JEE Eligibility Criteria

Age limit

There is no age limit to apply for the JEE (Main) exam. Candidates who have cleared 10+2 or any other equivalent exam in 2019/2020 or are appearing in 2021 can apply for the exam, irrespective of their age.

List of Qualifying Exams

• The final exam of 10+2 conducted by any recognized Central/State board such as CBSE or ICSE
• Intermediate or Pre-university exam conducted by a recognized board
• Final examination of the two-year courses of the Joint Services Wing of the National Defence Academy
• Senior Secondary School Examination conducted by the National Institute of Open Schooling with at least five subjects
• Any Public School/Board/University examination in India or a foreign country recognized as equivalent to 10+2 system by an Association of Indian Universities
• Higher Secondary Certificate Vocational Examination
• A Diploma recognized 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

Year of Appearance in Exam

Candidates who have cleared the qualifying examination in 2019, 2020 or 2021 or those who are appearing in Class 12 or equivalent examinations in 2021 can apply for the exam. 

Candidates who cleared Class 12 exams on or before 2018 and are appearing for the qualifying exam in 2022 are not eligible to apply for the exam.

Number of Attempts

Candidates need to know that there are only three attempts available for JEE. 

State Code of Eligibility

This means the code of the state from where the candidate cleared the Class 12 examination. State code eligibility doesn’t depend on the native place or the place of residence. 

If a candidate has passed the Class 12 (or equivalent) examination from one State and appeared for improvement in another State, the State code of eligibility of the candidate will be from where the candidate initially passed the Class 12 (or equivalent) examination and NOT the State from where the candidate has appeared for improvement.

Candidates who cleared or are appearing in class 12 from NIOS should select the State of Eligibility according to the location of the study centre.

For Indian nationals who are passing the Class 12 (or equivalent) examination from Nepal/Bhutan, their permanent address in India as given in the passport of the candidate will be referred to determine the state code.

The State code of eligibility of OCI/PIO passing Class 12 (or equivalent) examination in India is at par with Indian nationals. However, OCI/PIO passing the Class XII (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

JEE Advanced 2022 Eligibility Criteria

To appear for JEE Advanced, candidates need to meet the following criteria: 

Criteria 1: Performance in JEE (Main)

Candidates need to be among the 2,50,000 successful candidates (including all categories) in B.E. /B. Tech Papers in 2021.

The percentage of candidates shortlisted is: 10% for GEN-EWS, OBC-NCL, 15% for SC, 7.5% for ST and the remaining  40.5% is OPEN for all. Within each of these five categories, 5% horizontal reservation is available for PwD candidates.

Criteria 2: Age Limit

Candidates must be born on or after October 1, 1996. There is a five-year relaxation for SC, ST and PwD candidates. 

Criteria 3: Number of Attempts

A candidate can attempt JEE (Advanced) a maximum of two times in two consecutive years.

Criteria 4: Appearance in Class 12 (or Equivalent) Examination

Candidates must have appeared for the Class 12 exam in either 2021 or 2022 with the subjects Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics.

Candidates who had appeared in the Class 12 (or equivalent) examination in 2020 or earlier, are NOT eligible to appear in JEE (Advanced) 2022.

Relaxation Criteria

Candidates who registered in JEE (Advanced) 2021 but were absent in both the papers- Paper 1 and Paper 2 of JEE (Advanced) 2021 are eligible to apply for JEE (Advanced) 2022. They don’t need to meet Criteria 1-4 to appear for JEE (Advanced) 2022. This is a one-time measure that’s valid only for 2022.

Criteria 5: Early Admissions

A candidate must not have been admitted to IIT irrespective of whether or not the candidate continued in the program or was accepted at an IIT by reporting online or at a reporting centre through JoSAA in the past. Candidates whose admission was cancelled for any reason after joining any IIT are also not eligible to apply. 

Candidates who were admitted into a preparatory course in any one of the IITs for the first time in 2021 can appear in JEE (Advanced) 2022. 

In addition, if candidates were allocated a seat in an IIT through JoSAA 2021 but (i) they did not report “online” / at any “reporting centre” OR, (ii) withdrew from the seat before the last round of seat allotment, OR, (iii) cancelled their seats (for whatever reason) before the last round of seat allotment for IITs, are also eligible to appear for JEE (Advanced) 2022.