- December 09, 2025
- by Resonance Colleges
- 189 Views
As every year, on a rotational basis, IIT Roorkee was authorised to assess the candidates appearing for undergraduate programs offered by the 23 IITs across the country. This year, 2.5 lakh candidates will be eligible to take the JEE Advanced entrance test, which is likely to be conducted on May 17, 2026. The information shall explain how JEE Main serves as a screening test for entry into JEE Advanced, and how these examinations differ. It also describes the stringent rules governing the eligibility of JEE Main aspirants to enter the nation's most prestigious institutions, such as IITs.
JEE Main aspirants, who qualify for the main exam, can proceed to write the JEE Advanced exam to seek admission at any of the IIT campuses across the country. This year, IIT Roorkee has capped the number of aspirants taking the IIT examination at the top 2.5 lakh JEE Main aspirants. Depending on the category and the total number of seats made available for the physically abled aspirants, they will be allowed to take the JEE Advanced 2026. That means, the JEE Main exam shall stand as the screening test for the JEE Advanced exam.
The JEE Main exam is for aspirants seeking admission to national or state-level engineering colleges. The national-level colleges are NITs, IIITs, and other Centrally Funded Technical Institutions. At the same time, JEE Advanced is exclusively for aspirants seeking admission to the prestigious national-level institutions, such as the 23 IITs. Students who plan to pursue BArch and BPlanning courses must take another test exclusively under Paper 2.
Students appearing for the JEE Main can take three attempts in a row, with two attempts every year. But those attempting JEE Advanced can take two attempts in a row.
The JEE Main exam consists of multiple-choice and numerical questions for BE and B.Tech., and the JEE Advanced exam consists of two compulsory papers comprising integer-based, multiple-choice, and numerical-based questions.
JEE Main is a computer-based test (CBT), and aspirants can take it in two sessions held in January and April each year. The scheduled sessions are between January 21-30 & April 1-10, 2026. The JEE Advanced exam schedule is for 17 May 2026.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) has set a few ground rules that the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) implements during admissions. Aspirants should verify their eligibility against the predefined guidelines. A mention of the prominent guideline is below.
Aspirants applying for the JEE Advanced should have been born on or after 1 October 2001, and for the physically challenged, SC, and ST, there will be a 5-year relaxation.
A candidate is allowed to attempt the JEE Advanced for a maximum of two consecutive years.
An aspirant applying for the JEE Advanced should have appeared for Class XII either in 2025 or in 2026. The aspirant must have appeared for the +2 board exams with mathematics, physics, or chemistry as the main subject.
Note:
An aspirant who had appeared in the +2 board exam for the first time in 2024 or earlier is ineligible to appear for JEE 2026. The number of attempts or the combination of the subjects studied is not a matter of reference.
For some reason, an aspirant’s result may be withheld, and the board may have declared it during that tenure; still, the NTA shall consider it an attempt and count it.
A candidate may have accepted an IIT seat by reporting online or at a reporting centre, but not joined the program for one reason or another.
For some reason, an aspirant’s admission may get cancelled for any reason, and such an aspirant is also not eligible to take the JEE 2026 exam.
An aspirant who has enrolled for a preparatory course in any of the IITs for the first time in 2025 is eligible for JEE Advanced 2026.
In JoSAA (2025), an aspirant who may not have reported online, visited any reporting centre or got the seat but cancelled before the last round of seat allotment is eligible to apply for JEE Advanced 2026.
IIT Roorkee has made an official announcement that JEE Advanced 2026 shall be on 17 May 2026.
The papers of the JEE Advanced exam cover in-depth concepts compared to those of the JEE Main.
Aspirants who aspire to join the country’s top premier institutes, such as IITs, must undertake the JEE Advanced exam.
An aspirant must qualify in the JEE Main exam and should have achieved the cutoff marks according to the NTA’s category-wise selection criteria.
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