JEE Main Cut Off 2026 Category Wise (Previous Years)

What is inside

Qualifying percentiles, two years side by side

These figures come from NTA press releases and show the lowest percentile in each category that made a Paper 1 candidate eligible to sit JEE Advanced.

What these numbers are not

This is an eligibility line for JEE Advanced, not an admission cut-off for NITs, IIITs or other institutes. Admission ranks are decided separately through counselling, and each institute and branch closes at a different rank.

Reading the trend

• The General line moved by only a few tenths of a percentile between the two years.
• Reserved categories shifted more, with SC and ST rising by a few points in 2026.
• Percentiles depend on the cohort of that year, so use them as a rough guide only.

Turning it into a target

Aim to score well above the line for your category in mock tests, since a single bad shift can sink a percentile. Track your mock percentile by subject and push the weakest one up first.

Practice on paper

Printed JEE previous-year paper books and rank-booster sets at Competer help you simulate full-length attempts.

Questions students ask

A frequent worry is whether a lower raw score can still lead to a high percentile. It can, because percentile reflects your standing among candidates in your shift, so an unusually hard paper lifts the conversion. Another question is about reserved categories: each has its own qualifying percentile, as the table shows, and the gap between the General and ST lines is large. Do not plan around last year’s number alone; plan to beat it comfortably in mocks, and treat the official release for your own year as the final word.

A note on percentile maths

NTA percentile is computed within a shift and then combined, so two candidates with the same raw marks can end up with slightly different scores. That is why very small margins above a line are risky. A comfortable buffer of several percentile points, built across your last five mocks, protects you from this uncertainty.