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What is a good score in JEE Main 2026: While preparing for the JEE Main exam, the most important question that arises in the candidate’s mind is what is a good score in the JEE Main exam. Candidates attempting the exam must be aware of the JEE Main good score 2026 to help plan their preparation for admission. NTA JEE Main percentile between 85 to 95 is ideal for gaining admission to IITs and NITs. A good score in JEE Main 2026 is essential for successful entrance to top colleges. A JEE Main mark above 250+ is considered to be a good mark. The JEE Main exam will be conducted in online mode. The JEE Main 2026 Exam Date has been announced as January 21 to 20 for session 1 and from April 2 to 9, 2026 for session 2.
Also Read: JEE Main rank predictor | JEE Mains college predictor
An 87.5 percentile in JEE Main is a respectable score and better than many candidates, but it is usually insufficient for securing popular branches at top NITs or IIITs in the General category. While it may be suitable for state colleges or reserved categories, a 90+ percentile is generally needed for better chances at top institutes.
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Now, the question arises: how to achieve such good marks in JEE Main? So to help candidates with this confusion Careers360 has given a detailed analysis of good marks in JEE Main and the preparation strategy for how to get good marks in JEE Main.
Aspirants can check the good rank in JEE Mains from the table given below. The rank of JEE Main is based on the scores of students in the entrance exam. A good rank in JEE Main depends on the number of students who appeared for the exam, difficulty level of the exam, cutoff marks, etc.
Category | JEE Ranks |
|---|---|
Excellent | 1-15,000 |
Good | 15,000-30,000 |
Average | 30,000-50,000 |
Low | Above 50,000 |
| Rank Type | Rank Range |
|---|---|
| Good | Upto 25000 |
| Average | 50000 |
| Above average | 25000 to 50000 |
Related: JEE Main accepting colleges
Based on the scores secured by the candidates in the IIT JEE exam can check the JEE Main marks vs percentile vs rank from the table given below. Knowing the marks vs percentile vs rank of JEE Main will help the candidates plan how to score good marks in JEE Mains. NTA adopts a unique normalization formula to arrive at JEE Main Marks Vs Percentile Vs Rank. Here we have given the expected marks vs percentile of JEE Main.
Marks out of 300 | Rank | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
286- 292 | 19-12 | 99.99826992- 99.99890732 |
280-284 | 42-23 | 99.99617561 - 99.99790569 |
268- 279 | 106-64 | 99.99034797 - 99.99417236 |
250- 267 | 524-108 | 99.95228621- 99.99016586 |
231-249 | 1385-546 | 99.87388626-99.95028296 |
215-230 | 2798-1421 | 99.74522293-99.87060821 |
200-214 | 4667-2863 | 99.57503767- 99.73930423 |
189-199 | 6664- 4830 | 99.39319714- 99.56019541 |
175-188 | 10746-7152 | 99.02150308 - 99.3487614 |
160-174 | 16163-11018 | 98.52824811-98.99673561 |
149-159 | 21145-16495 | 98.07460288-98.49801724 |
132-148 | 32826-22238 | 97.0109678-97.97507774 |
120-131 | 43174-33636 | 96.0687115-96.93721175 |
110-119 | 54293-44115 | 95.05625037-95.983027 |
102-109 | 65758-55269 | 94.01228357-94.96737888 |
95-101 | 76260-66999 | 93.05600452 -93.89928202 |
89-94 | 87219-78111 | 92.05811248 -92.88745828 |
79-88 | 109329-90144 | 90.0448455 -91.79177119 |
62-87 | 169542-92303 | 84.56203931-91.59517945 |
41-61 | 326517-173239 | 70.26839007-84.22540213 |
1-40 | 1025009-334080 | 6.66590786-69.5797271 |
The minimum rank required by the candidates to get admission in their desired institute is JEE Main cutoff 2026. While this year’s cutoff will be released after the exam, candidates can check the cutoff trends to understand what is a good score in JEE Mains. Generally, a higher the rank higher the chances of admission.
