Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main is a national-level Under Graduate Engineering Entrance Examination conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admissions in National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs),...

Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main is a national-level Under Graduate Engineering Entrance Examination conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admissions in National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs), State Funded Technical Institutes (SFTIs) and Centrally Funded Technical Institutes (CFTIs). From the current year, the examination will be conducted twice a year that is, in the month of January and April. The examination is for admissions in Under Graduate Engineering and Architecture. JEE Main Paper 1 is for engineering students whereas, paper 2 is for architecture students.

Earlier, the examination was conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) but after the formation of National Testing Agency by the Government of India, the examination is conducted by NTA. NTA has also launched mock tests for the students appearing for JEE Main examination.

The Online Application Process for JEE Main January attempt is conducted in the month of September whereas the same for April attempt is conducted in the month of February every year.

The candidates aspiring to appear for JEE Advanced examination must qualify Paper 1 of JEE Main examination. JEE Advanced is a national-level examination, conducted by the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) for admissions in courses offered by 21 IITs and Indian School of Mines (ISM). The top 2,24,000 scorers of JEE Main examination are eligible to apply for JEE Advanced examination.

Things to Know about JEE Main:

JEE Main Applications over last 6 years:

Applicants Trend of JEE Main:

Also Read: Best Engineering Colleges in India

JEE Main result will comprise of scores which include actual marks obtained by the candidate in the test along with the list of candidates qualifying for JEE Advanced. Hence, the result will provide the candidate their qualifying status for JEE Advanced examination. Basically, on the basis of the scores attained by the candidate in JEE Main examination, a separate rank list will be prepared for the admissions to B.E./B. Tech. and B.Arch/ B. Planning offered by numerous engineering institutes and colleges of India (apart from 23 Indian Institutes of Technology - IITs). 

Publishing of results usually comprises of 2 steps:

The scorecards of the candidates will include the marks obtained by the candidate in All India Rank list for JEE Main Examination. This would also determine the candidate's eligibility for JEE Advanced examination. A category wise list would be prepared for all courses which would help CSAB in determining seat allotment for IITs, NITs, SFTIs and Government-aided colleges. 

JEE Main cutoff is the minimum score that a candidate must get in order to be eligible for B.tech/BE and B.Arch/BPlan programmes in NITs, IIITs and top engineering colleges. With the announcement of JEE Main Result and AIR, NTA would be releasing qualifying marks for JEE Advanced.

In comparison to previous 5 year cutoffs, JEE Main last year Cutoff has been the lowest.

Cutoffs have been listed as below:

Factors used to determine JEE Main cutoff:

1. Number of candidates who appeared in the examination
2. The difficulty level of the examination
3. Number of questions
4. Overall Performance Level

JEE Mains score can be used for a number of private colleges.Candidates qualifying JEE Mains give the JEE advanced out of which only 11,000 candidates are eligible for IIT's and ISM.However, these scores can be used for entering into a  number of prestigious colleges.

Documents required during JEE Main Counselling:

1. Printout of seat acceptance acknowledgment
2. Printout of terms and conditions are taken from the CSAB website and duly signed by the candidate.
3. Originals for verification:
   • Admit Card of JEE (Main)-2018.
   • Score Card of JEE (Main)-2018 issued by CBSE (downloaded scorecard is acceptable).
   • Class X (High School) Board Certificate as proof of date of birth.
   • Pass Certificate and Marks sheet of qualifying examination.
   • Certificate of category (SC / ST/ BC-NCL) issued by the competent authority in the prescribed format.
   • Certificate for Persons with Disabilities (PwD), if applicable.
   • Passport, if the candidate has passed the qualifying examination from outside India; this is required for determining the 'State from which eligible'.
   • Proof of place of examination Center of the final examination from the National Open School for candidates having Senior Secondary Certificate; this is required for determining the 'State from which eligible'.
4. Two sets of self-attested copies of all the documents listed above. The originals will be returned after verification and self-attested copies will be retained by the Reporting Center.
5. Two passport size photographs identical to the one which was pasted on the JEE Main application form.

The JEE Main Examination would be held across 104 cities all over India and 9 International Cities.

There are about 2000 test centers. There were 113 exam centers that hosted the JEE Main Examination last year and the year before 136 exam centers.

These are a few things that candidates must keep in mind in the course of allocating exam centers. 

1. Candidates would be allotted JEE Main Exam center as per their preference indicated of exam centers at the time of applying for JEE Main.
2. An applicant would be required to report to the examination center on the indicated date and time mentioned on the admit card.
3. Candidates would be required to choose 1 exam center for the JEE Main test process during JEE Main Application Procedure.
4. JEE Main 2018 question papers would be available in Hindi and English in most of the exam centers.

Centers outside India

JEE Main Results and Ranks were declared in April and Kalpit Veerwal from Udaipur has emerged the topper. Being a student from MDS Senior Secondary School, Veerwal has secured 100 percentile. In addition to this, Kalpit had topped the Indian Junior Science Olympiad in Grade 9 and also secured a high position in Grade 10 in NTSE, along with topping KVPY in Grade 11th.

Vasu Jain from Delhi bagged AIR 2 while Ananay Aggarwal has secured AIR 3. Vrunda Rathi from Maharashtra has secured AIR 1 in the Girls category. AIR 2 was scored by Poorva Garg with an overall rank of 96. Narayana Jeevana Reddy bagged the Third Rank. The list of JEE Main 2017 Toppers are as mentioned below:

Changes introduced in JEE Main 2019:

1. Mode of Examination: Paper 1 will be held in computer-based test mode whereas, Paper 2 will be in the Computer-based mode for Mathematics and Aptitude and Paper-and-pen-based mode for Drawing.
2. Twice a year: The examination will be conducted twice a year. The candidate can appear for either one or both.
3. Age Limit: There is no maximum age limit to appear for JEE Main examination. The candidate must have passed Class XII in 2017, 2018 or must be appearing for the Class XII examination in the year 2019.
4. Revised Application Fee: The JEE Main Application Fee has been reduced for each category.
5. Mock Test: NTA already started registrations for Mock Tests and the aspirants can practice these tests regularly to enhance their understanding about the actual examination.
6. Test Practice Centres: NTA has organized practice centres at 2,697 colleges and schools with computers.
7. Unique Question Paper: NTA is getting a huge databank of questions being prepared with the help of subject experts, educationists, psychometric test experts etc. Due to this system, each candidate will get a unique question paper in which questions will be randomly picked.