Aspirants of the JEE Main 2026 exam must check this article for the category-wise JEE Main age limit.
JEE Main 2026 Age Criteria: Engineering aspirants who wish to know about the JEE Main age limit will get answers to their questions in this article. Candidates must fulfil the JEE Main age criteria to apply for the exam. The National Testing Agency has announced the detailed JEE Mains eligibility criteria in its notification at jeemain.nta.nic.in. There is no age limit for JEE Main. The JEE Main notification states that the candidates should have passed the class 12/equivalent examination in 2024, 2025, or should be appearing in 2026. JEE Main candidates need to fulfil other eligibility requirements mentioned in the article.
- JEE Main 2026 Age Criteria
- JEE Main 2026 Age Criteria Summary
- JEE Main Age Limit: Category-wise
- JEE Main 2026 Qualifying Year Eligibility
- How Many Attempts For JEE Mains?
- JEE Advanced Age Limit
JEE Main 2026 Age Criteria
There is no age limit, and candidates can appear for the exam at any age. This means that droppers and repeaters can also appear for JEE Main 2026, provided they fulfil all other eligibility conditions. The only condition to the 'no JEE Main age limit' lies in the year of passing your qualifying exam. A candidate can appear for the exam as long as they have passed their qualifying exam in the year 2024, 2025 or are appearing in 2026. Those who have passed their qualifying exam before 2024 are not eligible for the JEE Mains exam, no matter what their age is.
Commonly asked questions
Criteria | Decription |
|---|---|
Age limit | There is no age limit to appear in JEE Main. |
Year of passing qualifying exam | The candidates who have passed the class 12 / equivalent examination in 2025, 2026 or are appearing in 2027, irrespective of their age, can appear in JEE Mains 2027. |
Nationality | Candidates must be Indian citizens. Foreign Nationals, NRIs, PIOs (Persons of Indian Origin), and OCIs (Overseas Citizens of India) can also apply. |
Both JEE Main ranks are used for admission to NITs, IIITs, and GFTIs. While allocating the seats the institute will take into consideration the category ranks first for the candidates who belong to any category.
The cutoff for IIITs vary for various branches and also category of students. Specialised branches like computer Science and electronics engineering has higher cutoff in comparison to other branches. Similarly, JEE Main cutoff for general category candidates is higher in comparison to OBC-NCL and SC/ST candidates.
The qualifying marks in JEE Main mean the minimum percentile needed to qualify for JEE Advanced exam. Check JEE Mains 2026 cutoff below:
Category | Cutoff 2026 |
|---|---|
Unreserved (UR) | 93.4123549 |
Gen-EWS | 82.4164528 |
OBC-NCL | 80.9232583 |
SC | 63.9172792 |
ST | 52.0174712 |
UR-PwD | 0.0023186 |
JEE Main 2026 Age Criteria Summary
| Criteria |
Details |
|---|---|
| Age Limit |
No upper or lower age limit |
| Year of Passing Class 12 |
2024, 2025, or appearing in 2026 |
| Attempts Allowed |
3 consecutive years after passing Class 12 (max 6 attempts) |
| JEE Advanced Age Limit |
Born on or after Oct 1, 2000 (5-year relaxation for SC/ST/PwD) |
JEE Main Age Limit: Category-wise
Candidates must check the category-wise JEE Mains age limit to know the JEE Main age limit for general, OBC and more. NTA JEE Main age limit is the same for all categories. There is no JEE Main age limit for OBC, SC and ST categories, and the JEE Main 2026 age criteria remain unchanged for the general category.
Commonly asked questions
As per the JEE Main cutoff data released by the NTA, PwD category has the lowest cutoff.
Candidates need not have 75 percent marks in class 12 for appearing in JEE Main. As per the official brochure released by the NTA, there is no minimum percentage required for appearing in the JEE Main. The requirement of 75 percent marks need not be associated with appearing in the JEE Main exam.
It is to be understood that 75 percent marks is required for admission to institutes which include NITs, IIITs, GFTIs and IITs. Many institutes offer admission at 60% and even less, along with JEE Main. Candidates must clearly understand that the requirement of 75 percent marks in class 12 is only for taking admission in the institutes.
| Year | General (UR) Percentile |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 93.4123549 |
| 2025 | 93.1023262 |
| 2024 | 93.2362181 |
| 2023 | 90.7788642 |
| 2022 | 88.4121383 |
| 2021 | 87.8992241 |
| 2020 | 90.3765335 |
| 2019 | 89.7548849 |
Candidates who do not score above JEE Main cutoff marks are eligible to take admissions in NITs, IIITs and GFTIs but not IITs. To appear in the admission process for IITs, candidates need to get marks above than the JEE Main cutoff and appear in JEE Advanced exam.
