Joint Entrance Examination – Main

Not to be confused with Joint Entrance Examination – Advanced.

Joint Entrance Examination – Main (JEE-Main), formerly All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE), is an Indian standardized computer-based test for admission to various technical undergraduate programs in engineering, architecture, and planning across colleges in India. The exam is conducted by the National Testing Agency for admission to B.Tech, B.Arch, B.Planning etc. programs in premier technical institutes such as the National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) and Government Funded Technical Institutes (GFTIs) which are based on the rank secured in the JEE-Main. It is usually conducted twice every year: Session 1 and Session 2 (commonly known as January session and April session). It also serves as a preliminary selection and eligibility test for qualifying JEE (Advanced) for admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). Since mid 2019, the JEE has been conducted fully online as a computerized test. Before Central Board of Secondary Education, the JEE was administered by NTA.

Joint Entrance Examination – Main

Acronym	JEE-Main (formerly AIEEE)
Type	Computer based test (CBT) and pen and paper Mode (For B. Arch paper only)
Administrator	National Testing Agency Central Board of Secondary Education (Till 2018) National Testing Agency (2019–present)
Skills tested	Paper 1: Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics Paper 2A (for B.Arch only): Mathematics, Aptitude, Drawing Paper 2B (for B. Planning only): Mathematics, Aptitude, Planning
Purpose	Admission to undergraduate engineering and architecture courses in 32 NITs, 26 IIITs, and 40 GFTIs and some others State Government and Private Institutes. Also serves as a preliminary selection and eligibility test for appearing JEE-Advanced for admission to 23 IITs
Year started	2002 (22 years ago) (2002) Formerly known as AIEEE
Duration	3 hours
Score range	-75 to +300 in Paper 1 and -82 to +400 in Paper 2A & 2B
Offered	Twice a year (Except for the year 2021 where it was conducted 4 times due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
Restrictions on attempts	Maximum six attempts in three consecutive years as it is conducted twice a year, with no age limit
Regions	India
Languages	English Hindi Assamese Bengali Gujarati Kannada Malayalam Marathi Odia Punjabi Tamil Telugu Urdu
Annual number of test takers	1,415,110 (2024) (B.E./B.Tech) 71,009 (2024) (B.Arch/B.Planning)
Prerequisites	Class 12 or equivalent with Mathematics, Physics and any one of the technical subjects prescribed by AICTE from recognised board/university
Fee	₹1,000 for General candidates ₹900 for General-EWS/OBC-NCL (Central List) candidates ₹500 for SC/ST/PwD/Third Gender candidates
Qualification rate	2,50,284(17.68%) qualify for JEE-Advanced (2024)
Website	jeemain.nta.nic.in As per 2025 information bulletin[1]

Official website of NTA JEE Main 2025

History

The AIEEE was introduced in 2002, since the newly established NITs, IIITs and GFTIs wanted an entrance examination paper of a higher standard than the Common Engineering Test (CET), which was formerly used for admission to all non-IIT engineering colleges and some state government colleges also in few states, including even RECs and IIITs, owing mostly to the rising competition and the goal of maintaining the exclusiveness of such institutes of national importance. It was renamed to JEE-Main in 2013.

Until 2018, the exam was held both in pen and paper and CBT modes,^[2] as well as was held in the first week of April by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). It is conducted by National Testing Agency in CBT mode only from 2018 onwards.

The 2020 and 2021 exams were postponed and conducted later in the same years, due to the coronavirus pandemic.^[3] 2021 was the only year throughout JEE-Main history, when a maximum of 4 attempts were given to students.^[4] In general, for the rest of the years, most students took the JEE-Main exam in either 1 or 2 attempts, even though a maximum of 3 attempts is allowed during two consecutive years.

