What is a good score in JEE Main to qualify for JEE Advanced?
Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) Main 2026 ( JEE Main )
Exam On - 21 Jan '26 - 30 Jan '26
Candidates need to score certain marks in JEE Main to become eligible for JEE Advanced exam. The minimum marks needed to be qualified for JEE Advanced vary category-wise. Here we will talk about a safe score in JEE Main that candidates need to qualify for JEE Advanced. This will help the IIT aspirants have a goal to work towards. Let's check out this article for all the details.
What is a good score in JEE Main to qualify for JEE Advanced?
Getting admission to an IIT is the dream of every engineering student, but not everyone who takes the JEE Main exam will cut. A candidate's eligibility for JEE Advanced is determined by their percentile score in JEE Mains. NTA sets a JEE Main cutoff percentile score, and anyone who scores above this cutoff becomes eligible to appear for the JEE Advanced exam. The cutoff score varies for General, EWS, OBC, SC, ST, and PwD candidates. Considering past trends, any candidate who scores above the 88 percentile can have a fair chance of qualifying for JEE Advanced.
JEE Main marks will allow the candidates to take admission to the NITs, IIITs, GFTIs and other reputed colleges of the nation. However, getting into IIT has only one route, which goes through the JEE Advanced exam. This year, NTA will conduct the JEE Main 2024 exam in two sessions in January and April. NTA JEE Main 2025 exam date session 1 is January 22 to 30 while the session 2 exam will be held from April 1 to 8. On the other hand, JEE Advanced will be held on May 18, 2025 by IIT Kharagpur.
The result of JEE Main will be based on the best scores out of the 2 attempts for the candidates who will appear for both the January and April sessions.
- What is a good score in JEE Main to qualify for JEE Advanced?
- How is the JEE Main cutoff score decided for JEE Advanced Eligibility?
- What is JEE Main Percentile Score?
What is a good score in JEE Main to qualify for JEE Advanced?
We have provided below the good scores needed in JEE Main to qualify for JEE Advanced exam. This analysis is based on the previous years' JEE Main cutoff trends.
JEE Main Cutoff 2024-2022
| Category |
2024 cutoff |
2023 Cutoff (Percentile) |
2022 cutoff (Percentile) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Common Rank List |
100.0000000 to 93.2362181 |
90.7788642 |
88.4121383 |
| Gen-EWS |
|
75.6229025 |
63.1114141 |
| OBC-NCL |
93.2312696 to 79.6757881 |
73.6114227 |
67.0090297 |
| SC |
93.2312696 to 60.0923182 |
51.9776027 |
43.0820954 |
| ST |
93.2312696 to 46.6975840 |
37.2348772 |
26.7771328 |
| PwD |
93.2041331 to 0.0018700 |
0.0013527 |
0.0031029 |
JEE Main Cutoff 2018-2016 (percentile was not introduced)
| Category/Year | 2018 Cutoff (Marks) | 2017 Cutoff (Marks) | 2016 Cutoff (Marks) |
|---|---|---|---|
| General | 74 | 81 | 100 |
| OBC-NCL | 45 | 49 | 70 |
| SC | 29 | 32 | 52 |
| ST | 24 | 27 | 48 |
| PwD | -35 | NA | NA |
What do we get from the above table?
From the above table, it is clear that candidates need to score around the 90 percentile to have a chance to be eligible for JEE Advanced. The cutoff score of JEE Main for JEE Advanced has always stayed in the range of 87 to 90 percentile for the CRL.
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Before 2019 when the percentile was not introduced, candidates required a minimum of 100 marks in JEE Main to be eligible for JEE Advanced.
Also Read:
- JEE Main 2023 Question Paper PDF (April & January) - Free Download Questions Papers with Solutions
- JEE Advanced 2023 Question Paper with Solutions: Download Paper 1 and 2 Here
How is the JEE Main cutoff score decided for JEE Advanced Eligibility?
The JEE Main cut-off for admission/qualification is determined by several factors. These include:
IIT Varanasi has released the category-wise cutoffs for various BTech specialisations. For BTech admissions, JEE Advanced is conducted widely by IITs. A JEE Advanced rank of 3000 under OBC category can be considered as the decent rank, however, this rank is insufficient to secure BTech in CSE programme in 2024. Other than CSE, the top courses for which candidates have the option to get a seat at IIT BHU are Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Metallurgical Engineering, Mining Engineering and Ceramic Engineering.
IIT Delhi OBC cutoff 2025 for JEE Advanced is yet to be released. However, during the last round cutoff in 2024, the JEE Advanced closing ranks for BTech admission varied between 89 and 3185 in the All India quota. In the first round, the cutoff ranks were more competitive for admission compared to the final round. Therefore, based on last year's cutoff ranks, a JEE Advanced rank of 7000 does not allow for admission at IIT Delhi for any BTech or Integrated BTech courses for students belonging to the OBC AI category.
- The number of aspirants who appeared for the exam.
- The difficulty level of the exam, the total number of seats available.
- The total number of applications received for a particular programme.
- The category under which admission is sought.
These factors play a crucial role in setting the cut-off, which is a benchmark for the selection of candidates for further rounds of the admission process.
What is JEE Main Percentile Score?
In an exam, the percentile score is calculated by comparing the performance of all the aspirants who appeared for the exam. The score is then transformed into a scale of 0 to 100 for each session of examinees. According to the official website of NTA, the percentile score indicates the percentage of candidates who have scored equal to or below that particular percentile in that examination. For instance, the topper of each session (highest score) gets a percentile of 100, which is desirable. The marks obtained by other candidates are also converted to appropriate percentiles between the highest and lowest scores.
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Percentile is not a percentage. A percentage is a number out of 100, but the percentile score of a candidate will reflect how many candidates have scored below that candidate in an exam. A Percentile score is a value below which a certain per cent of observations falls.
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The cut off rank in Round 6 for B.Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering is 67 which is very close to this range. This was for general category under All India quota. Unless the candidate belongs to some other category, one can not afford to score less than this. With this rank, there is a probability of getting admission however since, the cut offs keep changing from round to round, better ranks definitely increases your chances of getting admission in IIT Bombay - Indian Institute of Technology.
IIT Delhi offers a four-year full-time BTech course across multiple specialisations. During the IIT Delhi JEE Advanced cutoff 2025, the closing rank for the B.Tech in CSE course was 45 for the SC All India category students. Thus, a candidate securing a rank of up to 45 or below is only eligible for admission to the BTech in CSE course at IIT Delhi.
There is no requirement of 75% marks in class 12 for appearing in JEE Mains 2026. The eligibility criteria of minimum 75% marks in class 12 is required at the time of admission in NITs, IIITs and GFTIs. You can apply and appear in JEE Mains 2026 irrespective of your class 12 marks. The detailed JEE Main eligibility criteria 2026 can be checked on the official website. You are further advised to carefully check the detailed eligibility criteria before filling the JEE Main application form 2026. All the best!
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