Updated on July 4, 2020

NTA officially released the JEE Main Eligibility Criteria 2020 in its brochure. Candidates must meet the basic JEE Main eligibility criteria before planning to apply for the test, the most fundamental condition being qualifying class 12. Failure to meet the eligibility criteria can lead to rejection of the candidature at any stage of the admission process by the authorities.

JEE Main eligibility criteria consists of various conditions such as educational qualification, age limit, nationality, subjects studied in Class 12/10+2 or equivalent, etc. NTA will conduct the JEE Main 2020  September session from 1st September – 6th September, 2020.

Major changes in the JEE Main Eligibility Criteria 2020

Let us discuss some important changes in JEE Main 2020 Eligibility Criteria:

• Must possess valid ID – Indian candidates need to present their Aadhar Card or other valid IDs to sit for the entrance exam. Similarly, foreign candidates must present a valid passport.
• Guidelines for Jammu & Kashmir, Meghalaya, and Assam Applicants – The candidates who are taking the exam from these states will have to provide some important details such as Passport Number, Ration Card, Bank Account Number or any other Govt. The candidates need to fill the ID Number while filling the JEE Main 2020 Application Form. Also, they need to select cities in these States as examination centers.
• Removal of Class 12th marks weightage – No weightage will be given to the marks obtained in class XII at the time of calculating AIR for JEE Main 2020.
• Admission to IITs/ NITs/ IIITs and CFTIs – Minimum of 75% marks in class 12th, or rank under top 20 percentile in class 12th class exam conducted by the respective board to get selected for admissions in these government institutes. However, for the SC/ST category candidates, the qualifying marks are 65% marks.

Detailed JEE Main 2020 Eligibility Criteria

Before proceeding to fill the Application Form of JEE Main 2020, the candidates must refer to the following parameters of JEE Main eligibility criteria.

Year of Qualifying Exam

• Candidates must have passed class 12 or any equivalent exams in 2018 or 2019.
• The candidates’ who will be taking class 12 or equivalent qualifying exams in 2020 are also eligible to apply for JEE Main.

Age Limit Criteria

• Though there is no age limit now in JEE Main, the candidate must however have passed 10+2 or equivalent exam in 2018 or 2019.
• The students who are appearing 10+2 or equivalent exams in 2020 can also apply.
• IITs have a separate age limit for admissions. This might affect your JEE Advanced 2020 eligibility criteria.

Number of Attempts

• The aspirants can participate in the entrance exam for 3 consecutive years.
• Since 2019, NTA allows the aspirants to appear for JEE Main exam twice a year. The candidate may appear in both the attempts.
• Both attempt for one academic year is a single attempt for that year.

Aggregate Marks in Qualifying Examination

• General Category – 75% marks in aggregate.
• SC/ST/PWD Category – 65% marks in aggregate.
• Candidates below the aggregate as given above will be considered ineligible.

Combination of subject(s) for admission in NITs, IIITs and GFTIs

As per the JEE Main 2020 eligibility criteria, all the candidates taking the exam must have opted for 5 main subjects in the qualifying examination. If any candidate has less than 5 subjects, he/she will be considered ineligible. Compulsory subjects for the candidates taking the exam include:

• Paper 1 – B.Tech/B.E.
  • Physics
  • Mathematics
  • Last, any one of subjects including Chemistry, Biology, Biotechnology or Technical Vocational Subject
• Paper 2 – B.Arch.
  • Physics
  • Chemistry
  • And, Mathematics
• Paper 3 – B.Planning
  • Mathematics

Eligibility for Admission to NITs/IIITs/CFTIs Participating via CSAB

CSAB conducts admission counselling for the NITs, IIITs, CFTIs. Admissio via CSAB will be based on the AIR.

• Candidates have to either score at least 75% marks in 10+2 exams or are in Top 20 Percentile in 10+2 conducted by the respective boards.
• Candidates belonging to the SC/ST category have to score at least 65% in 10+2 exams.

Check CSAB NEUT

Admission to NITs, IITs, CFTIs, SFIs or State Engineering Colleges

Check CSAB SFTI

JEE Main 2020 Reservation

A few of the total seats are reserved for candidates belonging to OBC, SC, ST, and PwD category. The percentage of seats reserved for each category is given below in the graph:

The allocation of seats is done as follows:

With the passing of Lok Sabha Bill in 2019, the constitution now allows a 10% reservation for the EWS category everywhere which implies that JEE Main 2020 reservation criteria will also provide 10% EWS Reservation. The remaining seats after all other reservations will be unreserved.

