About JEE Mains – India's Premier Engineering Entrance Exam
JEE Main (Joint Entrance Examination Main) is India's largest national engineering entrance examination, conducted by NTA twice a year for admissions to NITs, IIITs and GFTIs.
What is JEE Mains?
JEE Main (Joint Entrance Examination – Main) is a national level competitive entrance examination for admission to undergraduate engineering programs (B.E./B.Tech) at NITs (National Institutes of Technology), IIITs (Indian Institutes of Information Technology), GFTIs (Government Funded Technical Institutes), and other centrally funded technical institutions across India.
JEE Main also serves as the qualifying examination for JEE Advanced — the gateway to IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology). Only the top 2,50,000 candidates from JEE Main are eligible to appear for JEE Advanced.
The examination is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Education, Government of India. NTA conducts JEE Main twice a year — Session 1 (January–February) and Session 2 (April).
JEE Mains vs JEE Advanced
| Criteria | JEE Main | JEE Advanced |
|---|---|---|
| Conducted by | NTA (National Testing Agency) | IITs (on rotation) |
| Purpose | NITs, IIITs, GFTIs admissions | IIT admissions |
| Sessions | 2 times/year | 1 time/year |
| Attempts | 6 (3 years × 2) | 2 (consecutive years) |
| Eligibility | Class 12 passed/appearing | JEE Main top 2.5L qualifiers |
| Difficulty | Moderate | High (concept-based) |
| Marking | +4/−1 (MCQ), +4/0 (NVQ) | Variable marking scheme |
History of JEE Mains
AIEEE (All India Engineering Entrance Examination) introduced as a national level exam for NITs.
JEE Main replaced AIEEE. Dual structure introduced — JEE Main (for NITs/IIITs) and JEE Advanced (for IITs).
NTA (National Testing Agency) took over JEE Main from CBSE. Online CBT mode became standard.
JEE Mains conducted twice per year (January and April sessions) to give students multiple chances.
JEE Mains conducted 4 times due to COVID-19. Best of all attempts considered.
Returned to 2 sessions per year. New NTA Score system with percentile rankings.
JEE Mains 2026 with updated syllabus, removing some topics aligned with NCERT rationalisation.
Key Facts
Conducting Body
National Testing Agency (NTA)
Annual Aspirants
12–13 Lakh+
Qualifying for
NITs, IIITs, GFTIs & JEE Advanced
Exam Mode
Computer Based Test (CBT)