Joint Entrance Examination shorten ed as JEE Main is an engineering entrance examination conducted at the national level for admission to the elite engineering colleges and institutions across the country such as Indian Institutes of Technology, National Institutes of Technology, etc. Qualifying JEE Main exam would allow students to sit through JEE Advanced examination for admission to around 11279 seats across 23 Indian Institutes of Technology. The exam was previously conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education which has now been changed to the National Testing Agency.

As per the records, there used to be two exams i.e. Paper 1 and Paper 2 conducted for admission to B. Tech/B. E. and B. Arch respectively but from the academic year 2019 and onwards there would be another exam Paper 3 is added for admission to B. Planning. Besides, the National Testing Agency has decided to take the exam twice a year i.e. Session 1 and Session 2 in the month of January and April respectively. Candidates can appear for both the exams and they would be shortlisted based on the best score of the two exams.

JEE Main Exam Overview

The exam is conducted through online as it is a Computer Based Test (CBT). Candidates applying for the exam must have passed senior secondary school with Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry/Biology as compulsory subjects.

Click here to know about the Changes JEE Main Exam Pattern Has Come Across.

JEE Main Application Process for the January session commenced from 3rd September, 2019. Candidates aspiring to appear for JEE Main January session must visit the JEE Main official website i.e. jeemain.nic.in. The last date to apply for the examination was 8th November, 2019. Since the exam is conducted twice a year, students who fail to perform well in January session can again apply for the exam conducted in April session to score well. JEE Main 2020 for January session is scheduled to be conducted from 6th January 2020 to 11th January 2020. The official website of JEE Main i.e. jeemain.nta.nic.in has now been shifted to jeemain.nic.in by the National Testing Agency which is the conducting authority of JEE Main Exam.

Note* Application form correction window for JEE Main 2020 January session has now been closed.

Highlights of JEE Main 2020

• Admit cards for JEE Main 2020 January session will be made live from 6th December 2019.
• There are overall 3 papers in which Numeric Value Questions have been added to the paper pattern.
• Candidates applying for B. Planning can now go through the sample papers released by NTA in order to understand the exam pattern.
• Total 2,50,000 top test takers would be allowed to sit through JEE Advanced 2020 Exam. 
• Candidates who would have completed senior secondary school with a background of Commerce and Humanities would also be eligible to sit through JEE Main 2020 for admission to B. Planning.

JEE Main January session was successfully conducted on January 9, 2019, onwards and the result of the same was declared on January 19, 2019. As the examination was conducted in multiple sessions, the scores have been converted into percentile form by the NTA. Read More

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.

Also Read | Top IITs in India

JEE Main Applications Received for the Last 6 Years:

Also Read: Best Engineering Colleges in India

JEE Main 2020 Application Procedure

The application form of JEE Main 2020 was made available on the official website of JEE Main i.e. jeemain.nic.in from 3^rd September 2019 to 8^th November 2019. The registration window closed on 8^th November 2019 and as per the recent information, there have been almost 9.34 lakh applications have been received so far. Since JEE Main 2020 Application Form can be filled only in online mode, students completed the registration procedure by visiting the official website of the exam.

Candidates who failed to fill the application form for January session can wait until the registration window again opens for April session. As per the scheduled slot, the application form for April session are expected to be made live during the first week of February 2020. Candidates must fill out the application form in order to appear for the exam conducted in April 2020.

JEE Main Application Form Pre-requisites – January 2020

While filling the application form, candidates must ensure that they possess all the required documents required to be submitted/uploaded during the registration procedure. The list of documents required to fill the application form are given below:

• Valid ID proof
• 12^th Class Certificate
• 10^th Class Marksheet
• Net Banking/Debit Card/Credit Card

Documents to be Uploaded During JEE Main Application Form Filling

• Recent Passport Sized Photograph
• Candidate's Signature

JEE Main Application Procedure generally consists of 4 steps that must be completed by candidates on the official website of JEE Main i.e. jeemain.nic.in.

JEE Main 2020 Admit Card

The National Testing Agency (NTA) will make JEE Main 2020 Admit Card for January session live on 6^th December 2019 and candidates who have applied for the exam can download their respective admit cards by logging into the official website of JEE Main after entering the required credentials. These credentials include registered email id and password sent to candidates on their registered email id. JEE Main Admit Card is one of the most important documents one must carry to the examination hall since it carries important details about candidates such as exam center, exam date, instructions, candidate's photograph and signature.