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JEE Main 2026 Qualifying Year Eligibility
- Have passed Class 12 or its equivalent examination in 2024 or 2025, or
- Appear in 2026
How Many Attempts For JEE Mains?
A candidate can appear in three consecutive years after passing Class 12. Since JEE Main is held twice a year (January and April sessions), students get a total of six attempts for the JEE Mains exam.
Commonly asked questions
The JEE Main cutoff for GFTIs is released by the JoSAA after the counselling is over. Candidates can check previous year JEE Main cutoff for GFTIs from the Shiksha page. The cutoff for GFTIs vary for various branches and also category of students.
The cutoff for NITs vary for various branches and also category of students. Specialised branches like computer Science and electronics engineering has higher cutoff in comparison to other branches. Similarly, JEE Main cutoff for general category candidates is higher in comparison to OBC-NCL and SC, ST candidates. Candidates can check the previous year JEE Main cutoff below for some top NITs and branches. For detailed cutoff report, candidates can check Shiksha page.
- MNNIT Allahabad CSE Closing Rank Open Category: 5627 (Home State)
- MNNIT Allahabad CSE Closing Rank Open Category: 4254 (Open)
- MNIT Jaipur CSE Closing Rank Open Category: 5610 (Home State)
- MNIT Jaipur CSE Closing Rank Open Category: 4631 (Open)
The JEE Main ranks have been released with the JEE Main session 2 result. The ranks are released on an All India basis and also category-wise.
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JEE Advanced Age Limit
The top 2,50,000 rankers of JEE Mains become eligible for the JEE Advanced exam. The JEE Advanced exam is held for admission to the prestigious 23 IITs. While NTA allows candidates of any age for JEE Main, the IIT JEE Advanced exam has its own age restrictions. Students must keep in mind the following JEE age criteria to apply for the JEE Advanced exam:
- Candidates should have been born on or after October 1, 2000.
- A relaxation of five years is provided to SC, ST, and PwD candidates.
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Student Forum
Anything you would want to ask experts?Answered 23 hours ago
I would say CSE at GFTI would be a better option if you are not sure about which branch
L
Beginner-Level 1
Answered 2 days ago
Yes, you have a great chance of getting admission to MBM University, Jaipur with a 92 percentile as a general female candidate from Rajasthan, especially if you have secured SKIT Jaipur in the mock allotment.
A
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 2 days ago
Yes, you have a great chance of getting admission to MBM University in certain branches with a 92 percentile in JEE Main, though getting top branches like CSE may be difficult for the general category.
As you have mentioned that you got SKIT in the mock allotment, which means your rank currently alig
A
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 2 days ago
Yes, Galgotias University accepts JEE Main and CUET scores for B.Tech admissions. Students with JEE Main/JEE Advanced/CUET/SAT scores are given preference in the merit list, subject to meeting the Class 12 eligibility requirements. For B.Tech CSE, the current requirement is at least 60% in the speci
S
Beginner-Level 5
Answered 3 days ago
No, candidates who fulfill Babu Banarasi Das University, Lucknow BTech eligibility criteria do not need to appear in JEE Main to qualify for admission.
However, JEE Main ranks are used to offer scholarships at BBDU, Lucknow. Thus, candidates can choose to appear in this exam for maximizing their cha
S
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 4 days ago
Because you have passed 12th from NIOS in year 2024. So your three consecutive years for appearing in JEE Mains are 2024, 2025 & 2026. So can't appear in year 2027 as per the eligibility criteria.
Scholar-Level 18
Answered 4 days ago
Invertis University JEE Main cutoff 2025, for all the offered BTech specialisations held the same closing rank of 145410 for round 1 under the General Home State category.
The cutoff data displayed above has been sourced from third-party channels. While we strive to ensure accuracy, cutoffs are subj
R
Beginner-Level 5
Answered 4 days ago
With 98.3% in Class 12, you can easily meet the academic board criteria for IITs (65% required for ST). Since clearing JEE Advanced is mandatory for IIT admission, on the basis of JEE Main score of 56.77 percentile, you likely did not cross the ST category qualifying cutoff to appear for JEE Advance
A
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 4 days ago
For admission in B.Planning at College of Engineering, you need to pass class 12 with Physics and Maths with at least 50% aggregate marks (45% for reserved categories and OBC candidates) from Maharashtra. Along with this, candidate is also required to qualify in either MHT CET or JEE Main and lastly
A
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 5 days ago
NTA will release JEE Mains 2027 session 1 application form in October 2026.
M
Contributor-Level 10