JEE Mains 2026 Qualifying Percentile: Expected Cutoff and Latest Updates

JEE Mains 2026 Qualifying Percentile: Expected Cutoff and Latest Updates

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K Guna SahitiUpdated on 29 Jan 2026, 02:25 PM IST
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JEE Main 2026 Qualifying Percentile: The National Testing Agency releases the JEE Main qualifying percentile 2026 along with the result. However, candidates can know the expected JEE Mains 2026 qualifying percentile. As per the exam difficulty level, it is 93+ for General, 80+ for OBC, 60+ for SC, 47+ for ST and 81+ for EWS. Those who clear the JEE Main 2026 will become eligible for JEE Advanced. However, this is not required for admission to NIT+ system. Aspirants who wish to know whether they can attempt JEE Advanced based on JEE Main qualifying percentile can go through this page.

LiveJEE Mains Answer Key 2026 (Out) LIVE: NTA releases response sheet for 13 lakh; how to download, cut-offsFeb 4, 2026 | 10:40 PM IST

A score of 70 in JEE Mains is usually low, giving a percentile of 75–88 and a rank between 1,20,000 and 1,70,000.

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This Story also Contains

  1. JEE Main 2026 Qualifying Percentile
  2. How is JEE Main 2026 Percentile Calculated?
  3. JEE Mains 2026 Expected Marks Vs Percentile Vs Rank
  4. Factors Affecting the JEE Main 2026 Qualifying Percentile
  5. JEE Main 2026 January Difficulty Level
  6. Category-Wise Distribution for JEE Advanced 2026
JEE Mains 2026 Qualifying Percentile: Expected Cutoff and Latest Updates
JEE Mains 2026 Qualifying Percentile: Expected Cutoff and Latest Updates

The official JEE Main qualifying percentile can be know only after the announcement of JEE Main result session 2. Candidates can use the JEE Main college predictor to know their admission chances.

JEE Main 2026 Qualifying Percentile

NTA will release the JEE Mains 2026 cutoff in the form of a qualifying percentile on the official website, jeemain.nta.nic.in. It will depend on the factors like difficulty level of exam, number of candidates, seats available and category-wise distribution canddiates who can take the JEE Advanced exam. Meanwhile, candidates can check the JEE Main 2026 expected qualifying percentile for general, OBC, SC, ST and EWS in the table below.

Expected JEE Main 2026 Qualifying Percentile

Category

JEE Mains qualifying marks 2026

General

93 to 95

OBC-NCL

80 to 82

EWS

80 to 82

SC

60 to 62

ST

47 to 49

How is JEE Main 2026 Percentile Calculated?

Candidates wondering how to calculate the percentile for JEE Main 2026, can check this session. NTA determines JEE Main 2026 qualifying percentile category wise. It is common for all shifts and sessions. The following JEE normalization formula is used to derive percentile in JEE Main.

Calculating JEE Main Percentile

Total Percentile (T1P)

(100 x No. of candidates from the session with a raw score equal to or less than T1 score) / Total No. of candidates who appeared in the session

Mathematics Percentile (M1P)

(100 x No. of candidates appeared from the session with a raw score equal to or less than than M1 score in Mathematics)

/ Total No. of candidates who appeared in the session

Chemistry Percentile (C1P):

(100 x No. of candidates appeared from the session with a raw score equal to or less than C1 score in Chemistry) / Total No. of candidates who appeared in the session

Physics Percentile (P1P)

(100 x No. of candidates appeared from the session with raw score equal to or less than P1 score in Physics) / Total No. of candidates who appeared in the session

JEE Mains 2026 Expected Marks Vs Percentile Vs Rank

IIT JEE aspirants can refer to the JEE Mains Marks vs Percentile vs Rank for 2026, which has been provided here. According to the JEE Main 2026 marks vs percentile vs rank data, candidates need to score above 160 marks to achieve a percentile greater than 90.

