IISER IAT 2026 Expected Category-Wise Cutoff

What is IISER?

IISER stands for the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research. The first IISER was established in 2006. The primary reason for establishing such institutes was the perceived need to invest in the pure sciences to ensure that India could progress further.

India already had institutes that were dedicated to professional education, such as IITs, NITs, IIITs, GFTIs, AIIMS, NLUS, and others. IISERs primary motive is to focus on pure sciences. They generally offer BS -MS programmes, because these institutes are dedicated to pure sciences. Students should also understand that IISERs should be opted only if the student is interested in research.

However, in recent years, these institutes too have started offering B.Tech courses, especially after AI came in and mathematics became an important subject.

IISER IAT Overview 2023 - 2026

The number of students who are taking the IAT examination has been growing rapidly over the past few years. The examination was started in 2023, where the total number of students who had registered for the examination was 44,511, out of which 34,751 students had written the examination. If we are talking about IAT 2026, around 1.85 lakhs students had registered for the examination, and almost 1.5 lakh students had appeared for the IAT 2026.

This data signifies that there has been an exponential rise in the popularity of the IAT examination and also the fact that an increasing number of students are interested in pursuing research.

IISER Seat Matrix – 2023 - 2026

Over the past few years, the number of programmes and seats too has increased tremendously at IISERs. A few B.Tech programmes have also been introduced where admission is done on the basis of JEE Advanced score. Also, apart from the existing ones, more IISERs are being set up, and within the existing institutes, the number of seats is also going up.

Three years ago, there were around 1800, and now there are close to 2400 seats. This is roughly a 30 per cent growth in the number of seats offered at IISERs. Across all the programmes mentioned in the table above, the number of seats increased (Except IISER Thiruvananthapuram and Pune). Going further, even IISC has started admitting students in their BS programs based on the IAT exam score. Even certain private universities consider the IAT exam score to admit students into their pure sciences programmes.

BS-MS Program – Highest Closing Rank (General) 2023 - 2025

Note: The close ranks mentioned in the table are for open category students.

The highest closing rank has been increasing continuously. There are several reasons for this: a continuous increase in the number of seats across all the IISERs. There are also students taking the exam to get into not just IISERs but also IISc, and also some private universities that accept IAT examination scores to give admission in their pure sciences in undergrad courses. The bottom line is that the IAT examination score is being accepted beyond IISERs, due which the students are getting distributed, which is resulting in high closing ranks.

BS-MS Program – Highest Closing Rank by Category (2025)

The table above shows the last year’s highest closing ranks across all categories and in all the IISERs. The way the current trend is going it seems that the highest closing rank for IAT Aptitude Test 2026 will go even higher.

B.Tech / BS Program – Highest Closing Rank by Category (2025)

Here we have the highest closing rank for B.Tech and BS programmes, where 3169 is the highest closing rank for IAT examination.

Key Change in Admissions for B.Tech course?

Another important fact students should know is that till last year, IISc was using the IAT examination score to give admission in the B.Tech Programme. But this year, IISc wants to consider the JEE Advanced score, so they are participating in the JoSSA counselling. In the future, it could be a possibility that some of the IISErs too will go for the JoSSA counseling or the JEE score for admissions in their B.Tech programmes.

IISc Bangalore – BS Research Cut-off (IAT Category Rank)

Female Candidates

Note: Ranks shown are IAT category rank cut-offs for IISc Bangalore BS (Research) Programme.

Again, here too we see the increase in the highest closing rank for the Bachelor of Science programme at IISc Bangalore across all categories. As mentioned earlier, IISc Bangalore considers the IAT Examination score to give admission in its BS Programmes. For B.Tech, it considers the JEE Advanced score. So, here anything to do with B.Tech comes through JEE, and anything related to pure science comes through the IAT Examination score.

The number of students taking the IAT examination is increasing on a yearly basis, and the highest closing rank across all categories is because a lot of public and private institutions too are adding pure sciences programmes. If a student gets a rank between 3,000 and 5,000, he or she is likely to get a good programme at IISER. IAT is being used as an entrance exam not just by IISER but by others too, for admission in their pure science programmes.

As the results are about to be announced, students need to understand what kind of chances do they have of getting into a good institution based on the IAT score for pursuing a pure sciences course.