JEE Main Eligibility Criteria

The JEE Main 2024 eligibility criteria have been released by the NTA (National Testing Agency). The JEE Main eligibility criteria are mostly the same for both January and April 2024 sessions. If candidates are planning to apply for the national-level entrance exam this year, then they will find all the information regarding the JEE Main eligibility criteria on this page. In 2024, the exam will be conducted twice. The exam will be held in the months of January and April. Candidates can check the JEE Main eligibility marks and the latest details below.

JEE Main eligibility is usually presented in the JEE Main information bulletin, and it is an important piece of document that lays out all the important information, including age criteria, total attempts, eligibility marks, the pass percentage, amongst others. Aspirants should, therefore, go through the eligibility details before applying for the exam. They should meet all the requirements, and only then can they apply for the exam. If they fail to meet any of the criteria, then their application will stand null and void.

Here, aspirants will find complete details on the requirements for JEE Main. Candidates are advised to read all the given instructions thoroughly for the successful approval of their application form. As per recent reports, the Aadhaar card is not compulsory to apply for this exam.

Eligibility Criteria for JEE Main 2024

Based on the following parameters, the candidates will be eligible for the JEE Main exam 2024.

1. Nationality: Candidates must be a citizen of India. Foreign national candidates, as well as NRIs, PIOs, and OCIs, can also apply.

2. Age Criteria: For appearing in JEE Main 2024, there is no age limit for the candidates. However, the candidates may be required to fulfill the age criteria of the Institute(s) to which they are desirous of taking admission.

3. Total Attempts: Students can avail a maximum of three consecutive attempts for JEE Main. The first attempt is taken soon after the Class 12 board exam, followed by the other attempts in consecutive years. The exam will be held twice a year, so the total number of attempts a candidate can appear for is 6.

4. Qualifying Exam

Below is the list of qualifying exams for JEE Main:

• The final examination of the 10+2 system, conducted by any recognised Central/State Board, such as the Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi, Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, New Delhi, etc.
• Intermediate or two-year Pre-University examination conducted by a recognised Board/University.
• Final examination of the two-year course of the Joint Services Wing of the National Defence Academy.
• Senior Secondary School Examination conducted by the National Institute of Open Schooling with a minimum of five subjects.
• Any Public School/Board/University examination in India or any foreign country, recognised as equivalent to the 10+2 system by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU).
• Higher Secondary Certificate Vocational Examination.
• A Diploma recognised by the AICTE or a State board of technical education of at least 3 years duration.
• General Certificate Education (GCE) examination (London/Cambridge/Sri Lanka) at the Advanced (A) level.
• High School Certificate Examination of the Cambridge University or International Baccalaureate Diploma of the International Baccalaureate Office, Geneva.
• Candidates who have completed the Class 12 (or equivalent) examination outside India or from a Board not specified above should produce a certificate from the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) to the effect that the examination they have passed is equivalent to the Class 12 Examination.
• In case the Class 12 Examination is not a public examination, the candidate must have passed at least one public (Board or Pre-University) examination earlier.

It is mandatory for all students appearing for the JEE Main that they must have pursued at least 5 subjects with Physics and Maths as their core subjects in their qualifying examinations. Students who have studied less than 5 subjects in their qualifying exam are not eligible for JEE Main. Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, Language and one more subject of choice are required as eligibility for JEE Main.

To make it more clear for B.E./ B.Tech, the subjects included are Language, Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry/ Biology/Biotechnology/Technical Vocational subjects, and any other subject. For B.Arch/B. Planning, the subjects included are Language, Physics, Mathematics (mandatory), Chemistry/Biology/Biotechnology/Technical Vocational subjects, and any other subject.

5. Year of Passing the Qualifying Exam

Students who have passed their Class 12 examination or other equivalent qualifying examination in 2022 or 2023 are eligible to appear in the JEE Main 2024. Students currently appearing for their Class 12 examination or other equivalent qualifying examination in 2024 are also eligible. Candidates who passed the Class 12/equivalent examination in 2021 or before as well as those who will appear in such examination in 2025 or later are not eligible to appear in JEE (Main) – 2024.

6. Diploma Holders

If a candidate is a diploma holder, then they can apply for JEE Main exam. However, one thing here is that the rank and score obtained in the exam will not be considered for admission to NITs or CFTIs.

7. Marks Eligibility

For the candidates belonging to the general category, they must have secured a minimum of 75% marks in their Class 12 board exams, or they must rank among the top 20 percentile in their qualifying examination for getting admissions to IITs, NITs, IIITs and other CFTIs.

For candidates belonging to a reserved category, a minimum of 65% marks is required to get admission to different undergraduate courses offered at IITs, NITs, IIITs and other CFTIs.

Also Read: JEE Advanced 2024

JEE Main Eligibility for Repeaters

1. NTA has removed the age limit. Earlier, candidates had to be less than the age category of 24 years.
2. The candidate must have passed the Class 12 exam or any equivalent qualifying exam.
3. 75% of marks need to be secured by the candidates who have appeared for the Class 12 board exam.
4. Candidates must have 5 subjects in the qualifying exam, with Physics and Mathematics as mandatory subjects.

The JEE Main eligibility criteria for repeaters and Class 12 candidates have to be fulfilled by all the engineering aspirants. Meanwhile, JEE Main is also an eligibility test for students aspiring to sit for JEE Advanced. The top 2,50,000 candidates who qualify in the Main exam will be allowed to appear for the Advanced exam.

State of Eligibility

State code of eligibility basically means the code of the State from where the candidate has passed the Class 12 (or equivalent) qualifying examination that makes them eligible to appear in JEE (Main) 2024. State code of eligibility does NOT depend upon the native place or the place of residence of the candidate. Suppose a candidate appears for the Class 12 examination in New Delhi and is a resident of Noida, Uttar Pradesh; the candidate’s State code of eligibility will be Delhi and NOT Uttar Pradesh.

Similarly, for a candidate who has passed the Class 12 (or equivalent) qualifying examination from one state but appeared for improvement from another state, the candidate’s state code of eligibility will be from where the candidate first passed the Class 12 (or equivalent) examination and NOT the state from where the candidate appeared for improvement.

The candidate who passed/appeared in the Class 12 exam from NIOS should select the state of eligibility according to the State in which the study centre is located.

For Indian nationals who have cleared the Class 12 (or equivalent) examination from Nepal/Bhutan, the State code of eligibility will be determined based on a permanent address as mentioned in the passport of the candidate.

The State code of eligibility for OCI/PIO passing the Class 12 (or equivalent) examination in India is at par with Indian nationals. However, OCI/PIO passing the Class 12 (or equivalent) examination from an institution abroad are eligible for Other State quota seats or All India quota seats (but NOT for Home State quota seats) in all NITs, IIEST and Other-CFTIs

About JEE Main

The Joint Entrance Exam (Main) is a common entrance exam conducted at the national level to facilitate the admission of students to undergraduate courses offered by various government and private engineering institutes in India. The exam is conducted by NTA, which is also responsible for releasing application forms, and admit cards, and declaring the results.

However, candidates have to keep one important thing in mind. To avoid the rejection of JEE Main application form, applicants should go through the eligibility criteria for JEE Main and have a clear idea. It is mandatory for engineering aspirants to meet all the requirements. Qualified students will be eligible to get admission to B.Tech, B.E, B.Arch, and Integrated MSc courses in premier engineering institutes like NITs, IIITs after successful completion of JEE Main exam.

For further questions on JEE, go through JEE FAQs.