Expected JEE Main Marks vs Rank vs Percentile 2026

JEE Main Marks

JEE Main Percentile

JEE Main Rank

300-291

100-99.999

1 - 15

292-280

99.99890732 - 99.99617561

16 - 56

279-271

99.99417236 - 99.99153171

86 - 125

268-259

99.99034797 - 99.97687156

142 - 341

258-250

99.97413985 - 99.95228621

381 - 704

249-240

99.95028296 - 99.91549924

733 - 1246

239-230

99.91395128 - 99.87060821

1269 - 1909

229-220

99.86150253 - 99.78191884

2043 - 3217

219-210

99.77499852 - 99.69159044

3319 - 4549

209- 200

99.68494329 - 99.57503767

4647 - 6269

199-190

99.56019541 - 99.40858575

6488 - 8724

189- 180

99.39319714 - 99.17311273

8951 - 12197

179-170

99.1567225 - 98.87981861

12439 - 16524

169-160

98.85149993 - 98.52824811

16942 - 21710

159-150

98.49801724 -98.09290531

22156 - 28132

149-140

98.07460288 - 97.54301298

28402 - 36243

139-130

97.4927496 - 96.87838902

36985 - 46047

129-120

96.80927687 - 96.0687115

47066 - 57991

119-110

95.983027 - 95.05625037

59254 - 72925

109-100

94.96737888 - 93.8020333

74236 - 91426

99-90

93.67910655 - 92.21882783

93240 - 114780

89-80

92.05811248 - 90.27631202

117151 - 143434

79-70

90.0448455 - 87.51810893

1468491 - 184121

69-60

87.33654157 - 83.89085926

186799- 237626

59-50

83.5119717 - 78.35114254

243215 - 319343

49-40

77.81927947 - 69.5797271

327188 - 448730

39-30

68.80219265 - 56.09102043

460200 - 647703

29-20

54.01037138 - 36.58463962

678394 935442

19-10

35.2885364 - 18.16647924

954561 - 1207129

9-0

17.14582299 -5.71472799

1222184 - 1390805

Factors Affecting the JEE Main 2026 Qualifying Percentile

NTA will determine the JEE Main qualifying percentile 2026 based on the given various factors.

  • The difficulty level of the JEE Main 2026

  • Number of applicants who appeared for JEE Main

  • Performance of all the candidates in the JEE Main examination

  • Category-wise distribution of candidates who can take the JEE Advanced out of the eligible 2.5 lakhs

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JEE Main Syllabus: Subjects & Chapters
Select your preferred subject to view the chapters

JEE Main 2026 January Difficulty Level

Candidates can check the difficulty level of JEE Main 2026 January session to know whether the JEE cutoff will be less or mode. This year, the JEE Main Jan 2026 exam was moderate to tough.

JEE Main Exam Date & Shift

Chemistry

Physics

Mathematics

Overall Difficulty

Jan 28 Shift 1

Moderate

Easy to Moderate

Moderate to Difficult

Moderate to Hard

Jan 28 Shift 2

Moderate

Easy

Moderate (Lengthy)

Easy

Jan 24 Shift 1

Easy to Moderate

Moderate & Lengthy

Moderate to Difficult (Lengthy)

Moderate

Jan 24 Shift 2

Moderate to Difficult

Easy

Moderate (Lengthy)

Moderate

Jan 23 Shift 1

Moderate

Easy (but tricky/time-taking)

Moderate (Lengthy)

Moderate

Jan 23 Shift 2

Moderate to tough

Easy to Moderate

Moderate to Difficult

Easy to Moderate

Jan 22 Shift 1

Moderate

Moderate to Difficult

Moderate (Lengthy)

Moderate

Jan 22 Shift 2

Moderate to Tough

Moderate

Difficult (Very Lengthy)

Moderate to Difficult

Jan 21 Shift 1

Tough

Easy to Moderate

Moderate

Moderate

Jan 21 Shift 2

Moderate to Tough

Easy

Moderate to Hard (Lengthy)

Moderate

Category-Wise Distribution for JEE Advanced 2026

The following number of candidates will become eligible for JEE Advanced in each category. Therefore, it is one of the important criteria that affects JEE Main qualifying percentile.

Category

Number of candidates who score the best

OPEN

96187

101250

OPEN-PwD

5063

GEN-EWS

23750

25000

GEN-EWS-PwD

1250

OBC-NCL

64125

67500

OBC-NCL-PwD

3375

SC

35625

37500

SC-PwD

1875

ST

17812

18750

ST-PwD

938

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: How to calculate percentile in JEE Mains 2026?
A:

To calculate the JEE Mains percentile for 2026, candidates should use the following formula: Percentile = (100 × Number of candidates in the session with a raw score equal to or lower than the T1 score) / Total number of candidates who appeared in the session.

Q: What is the top 5 percentile?
A:

A score that reaches beyond 95% of all observed data points belongs to the 5th percentile group. The top 5 percentile indicates your test score surpasses what 95% of test-takers achieved. Becoming part of the top 5 means your ranking surpasses 95% of potential candidates, thus sitting at the 95th percentile position.

Q: what is the cutoff for jee mains 2026?
A:

The expected cutoff of JEE Mains, which is the qualifying percentile, is it is 93+ for General, 80+ for OBC, 60+ for SC, 47+ for ST and 81+ for EWS. 

Q: Is the JEE Main 2026 qualifying percentile out?
A:

NTA will release the JEE Main 2026 qualifying percentile along with session 2 result.

Q: How much percentile is required for NIT 2026?
A:

Candidates should aim to get above 98 percentile to get into top NITs and best courses like CSE, IT, CSE (AI) etc.

Q: Is the JEE Main 2026 qualifying percentile out?
A:

NTA will release the JEE Main 2026 qualifying percentile along with session 2 result.

Q: How much percentile is required for NIT 2026?
A:

Candidates should aim to get above 98 percentile to get into top NITs and best courses like CSE, IT, CSE (AI) etc.

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