JEE Main 2027 eligibility criteria
There are two separate bars, and confusing them causes a lot of avoidable panic. One decides whether you can sit the exam. The other decides whether you can take a seat if you do well.
1. To appear in the exam
There is no age limit. NTA states this plainly: any candidate meeting the class XII condition may appear, irrespective of age.
The class XII condition. For JEE Main 2026, candidates who passed class XII in 2024 or 2025, or were appearing in 2026, were eligible. Applying the same rule, JEE Main 2027 should be open to those who passed in 2025 or 2026, or are appearing in 2027 — to be confirmed when the 2027 bulletin is published.
Attempts. Both sessions in a year count as one attempt year. Since eligibility spans the year you pass plus the next two, that is three consecutive years — up to six sessions.
No minimum marks to sit the exam. You do not need any particular class XII percentage to appear. That requirement belongs to admission, below.
Accepted qualifying examinations
NTA accepts a wider set of boards than most people realise:
- Any recognised Central or State Board 10+2 examination (CBSE, CISCE, State Boards)
- Intermediate or two-year Pre-University examination from a recognised Board or University
- NIOS Senior Secondary examination, with a minimum of five subjects
- Two-year course of the Joint Services Wing of the National Defence Academy
- A diploma recognised by AICTE or a State board of technical education, of at least three years
- Cambridge / London / Sri Lanka GCE at Advanced (A) level, or the International Baccalaureate Diploma
- Board of Open Schooling and Skill Education (BOSSE), Sikkim
- A qualification from outside India needs an AIU equivalence certificate confirming it matches class XII
2. To take an NIT, IIIT or GFTI seat
Through JoSAA you must have passed class XII with at least five subjects and either:
- secured 75% aggregate across those five subjects — 65% for SC, ST and PwD candidates; or
- been within the category-wise top 20 percentile of successful candidates in your board.
This catches people out every year: a strong JEE rank with 71% in class XII does not get you an NIT seat unless you clear the top-20-percentile route. Check your board's percentile cutoff before you plan around a rank.
A third bar, if you want an IIT
JEE Main eligibility says nothing about IITs. To sit JEE Advanced you must be among roughly the top 2,50,000 JEE Main qualifiers, allocated category-wise. In 2026 that meant a 93.41 percentile for General candidates — the qualifying percentile page has every category.
Source: National Testing Agency, JEE (Main) 2026 Information Bulletin. JEEPrep is independent and not affiliated with NTA. Always confirm against jeemain.nta.nic.in.