Structure

The examination consists of only two papers: Paper 1 for B.E./B.Tech courses and Paper 2 for B.Arch and B.Planning courses.^[5] A candidate can opt for any or both the papers. Paper 1 is mandatory a computer based test (CBT) (called online mode) from 2018 onwards. Until 2018, there was an option between offline pen and paper mode and online computer mode. The examination was conducted only in offline pen and paper mode till 2010. In 2011, as per the orders of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, CBSE conducted Paper 1 in Computer Based Test (CBT) mode for the first one lakh candidates who opted for the same, while the remaining students took the examination in the conventional pen and paper mode.^[6] The number of attempts which a candidate can avail at the examination is limited to three in consecutive years. As of 2018^[update], the top 2,24,000 rankers of JEE-Main will qualify to take the second and final level of examination: JEE-Advanced. this number of 2.24 lakh is not fixed this may vary as per difficulty level of paper of jee mains .^[7]

In 2010, the Ministry of Human Resource Development announced plans to replace JEE with a common entrance test for all government engineering colleges which will be called Indian Science Engineering Eligibility Test (ISEET), by 2013.^[8] Accordingly, MHRD proposes to set up National Testing Service, which will be an autonomous and self-sustained agency to conduct this new common entrance test.

The JEE-Main also serves as a preliminary requisite examination for JEE-Advanced.

In 2024, NTA reduced JEE Main syllabus to reduce pressure and stress among students and to meet the same syllabus structure as that of the NCERT revised books.

In the latest 2025 Information brochure, the syllabus remained same as of 2024 but NTA reduced the number of question in Section - B of Paper - 1 (B.E/B-Tech) from 5 out 10 questions (to be attempted) to 5 out of 5 questions (compulsory) with negative marking.

Languages

The exam is offered in thirteen languages, namely English, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.^[9]

Mode of Exam

• B.E./B.Tech (Paper 1): Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics^[10]
• B.Arch (Paper 2A): Mathematics, Aptitude, and Drawing^[10]
• B.Planning (Paper 2B): Mathematics, Aptitude, and Planning^[10]

Participating institutes

Institutes participating in the 2022 centralized seat allocation process included:

• The 32 National Institutes of Technology (NITs).
• The 26 Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs).
• 40 Government Funded Technical Institutes (GFTIs).
• Indirectly, the 23 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).
• Indirectly, Indian Institute of Space Technology (IIST) and Indian Maritime University (IMU).
• State institutes.
• Several self-financed institutes (during the spot round).
• Many private Deemed universities use JEE (Main) rank for admissions through their own seat allocation processes.

Number of applicants by year

The number of applicants taking the JEE-Main has varied over the years, with a peak of over 1.35 million in 2014.

B.E./B.Tech

Year	Phase	No. of registered applicants	No. of appeared applicants	No. of unique registered applicants	No. of unique appeared applicants	Reference(s)
2002	Once a year	212,000	190,000	N/A		[11]
2003		328,000	298,000
2004		418,000	357,000
2005		436,000	399,000
2006		524,000	493,000
2007		645,000	602,000
2008		863,000	791,000
2009		1,010,000	962,119
2010		1,120,000	1,070,000
2011		1,110,000	1,050,000
2012		1,137,256	1,061,854			[12]
2013		1,282,000				[13]
2014		1,356,805				[14]
2015		1,304,495				[15]
2016		1,194,934	1,128,633			[16]
2017		1,186,454	1,122,351			[17]
2018		1,259,000	1,043,000			[18]
2019	1	929,198	874,469	1,237,892	1,147,125	[19]
	2	935,741	881,096
2020	1	921,000	869,000	1,174,000	1,023,000	[20]
	2	841,000	635,000
2021	1	652,628	621,033	1,048,012	939,008	[21]
	2	619,641	556,248
	3	709,611	543,553
	4	767,700	481,419
2022	1	872,970	769,604	1,026,799	905,590	[22]
	2	622,034	540,242
2023	1	860,064	823,967	1,162,398	1,113,325	[23][24][25]
	2	931,510	883,372
2024	1	1,221,624	1,170,048	1,476,557	1,415,110	[26][27][28]
	2	1,179,569	1,067,959

