JEE Main 2026 Expected Cutoff: Are You Eligible for IIT JEE Advanced Top 2.5 Lakh List?
JEE Main 2026 session 2 exam ended, and NTA has issued the answer keys and response sheets of the candidates. Now that the candidates have an idea of their estimated marks in the exam, the next big question is - are you eligible for IIT JEE Advanced? Check out the chances of qualifying for JEE Advanced 2026 below.
JEE Main 2026 Expected Cutoff: Are You Eligible for IIT JEE Advanced Top 2.5 Lakh List?
The JEE Main 2026 Session 2 results are anticipated by April 20, providing candidates with their final scores and qualifying status for JEE Advanced 2026. To be eligible for the IIT entrance exam, students must rank within the top 2.5 lakh on the Common Rank List (CRL) for Paper 1 (BE/BTech). Alongside these results, the NTA will officially announce the category-wise cutoff percentiles; only those who meet or exceed the specific mimimum percentile for their category will be cleared to appear for JEE Advanced.
Number of JEE Mains Candidates to Qualify for JEE Advanced 2026
From each category, a set number of candidates will be eligible for JEE Advanced 2026. This number is set and has been announced at jeeadv.ac.in. The percentages of various categories of candidates to be shortlisted are: 10% for GEN-EWS, 27% for OBC-NCL, 15% for SC, 7.5% for ST, and the remaining 40.5% is OPEN for all. Within each of these five categories, 5% horizontal reservation is available for PwD candidates. Check below:
Note that the total number of candidates may be slightly greater than 2,50,000 in the presence of “tied” ranks/scores in any category.
| Category | Number of "Top" JEE Mains candidates | |
|---|---|---|
| OPEN | 96187 | 101250 |
| OPEN-PwD | 5063 | |
| GEN-EWS | 23750 | 25000 |
| GEN-EWS-PwD | 1250 | |
| OBC-NCL | 64125 | 67500 |
| OBC-NCL-PwD | 3375 | |
| SC | 35625 | 37500 |
| SC-PwD | 1875 | |
| ST | 17812 | 18750 |
| ST-PwD | 938 | |
JEE Mains Expected Cutoff 2026 for JEE Advanced Qualification
Based on the difficulty level of JEE Mains 2026 and the number of appearing candidates, here is an estimated JEE Mains cutoff 2026:
- General (CRL): 93.0 - 95.0+ percentile which means approximately 100 to 120 marks.
- OBC-NCL: 80.0 - 82.0+ percentile which will be around 70 to 85 marks.
- EWS: 70.0 - 75.0+ percentile, this will be around 75 to 90 marks.
- SC: 50.0 - 60.0+ percentile which is around 50 to 65 marks.
- ST: 45.0 - 50.0+ percentile. Candidates will neeed around 35 to 50 marks.
- PwD: 0.1 - 1.0+ percentile for which candidaes need to score around 10 to 30 marks.
JEE Advanced 2026 exam will be held on May 17 and registrations will open on April 23 at jeeadv.ac.in.
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