EWS Cutoff for JEE Main 2026: Top Engineering Institutions

Synopsis:

Every year, predictions to estimate probable cutoffs for the JEE Main, category-wise, are made well before the session 2 exam results are declared. Likewise, this year too, a select class of aspirants have shown interest in social media for the EWS cutoff. In brief, interested candidates can review 

JEE Main Cutoff Mean?

Every year, after the first session of the JEE Main exams, enthusiastic aspirants check their eligibility to apply for admissions based on percentile ranks derived from rank scores. In fact, the JEE Main cutoff is the range of percentile scores eligible for admission to top premier institutions, such as NITs, IIITs, GFTIs, and so on. First, it is the comparison with the previous year's percentile, say 2025 in this case, and another approximation is that the scores or the percentiles show a marginal improvement. Therefore, the percentile obtained in the first session is often used as a reference to determine admission to engineering colleges. The JEE Main cutoff marks differ by category, such as General, General EWS, SC, ST, OBC NCL, or UR-PWD.

JEE Main 2026 Session 1 in the EWS Category: 

An increase in the number of participants in the JEE Main generally intensifies competition, and participating aspirants tend to influence the cutoffs as they have a chance to improve their percentiles accordingly. 

Statistical Data of the EWS category in the JEE Main 2026 Session 1:

Every year, the number of JEE Main aspirants increases significantly, and this year too, the exam saw heavy activity. The JEE Main 2026 saw a massive increase in enrollment in the EWS open category. The number of participants who appeared for JEE Main 2026 was female ( 52,904), male (108,054), and the total number who appeared was 160,958. Contrary to this, the total number of JEE Main session 1 registrations were female (53,824), male (1,10,436), and the total was 1,64,260.

EWS aspirants who target admission in top premier institutions after qualifying for the JEE Main 2026 can be in the order of: EWS aspirants can seek admission to CSE/ESE in the NITs/IIITs, provided they score a percentile between 97.0 and 99.0+. Likewise, EWS aspirants can seek admission to IIITs by scoring between 90.0 and 95.0 percentiles. 

Probable EWS cutoff for JEE Advanced 2026:

As per IIT Roorkee, a total of 25,000 shall be appearing for the JEE Advanced, and according to the current statistics, the participating aspirants will be in the Open (EWS category): 23,750, & EWS-PwD: 1,250. 

The statistical analysis indicates that the EWS Category Qualifying Percentile (for JEE Advanced) is expected to be approximately 80.5-82.5. This means an EWS candidate aiming to score 85 or more out of a total of 300 is considered qualifying, and for tough shifts, the cutoff may drop as low as 55 to 65 marks. 

The above tabulation shows the performance of EWS percentiles for 2021-25, and the last column details the performance range. 

Tabulation Explained:

The tabulation presents, column-wise, the popular, core branches and specialised institutions where EWS category aspirants can seek admission. Records of the percentiles have been made for popular and core courses, presented in the third and fourth columns. 

Summary:

The above content reflects the probable institutions where an EWS category aspirant can get admission to premier institutions, based on the probable percentiles one can obtain in 2026.