B.Arch

(From 2021)

Year	Phase	No. of registered applicants	No. of appeared applicants	No. of unique registered applicants	No. of unique appeared applicants	Reference(s)
2021	1	59,962	48,836	91,468	62,035	[29][30]
	2	74,479	29,004
2022	1	61,534	39,639	77,849	46,336	[31]
	2	32,724	14,924
2023	1
	2
2024	1	68,147	51,570	99,086 (B.Arch+B.Planning)	71,009 (B.Arch+B.Planning)	[32][33]
	2	73,362	36,707

B.Planning

(From 2021)

Year	Phase	No. of registered applicants	No. of appeared applicants	No. of unique registered applicants	No. of unique appeared applicants	Reference(s)
2021	1	25,810	19,352	40,346	24,351	[29][30]
	2	32,108	10,551
2022	1	25,820	15,371	33,048	17,817	[31]
	2	12,758	4,912
2023	1
	2
2024	1	36,672	24,876	99,086 (B.Arch+B.Planning)	71,009 (B.Arch+B.Planning)	[32][33]
	2	38,105	16,228

Common Paper (B.Arch/B.Planning)

(Before 2021)

Year	Phase	No. of registered applicants	No. of appeared applicants	No. of unique registered applicants	No. of unique appeared applicants	Reference(s)
2019	1	180,052	145,386	275,913	227,907	[34]
	2	169,759	144,032
2020	1	145,189	118,732	207,369	147,983	[35]
	2	112,139	76,889

Counselling

Earlier, counselling for the JEE-Main was conducted through the CSAB; but, now, the authorities have made changes in the counselling procedure. The JAB (Joint Admission Board), representing IITs, and the CSAB (Central Seat Allocation Board), making agreements on behalf of the NITs (National Institutes of Technology) and other CFTIs (Centrally Funded Technical Institutes), are now united to conduct counselling (common counselling) for the two exams of the IIT-JEE. The memo for the same was signed on 2 May 2015. These two together are known as the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA).^[36] The ministry of education constituted Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) consisting of the Central Seat Allocation Board (CSAB) and the Joint Admission Board of IITs (JAB-IITs) for joint counselling and seat allocation to IITs and the NIT+ system, which consists of 31 NITs, IIEST Shibpur, 26 IIITs, three Schools of Planning and Architecture (SPAs) and 37 GFTIs (Central/State Government Funded Technical Institutions).

2011 incident

In 2011, CBSE postponed the exam by a few hours after the questions were leaked in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh the night before. The CBSE sent alternative questions to exam centres. CBSE announced the postponement of the exam 30 minutes before the scheduled start of the examination.^[37][38]

See also

• National Institutes of Technology (NITs)
• Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs)
• Government Funded Technical Institutes (GFTIs)
• Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs)
• All India Council for Technical Education
• Joint Entrance Examination – Advanced (IIT-JEE/ JEE Advanced)
• National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) (NEET-UG)
• Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA)
• List of Engineering Entrance Exams in India
• List of Public service commissions in India

