JEE Main vs Advanced 2026: Difference in exam pattern, syllabus and selection criteria this year

JEE Main and JEE Advanced exam varies a lot in terms of syllabus, exam pattern and difficulty level. The selection criteria are also different for both exams. There are many topics which are part of JEE Main but not in JEE Advanced and vice versa. The type of quetsions asked in JEE Main is different from JEE Advanced. Check more details here!

JEE Main and Advanced both serves the different purposes. While JEE Main is conducted to shortlist candidates for admission to NITs, IIITs and GFTIs, JEE Advanced is the exam for admission to IITs. Only those candidates who qualify JEE Mains can appear in JEE Advanced.

The exam pattern and syllabus details for JEE Main 2026 exam have been released by National Testing Agency whereas the details about Joint Entrance Examination (Advanced) are yet to be released. Candidates are provided here basic details about the difference and similarities of both the exams this year.

JEE Main vs JEE Advanced Exam Pattern 2026

Exam/Details	JEE Mains	JEE Advanced
Subjects covered	Physics, Chemistry & Maths	Physics, Chemistry & Maths
Number of papers	One	Two - Paper 1 and 2
Type of questions	Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) Numerical Value Type Questions	MCQ having one correct answer MCQ having multiple correct answers Correct Answer Matching Numerical Value Type Questions
Total no. of question	Total 75 questions 20 MCQ and 5 Numerical Value from each Physics, Chemistry and Maths	No fixed numbers/ Varies most year As per current pattern,
Exam duration	3 Hours	3 Hours
Marking scheme	+ 4 marks correct answer -1 marks for every incorrect answer	Marking scheme changes each year. Negative marks will be awarded for incorrect answers to some of the questions. Questions can carry 1, 2, 3, or 4 marks, there are negative markings of -1 or -2 marks, and certain questions might also not have any negative marking.
Qualifying marks	Announced by NTA along with results	Minimum 7 marks in each subject and minimum 74 aggregate marks of all three subjects for inclusion in common rank list (CRL). Marks vary for reserved categories.

JEE Main vs JEE Advanced Syllabus 2026

Both JEE Mains and Advanced cover NCERT class 11 and 12 topics of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. However, there’s a lot different in syllabus of both these exams. There are some topics that are part of JEE Mains but not covered in JEE Advanced syllabus and vice versa. The exact syllabus for JEE Mains and Advanced exam 2026 can be checked from the official website.

JEE Main and Advanced Selection Criteria 2026

Lakhs of students appear in JEE Mains exam every year but only a handful of them succeeds in getting admission to their dream colleges. Similarly for JEE Advanced, around 2 lakh candidates appear with only 18,000 getting a seat in IITs. Due to large number of candidates appearing for very less seats, the cutoffs are kept hight making it difficult to qualify the exam. In JEE Mains exam, there’s no fixed qualifying marks. The students gets an All India rank based on their score which serves the basis of admission in the participating colleges.

To get selected in JEE Advanced, candidates have to obtain the minimum qualifying marks. In JEE Advanced, the following is the cutoff marks for last year.

JEE Advanced Qualifying Marks previous year

Rank List	Minimum marks in each subject	Minimum aggregate marks out of 360
Common rank list (CRL)	7	74
GEN-EWS rank list	6	66
OBC-NCL rank list	6	66
SC rank list	3	37
ST rank list	3	37
Common-PwD rank list (CRL-PwD)	3	37
GEN-EWS-PwD rank list	3	37
OBC-NCL-PwD rank list	3	37
SC-PwD rank list	3	37
ST-PwD rank list	3	37
Preparatory course rank lists	1	18

JEE Main vs JEE Advanced Difficulty Level

The difficulty level of JEE Advanced and Main varies a lot. While JEE Advanced is one of the toughest exams in the world, JEE Main is considered largely on the medium to difficult side considering the difficulty level of questions and huge competition.

JEE Mains 2026 session 1 registration has just closed, and application corrections are currently underway. The registration process for JEE Advanced exam is slated to begin in April post declaration of JEE Mains session 2 result. JEE Main 2026 exam will be conducted in two sessions in January and April whereas JEE Advanced will be held in May.

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