JEE Mains 2026 Category-Wise Cutoff: NTA will release the JEE Mains 2026 category-wise cutoff on the official website, jeemain.nta.nic.in. The authority will upload the category wise JEE Main 2026 cutoff along with the session 2 results. Aspirants can refer to the expected JEE Mains category-wise cutoff 2026. The general category cutoff for JEE Mains 2026 can be around 94 percentile. For OBC category, it can be 81 percentile. It may be 61 for SC and nearly 48 for ST category. Students who clear the JEE Main cutoff 2026 will only be eligible for the JEE Advanced 2026 exam. The JEE Main cutoff changes every year depending on various factors such as the difficulty level of the exam, the number of candidates who appeared for the exam, etc. Read the article carefully to know more about JEE Mains Category-wise cutoff.
The JEE Main cutoff is the percentile that is required for the students to get eligible for the furhter JEE advanced exam. However, the JEE Main minimum qualifying cutoff and JEE Main admission cutoff both are different. Some candidates who don’t cross the JEE Main cutoff but scores qualifying cutoff will be allowed for JoSAA counselling for admission into NITs, IIITs, GFTI’s etc.
The authority will release the Category-wise cutoff of JEE Mains 2026 on its official portal. We have provided the expected JEE Mains Category-wise cutoff based on the previous years trends.
| Category | JEE Main 2026 Cutoff (Expected) |
|---|---|
General | 94 |
OBC - NCL | 81 |
EWS | 81 |
SC | 61 |
ST | 48 |
Candidates can check the previous years' JEE Main category-wise cutoff from the table below. The JEE Main cutoff changes every years and it can be seen here. With this year's cutoff, students can estimate the upcoming JEE Mains cutoff for all categories.
| Year | General | OBC | SC | ST |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2025 | 93.1023262 | 79.4313582 | 61.1526933 | 47.9026465 |
2024 | 93.2362181 | 79.6757881 | 60.0923182 | 46.6975840 |
2023 | 90.7788642 | 73.6114227 | 51.9776027 | 37.2348772 |
2022 | 88.4121383 | 67.0090297 | 43.0820954 | 26.7771328 |
2021 | 87.8992241 | 68.0234447 | 46.8825338 | 34.6728999 |
2020 | 90.3765335 | 72.8887969 | 50.1760245 | 39.0696101 |
2019 | 89.7548849 | 74.3166557 | 54.0128155 | 44.3345172 |
Candidates who qualify JEE Mains 2026 exam will be eligible for JoSAA counselling. The JEE Main cutoff for NIT admission is different from the JEE Advanced exam. JEE Main students who get rank around 4 lakh to 5 lakh may get seat in NITs but they will not be eligible for JEE advanced exam. Because only top 2.5 lakh candidates of JEE Mains exam will be allowed to appear for JEE Advanced examination which is gateway for admission into IITs.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The expected JEE Main 2026 cutoff will be around 94 percentile for general category.
The expected JEE Main 2026 cutoff will be near to 81 percentile.
The JEE Main 2026 cutoff will be released along with result.
The minimum cutoff will make qualify the JEE Main exam for candidates, while admission cutoff will make them eligible for further JEE Advanced exam.
Yes, NTA has released the JEE Main 2026 session 1 result on February 16, 2026.
On Question asked by student community
Dear Student,
The category rank with an 81 percentile depends on your specific category. You can check your category rank here:
You can get the following colleges:
You can check the complete list from here - https://engineering.careers360.com/articles/list-of-engineering-colleges-accepting-98-percentile-in-jee-main
Dear Student,
With 56 marks in JEE Mains 2026 April 5, the chances of result in a lower percentile than 80. But with normalisation you can expect a good percentile if your specific shift was very hard.
For your reference, check: JEE Mains 2026 April 5 Marks vs Percentile: Shift-Wise
Dear Student,
Normalization can boost your score and percentile if your specific shift was very hard.
You can check your percentile and rank here: JEE Mains 2026 April 5 Marks vs Percentile: Shift-Wise Expected Score Analysis
Dear Student,
88.3 percentile can help you get into NITs and other colleges but it also depends on your specific category. You can check cutoff and college list based on your JEE Main 2026 percentile here: JEE Main 2026 Colleges vs Percentile
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