References

1. https://cdnbbsr.s3waas.gov.in/s3f8e59f4b2fe7c5705bf878bbd494ccdf/uploads/2024/10/2024102824.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}
2. "JEE Main results 2018 date and time: Results declared at cbseresults.nic.in, jeemain.nic.in". The Indian Express. 30 April 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
3. "IIT-JEE Mains April session deferred due to rise in COVID-19 cases". Businesstoday.in. 18 April 2021. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
4. "JEE Main 2021: NTA clears doubts regarding multiple attempts, exam dates". India Today. 26 December 2020. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
5. "JEE revamp: Science no more must for BPlanning – Times of India". The Times of India. 3 September 2019. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
6. The Times of India (22 November 2010). "1L students to take AIEEE online". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 27 September 2012.
7. Bhandary, Shreya (30 October 2017). "Eligibility criteria for JEE Advanced 2018 released, more students can appear for exam". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
8. "IIT-JEE likely to be abolished by 2013". sify.com. Archived from the original on 28 April 2010. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
9. Gohain, Manash Pratim (28 November 2019). "JEE Main to be conducted in 11 languages from January 2021". The Times of India. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
10. "Mode of exams/Type of exams : Jee Main". June 2024.
11. "Number of Candidates in JEE Main". jeepage.in. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
12. "The result of All-India Engineering/Architecture Entrance Examination (AIEEE) 2012 conducted by CBSE has been declared. Candidates can look out for their All India Rank on www.cbse.nic.in and www.aieee.nic.in . This year as many as 1137256 students registered for paper I for BE/BTech out of which 1061854 appeared. for paper II BArch/B Planning 83049 candidates registered out of which 71316 candidates appeared". The Times of India. 10 June 2012. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
13. "Number of applicants for JEE Main decreased in 2015". Jagranjosh.com. 8 January 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
14. Basu, Sreeradha D. (20 June 2014). "Race to IITs just got tougher; number of candidates who qualified in JEE advanced 6,360 more than last year". The Economic Times. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
15. "Over 13 lakh aspirants for JEE Main 2015". 14 January 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
16. "CBSE JEE Main 2016: Check out the result analysis here!". India Today. 27 April 2016. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
17. "JEE(MAIN) 2017 Press Release" (PDF). 26 July 2022. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 July 2022. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
18. "JEE Main Answer Key 2018 Released". NDTV.com. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
19. "JEE(MAIN) 2019 Paper 1 Press Release" (PDF). 29 April 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 April 2019. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
20. "JEE(MAIN) 2020 Paper 1 Press Release" (PDF). 19 June 2022. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 June 2022. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
21. "JEE(MAIN) 2021 Paper 1 Press Release" (PDF). 9 March 2022. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 March 2022. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
22. "JEE(MAIN) 2022 Paper 1 Press Release" (PDF). 8 August 2022. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 August 2022. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
23. "JEE (Main) 2023 Session 1". Twitter. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
24. "JEE (Main) 2023 highlights". Twitter. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
25. "JEE Main 2023 Press Release" (PDF). 5 June 2023. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 June 2023. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
26. "JEE Main 2024 Session 1 Press Release" (PDF).
27. "75% of JEE(M) candidates taking both shots to maximise scores". The Times of India. 30 March 2024. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
28. "JEE Main Session 2(BE/B Tech) Results" (PDF).
29. "JEE(MAIN) 2021 Paper 2A/2B Press Release session 1" (PDF). 16 July 2022. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 July 2022. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
30. "JEE(MAIN) 2021 Paper 2A/2B Final Press Release" (PDF). 16 July 2022. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 July 2022. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
31. "JEE(MAIN) 2022 Paper 2A/2B Press Release" (PDF). 3 September 2022. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 September 2022. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
32. "Declaration of JEE (Main) - 2024 Session 1 NTA Scores for Paper 2 (B.Arch. / B.Planning)" (PDF).
33. "NTA Declares the Final NTA Scores for Joint Entrance Examination (Main) - 2024 for Paper 2A (B.Arch.) and Paper 2B (B. Planning)" (PDF). jeemain.nta.ac.in/.
34. "JEE(MAIN) 2019 Paper 2 Press Release" (PDF). 19 June 2022. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 June 2022. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
35. "JEE(MAIN) 2020 Paper 2 Press Release" (PDF). 19 June 2022. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 June 2022. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
36. "Joint Seat Allocation Authority 2016". Retrieved 26 August 2016.
37. Central Board of Secondary Education (1 May 2011). "AIEEE-2011 Important Press Release" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 May 2011. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
38. Times of India. "AIEEE question papers leaked, test postponed". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 6 November 2012. Retrieved 15 June 2011.

External links

• Official website