JEE Main: Gateway to Engineering Colleges

JEE Main is conducted twice every year, usually in two sessions held in January and April. The scores obtained in this examination are used to determine admission eligibility for 31 National Institutes of Technology (NITs), 26 Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs), and several other centrally funded technical institutions. In addition, JEE Main scores are accepted by many government and private engineering colleges across the country for undergraduate admissions.

Number of Attempts for JEE Main

Candidates are allowed a maximum of three attempts for JEE Main. Students can appear for the examination once in the year they pass Class 12 and then in the next two consecutive years. After exhausting these three attempts, candidates are no longer eligible to take the JEE Main examination.

Eligibility Requirements for JEE Advanced

To appear for JEE Advanced, candidates must first qualify JEE Main and secure a rank among the top 2,50,000 candidates. Admission to undergraduate engineering programmes offered by the 23 IITs is based solely on performance in JEE Advanced. Unlike JEE Main, students are permitted only two attempts for JEE Advanced—one in the year of passing Class 12 and one in the immediate subsequent year.

Additional Key Details

Candidates must have completed Class 12 or an equivalent examination with Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics as compulsory subjects to be eligible for JEE. Both JEE Main and JEE Advanced are conducted in Computer-Based Test (CBT) mode, with each paper having a duration of three hours. The National Testing Agency (NTA) is responsible for conducting JEE Main, whereas JEE Advanced is organized each year by one of the IITs on a rotational basis.