Candidates must follow the below mentioned instructions in order to download their respective admit cards:

• Visit the official website of JEE Main i.e. jeemain.nic.in.
• Click on the link stating “JEE Main January Session Admit Card 2020”.
• Enter the required details such as registration id and password and click on “Login”.
• Candidates will be redirected to a page where their admit card is displayed.
• Click on “Download Admit Card” and save it for future reference.

Before downloading the admit card, candidates must make sure that the details mentioned on their admit cards are correct as any incorrect detail may lead to cancelation of the candidature and refrain candidates from entering the examination hall.

Note* In case any discrepancy is found, candidates must immediately report to the examination authority before sitting through the exam.

Candidates must carry one of the photo ids proofs to the examination center along with JEE Main Admit Card. The valid photo id proofs are given below:

Note* Candidates must know that there would be separate admit cards for candidates appearing for JEE Main January and April Session.

JEE Main 2020 Exam Dates

While applying for any examination, it is important for candidates to be aware of important dates concerning the exam. Along with the official JEE Main 2020 Brochure, NTA also released JEE Main Important Dates for the exam scheduled to be conducted in January 2020.

Following are the important dates for JEE Main 2020 Exam of January session:

JEE Main 2020 Eligibility

Candidates applying for JEE Main 2020 must understand the basic parameters they should fulfill to become eligible for taking the examination. The eligibility criteria or set of minimum educational qualification required to sit through the exam has been defined by the National Testing Agency (NTA). This is a good to know information in order to avoid any last-minute hustle.

• Candidates who meet the requirement defined by the National Testing Agency can apply for JEE Main 2020 Exam.
• The basic eligibility to take the examination is to pass senior secondary school from a recognized board.
• The eligibility criteria for JEE Main 2020 have been defined in the table given below:

Reservation criteria for JEE Main 2020:

JEE Main 2020 Exam Pattern

One of the changes that JEE Main Exam Pattern has gone through is addition of third paper. There used to be two papers namely Paper 1 and Paper 2 conducted for B. Tech/ B. E. and B. Arch respectively. Third paper i.e. Paper 3 has been added for admission to B. Planning course offered at the institute.

Following are the few but drastic changes that JEE Main Exam Pattern has gone through:

• Paper 3 has been introduced for admission to B. Planning course offered at various institutes.
• There would be questions with numeric value answers.
• The total marks for B.E./B. Tech and B. Arch/B. Planning were kept at 360 and 390 marks respectively which now has been changed. JEE Main 2020 will consist of Papers B. Tech/B. E., B. Arch, and B. Planning with marks 300, 400, and 400 respectively.

Important Facts:

• Paper 1 for B. E./B. Tech will be conducted in online mode.
• Paper 2 for admission to B. Arch consists of 3 parts namely Mathematics, Aptitude Test, and Drawing Test where in drawing test is conducted in offline mode.
• Paper 3 for admission to B. Planning will be conducted through online mode.

The duration of the exam is 3 hours and candidates can also check JEE Main Exam Pattern to be aware of examination pattern and what type of questions are asked in the exam.

JEE Main 2020 Syllabus

The examination conducting body i.e. the National Testing Agency (NTA) released JEE Main 2020 Syllabus along with JEE Main brochure. The syllabus includes topics that students must study for each section of the paper. It is seen that the syllabus is almost as same as that of NCERT for 11^th and 12^th Class.

On one hand for Paper 1, the syllabus generally covers 3 main sections such as Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics. On the other hand, Paper 2 and Paper 3 consist of 3 sections each including questions related to Mathematics, Aptitude Test, and Planning Subject. NTA would list the detailed syllabus for Paper 1, Paper 2, and Paper 3 on its official website.

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.

JEE Main Seat Allocation Process:

• JEE Main Selection Procedure will be conducted by the Centralized Seat Allocation Board (CSAB) or Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA). The Seat Allocation Process will be conducted after the declaration of JEE Main Result by the National Testing Agency (NTA). NTA will not be responsible for conducting JEE Main Counselling or Seat Allocation.
• The candidates must check the availability of seats before choosing them during counseling. The candidates are free to change or delete their choice before locking the seat. Once the seat is locked, it can't be unlocked or deleted.
•  After locking the choice, the candidate must take a print out of their locked choice. This print out needs to be signed by the candidate and submitted at the time of reporting at Reporting Centre/Allotted Institute during Admission.
• The candidates who fail in locking the choice and saving it, will not be considered for seat allotment. Such candidates will be permitted to fill their choices during the third or fourth round of counseling. 

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.