Category | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
General | 93.2362181 | 90.7788642 | 88.4121383 | 87.8992241 | 90.3765335 | 89.7548849 | 111275 |
Gen-PwD | 81.3266412 | 0.0013527 | 0.0031029 | 0.0096375 | 0.0618524 | 0.11371730 | 2755 |
EWS | 79.6757881 | 75.6229025 | 63.1114141 | 66.2214845 | 70.2435518 | 78.2174869 | - |
OBC-NCL | 60.0923182 | 73.6114227 | 67.0090297 | 68.0234447 | 72.8887969 | 74.3166557 | 65313 |
SC | 46.6975840 | 51.9776027 | 43.0820954 | 46.8825338 | 50.1760245 | 54.0128155 | 34425 |
ST | 0.0018700 | 37.2348772 | 26.7771328 | 34.6728999 | 39.0696101 | 44.3345172 | 17256 |
National Testing Agency, NTA uses the normalization process of JEE Main to calculate the score of JEE Mains. The JEE Main percentile score ranges from 0-100. Below is the formula to calculate the percentile score using the JEE Main normalization process.
JEE Main Normalized score formula: (100 x number of candidates who appeared in the session with a raw score equal to or less than the candidate) / total number of candidates who appeared in that session

After knowing what is a good score in JEE Main, now candidates should know what preparation strategy to opt for scoring good marks. To score good marks in JEE Mains candidates need to follow a full proof preparation strategy. So here we have provided the preparation tips for scoring good marks in JEE Main.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Analysts predict that to qualify for JEE Mains 2026, candidates will need to achieve a minimum of 95 percentile, which is expected to correspond to a score between 170 to 180 marks.
For JEE Main 2026, a safe score is expected to be between 175 and 185 marks, which corresponds to approximately the 95th percentile. This range can improve the chances of qualifying and securing admission to reputed engineering colleges.
A score of 260 in JEE Mains is considered excellent. It corresponds to around the 99th percentile, indicating a high level of performance. This score significantly increases the chances of gaining admission to top engineering colleges in India.
As per the previous year trends, 250+ is considered a good score for JEE Main exam.
Candidates having marks above 89 but less than 94 will obtain the 92 percentile.
The percentile score will range from 84 to 91 if the candidate secures 70 marks in JEE Main.
In order to score 150 marks in JEE Main exam candidates need to follow proper preparation strategy. Solve as many mock tests as possible and check the exam pattern to get the vibe of actual exam.
The percentile score will be 70 if the candidate secures 60 marks in JEE Main.
On Question asked by student community
Hello there,
Here is a link for JEE MAINS mock test paper for 2026. Please tap on the link mentioned below to open it:
Thankyou.
Hello,
You can download the JEE MAIN SAMPLE PAPERS from the Careers360 website. Practising these papers will helps you to understand the exam pattern, to identify the important topics, to improve time management, overall it enhances your exam preparation.
LINK: https://engineering.careers360.com/articles/jee-main-sample-papers
I hope it helps!
Hello,
If you are scoring around 120 marks in JEE Main mock tests, it usually falls in the 88–93 percentile range, but this depends heavily on the difficulty level and normalization of the paper.
Many coaching mock tests are deliberately tougher than the actual JEE Main, so scoring lower in
Dear candidate,
1. Difficulty Level
JEE Main / Advanced
Very competitive, national level
Only top ranks get NITs, IIITs, and top private universities
EAMCET (Engineering, Agriculture & Medical Common Entrance Test – AP/TS)
State-level exam
Easier than JEE, syllabus is mostly Class 11 and 12 basics
More weightage for speed
If you prepare for JEE Main , you automatically cover a large portion of the TS EAMCET syllabus , because both are based on Class 11 and 12 PCM. You can attempt JEE Main, TS EAMCET, AP EAMCET, and even private university exams like VITEEE or SRMJEEE. The difference is
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