State Code of Eligibility

The state from which a candidate has passed the qualifying examination is considered the state code of eligibility. So, the candidate is given the quota under that particular state as a first preference during the allocation of seats in JEE Main Counselling. Some points to remember while selecting state code of eligibility are-

• State, where the candidate passed the qualifying examination, is the state code of eligibility and not the state of residence.
• Secondly, if a candidate is appearing for Improvement examinations, then the state code of eligibility shall be the state where the candidate passed Class XII examination.
• Next, in case of Indian Nationals passing Class XII examination from Nepal/Bhutan, permanent address as per passport will decide the state code of eligibility.
• Lastly, in case a candidate passed/appeared in Class XII exams of NIOS, he should select a state code of eligibility where the study center is located.

Qualifying Exams for JEE Main 2020

The aspirants planning to appear JEE Mains must have cleared following to meet the JEE Main Eligibility Criteria:

• Class 12 or similar exam, taken by a recognized Central or State board like ICSE, CBSE, CISCE, etc.
• Next, intermediate or Pre-Degree Course exam or Pre-University Course. Moreover, this should be organized by any of the recognized Board/University.
• H.S.C any vocational exam
• The final exam of the two-year course of the Joint Services Wing of the NDA.
• Diploma of at least three years which is recognized by AICTE or SBTE.
• The Senior Secondary School Examination conducted by the National Institute of Open Schooling with at least five subjects.
• For admission to IITs, General Certificate Education (GCE) exam (London/ Cambridge/ Sri Lanka) at Advanced level (A).
• Lastly, association of Indian Universities recognized by School/ Board/ University examination in India or any foreign country recognized as equivalent to the 12th class.

JEE Main 2020 – Improvement Examination

The following conditions apply for a candidate appearing in one, two or more than two improvement examination of qualifying examination-

• Improvement in one/two subjects – This criteria considers Candidate’s previous year’s top 20 percentile. The aggregate will be calculated based on necessary subjects.
• Improvement in all subjects – Candidate’s better aggregate of both years.

If a candidate is unable to score an aggregate of 75% (or 65%, in case of SC/ST candidates), he/she will be deemed ineligible.

Documents Required for JEE Main 2020

The candidates need to produce the following documents at the time of taking JEE Main 2020 Exam:

• Identity Card: The candidates need to produce any Proof of Identity. It can be PAN Card, Driver’s Licence, Voter ID, Aadhaar Card.
• Photograph and Signature: The application requires Scanned copies of Signature and Photograph. The size of a photograph should be between 10 kb–200 kb. The size of the signature must be between 4 kb–30 kb. The preferred dimensions are 3.5 cm X 4.5 cm and in the format of JPEG/JPG only.
• Educational Documents: Class 10th Marksheet and Certificate, Class 12th Marksheet is required at the time of JEE Main 2020 Counselling and the JEE Main Application Form.

Note – A major question here was whether Aadhaar is mandatory for JEE Main 2020. Supreme Court ruled that Aadhar is not mandatory for admission in educational institutes. As a result, Aadhar does not fall under the eligibility criteria for candidates. Candidates can apply for JEE using other Identity proofs.

What is JEE Main Eligibility Criteria for Droppers?

The JEE Main 2020 eligibility criteria apply to all the candidates, including droppers.  There could be multiple reasons for a candidate taking a gap after passing class 12th exam. He/She can also be re-appearing for the JEE Main exam. Though the age criteria is removed, the candiates will have to fulfill the other criteria to become eligible.

• For getting admission to NITs, IIITs and CFTIs, the candidates should achieve a minimum score of 75% or needs to be in top 20 percentile of their respective boards. And, students belonging to SC/ST category get 10% relaxation with minimum required marks of 65%.
• Next, the droppers should pass their class 12th examination in 2018 or 2019.
• JEE Main aspirants can take only three consecutive attempts.
• At last, the candidates should study at least five subjects in their 12th class or qualifying exam. The mandatory subjects should be Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics.

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