The decision emerged from a meeting of the IIT Council chaired by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in August. The minutes of this meeting were made public on January 5, 2026, according to a report by Careers360.
The proposal was presented by IIT Kanpur Director Manindra Agrawal, who advocated making JEE Advanced more “student-friendly”and “less stressful.” He noted that the existing exam pattern has contributed to the rapid growth of the coaching industry, placing both emotional and financial strain on aspirants and their families.
As highlighted in the report of the 55th IIT Council meeting, Agrawal argued that JEE Advanced should place greater emphasis on assessing critical thinking and reasoning abilities. He further stressed the need to make the examination more robust against operational challenges. To address these concerns, he proposed adaptive testing, stating that it could reduce dependence on coaching, enhance fairness, and enable more flexible and secure examination formats.
This is not the first instance of the IIT Council deliberating changes to JEE Advanced. A similar discussion took place in 2023, driven by the same objective of lowering coaching dependency among engineering aspirants.
Steps Proposed for Restructuring JEE Advanced
IIT Kanpur and JAB to Evaluate Feasibility of Adaptive Testing
As an initial step, the IIT Council has recommended that IIT Kanpur and the JAB jointly assess the feasibility of implementing adaptive testing. An expert committee led by these bodies will examine whether the proposed model can effectively curb coaching dependence and address exam-related vulnerabilities.
The Council has also suggested conducting an optional adaptive test around two months prior to JEE Advanced. This preliminary assessment would allow candidates to evaluate their preparedness and work on improving their performance. Data from this test would then be compared with actual JEE Advanced 2025 results to determine the practicality and impact of adaptive testing on aspirants, thereby informing future reforms.
Based on insights gained from this exercise, IIT Kanpur and the JAB will draft a white paper outlining a phased roadmap with defined timelines for transitioning JEE Advanced to an adaptive testing format.
Proposal to Bring Supernumerary Seats Under JoSAA
In another important recommendation, the IIT Council has proposed that admissions to supernumerary seats in IITs be brought under the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) counselling process. Currently, BTech admissions through categories such as sports and science Olympiads are conducted separately.
While IIT Madras and IIT Indore offer admissions under sports quotas, IIT Bombay, Kanpur, Madras, and Gandhinagar have introduced Olympiad-based entry routes. According to the meeting minutes, the Council decided that all supernumerary seats and quotas should be integrated into the centralised JoSAA online counselling system. This move aims to enhance transparency and eliminate information gaps for students.