In a major announcement for engineering aspirants across the country, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee has laid out the roadmap for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced 2026. The prestigious exam, which serves as the gateway to undergraduate programs at the IITs, is scheduled to be held on May 17, 2026. The organising institute has released a comprehensive set of eligibility guidelines, with a key highlight being that only the top 2.5 lakh candidates from JEE Main 2026 will make the cut for the Advanced stage.
Strict Eligibility: The 2.5 Lakh Shortlist and Category-Wise Breakdown
The primary pathway to JEE Advanced 2026, termed Criterion A1, mandates that candidates must be among the top 2,50,000 rank holders in the JEE Main 2026 BE/BTech paper. This shortlist is not a simple merit list but follows a rigid, pre-defined category-wise distribution. The breakdown is as follows: 10% for GEN-EWS, 27% for OBC-NCL, 15% for SC, 7.5% for ST, and 40.5% for the OPEN category. Furthermore, a 5% horizontal reservation for Persons with Disabilities (PwD) is applied within each of these categories.
IIT Roorkee provided a detailed table for clarity, noting that the total number may slightly exceed 2.5 lakh in case of tied ranks. The institute also clarified that OCI/PIO candidates are not eligible for any reserved category quotas (except OPEN-PwD) and must qualify strictly within the OPEN category lists.
Age, Attempts, and the Critical Class XII Rule
Beyond the JEE Main rank, candidates must navigate a trio of crucial eligibility filters. The age criterion states that general category candidates must have been born on or after October 1, 2001. A five-year relaxation is provided for SC, ST, and PwD candidates, setting their birth date on or after October 1, 1996.
The exam maintains its iconic "two attempts in two consecutive years" rule. This means a candidate can appear for JEE Advanced only twice, and those attempts must be in consecutive years. Consequently, a student who appeared for JEE Advanced in 2024 or earlier is automatically disqualified from the 2026 attempt.
Perhaps the most significant filter is the Class XII (or equivalent) appearance requirement. Candidates must have appeared for their Class XII board exams for the first time in either 2025 or 2026, with Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics as compulsory subjects. IIT Roorkee has explicitly stated that students who wrote Class XII in 2024 or earlier are not eligible, regardless of their subject combination or number of attempts.
Clarifications on "Appearance" and a Notable Exception
The institute provided important clarifications on what constitutes an "appearance." Even if a board declared results without conducting exams, that year is counted as the candidate's first appearance. Similarly, a withheld result is also considered an appearance for that academic year.
There is, however, a specific exception to the 2024 rule. If a board declared the Class XII results for the 2023-24 academic year on or after June 18, 2024, then candidates from that board who appeared in 2024 will be considered eligible for JEE Advanced 2026, provided they meet all other criteria. This exception is designed to accommodate delays in result declarations beyond a student's control.
With these detailed guidelines now public, lakhs of aspiring engineers have a clear, albeit challenging, timeline. The announcement underscores the highly competitive nature of the exam and emphasizes the need for meticulous academic planning from the Class XI stage itself. Students must now align their JEE Main preparation with these strict eligibility windows to ensure their shot at the IIT dream in 2026.
