JEE Main Session 1: How Rising Candidate Numbers May Impact Cutoffs and Percentiles
JEE Main 2026: As number of candidates appearing for JEE Main session 1 increases, cutoffs and percentiles may be affected depending on difficulty level of the exam. Check details here
JEE Main Session 1 Cutoff Updates
JEE Main 2026: Joint Entrance Examination Main 2026 session 1 is underway and this year’s exam recorded an increase in registrations. According to data released by NTA, a total of 8,01,326 candidates were scheduled to appear for JEE Mains 2026 session 1. Out of these, 7,70,441 candidates have appeared till date. With a record number of aspirants appearing for session 1, JEE Main 2026 cutoff percentiles and relative ranks are expected to get impact. The rising number of JEE Main 2026 Session 1 candidates shows competition and tighter percentiles.
NTA closed JEE Main registration for session 1 with over 14.5 lakh aspirants registered, highest in exam’s history. This figure surpasses last year’s registration trends, intensifying competition among engineering hopefuls nationwide. While registrations indicate interest, actual impact on JEE Main cutoff percentiles depends on number of candidates who appear for exam and their performance distributions across sessions.
Also Read: JEE Main Jan 23 Exam Analysis Live Updates
Understanding JEE Main Percentile
JEE Main uses percentile system to normalise scores across multiple shifts and days. Any candidate’s percentile shows how they performed relative to others in same shift, rather than absolute marks. A higher number of examinees often leads to a tighter scores, making it harder to obtain high percentile without better performance. For example, raw scores required for top percentiles can vary significantly by shift due to difficulty and candidate performance in that specific session.
Will JEE Main 2026 Cutoffs Go Up?
Early trend analysis shows JEE Main qualifying percentiles may go higher this year. Projections based on JEE Mains registration data, past trends, and expert feedback suggest the general category may see qualifying JEE Main cutoffs in 93.5 to 94 percentile range, slightly above last year’s benchmarks. Candidates can check expected JEE Main session 1 cut off 2026
| Categories |
Expected Cutoff |
|---|---|
| Unreserved (UR) |
93.3045326 |
| Gen-EWS |
81.4387917 |
| OBC-NCL |
80.7456432 |
| SC |
61.3526948 |
| ST |
48.2456783 |
| UR-PwD |
0.0082349 |
However, a slight decline in JEE Main 2026 cutoffs cannot be ruled out if a majority of sessions prove significantly tougher than recent years, as paper difficulty directly influences how raw scores translate to percentiles under NTA’s normalisation model.
Student reactions and shift-wise paper analyses have highlighted variances in difficulty. Several shifts in the early days were rated moderate to difficult, particularly in Mathematics and Physics, affecting how many high scorers may emerge in a given session.
When an exam is tougher overall, fewer high raw scores are likely, which traditionally eases cutoff pressure since percentiles rise relative to all scores in that shift. Whereas, easier papers can require higher marks to achieve similar percentiles.
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