced) 2026. At the time of seat allocation, the OCI/PIO candidates who have secured OCI/PIO cards before 04.03.2021 shall be considered for the seats in the OPEN category. These OCI/PIO candidates shall be included in the Common Rank List, and/or CRL-PwD list, as also for the Female Supernumerary seats, as applicable, subject to qualifying the JEE (Advanced) 2026. These OCI/PIO candidates are NOT entitled to the benefit of reservation under the GEN-EWS, OBC (NCL), SC or ST categories for the allocation of seats.

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