The JEE Main exam is getting tougher. More students are taking the exam each year, and the marks needed to qualify for JEE Advanced are going up. This means more competition for students aiming to get into top engineering colleges like the IITs.
In 2023 , about 11.13 lakh students took JEE Main Paper 1. This number grew a lot in 2024 , with over 14.15 lakh students appearing, which is a 27.1% increase . In 2025 , the number of students went up slightly to about 14.75 lakh , a 4.2% increase from the previous year.
Because more students are taking the exam, the minimum score (percentile cutoff) needed to be eligible for JEE Advanced has also increased.
JEE Main Cutoffs Increase with More Students
The table below shows how many students took the exam and the cutoff marks for different categories from 2023 to 2025. The cutoff is the minimum percentile score required to be considered for JEE Advanced.
| Year | Total Candidates Appeared | UR cutoff | EWS cutoff | OBC cutoff | SC cutoff | ST cutoff |
| 2023 | 11,13,325 | 90.77 | 75.62 | 73.61 | 51.97 | 37.23 |
| 2024 | 14,15,110 | 93.23 | 81.32 | 79.67 | 60.09 | 46.69 |
| 2025 | 14,75,103 | 93.10 | 80.38 | 79.43 | 61.15 | 47.90 |
In 2024 , the big jump in students (27.1% increase) caused the cutoffs to rise for everyone. The Unreserved (UR) category cutoff went up from 90.77 to 93.23. The increase was even bigger for reserved categories like EWS, OBC, SC, and ST.
In 2025 , even though fewer students joined compared to 2024 (4.2% increase), the cutoffs changed a bit. The UR cutoff slightly dropped to 93.10. EWS and OBC cutoffs also saw a small decrease. However, the cutoffs for SC and ST students continued to rise.
What This Means for Students
The number of students taking JEE Main has grown by more than 3.6 lakh since 2023. This shows that the competition is getting harder every year. Students need to study harder and aim for better scores to qualify for JEE Advanced and secure a seat in top engineering colleges.
