JEE Main Eligibility & Exam Pattern

JEE Main is the national level entrance exam for candidates who are aspiring for admissions into the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the NITs, IIITs and CFTIs. Those who have passed class XII or those who are appearing in the class XII examination are eligible to apply for JEE Main.

JEE Main consists of two Papers, Paper 1 for BE/B.Tech and Paper 2 for B.Arch/B.Plan, conducted in both online and offline mode.The application forms for JEE Main are available only in online modeand candidates should ensure that they meet the eligibility criteria laid down for the JEE Main before applying.Here, you can know all the details regarding eligibility criteria and exam pattern for JEE Main 2017.

Pen & Paper Based Examination is scheduled on April 2, 2017 and Computer Based Exam is on April 08 & 09, 2017.

Some Changes in JEE Main 2017 regarding the Eligibility Criteria

1. The normalized scores of 12th standard marks will not be used to calculate the All India Ranks of JEE Main 2017 that was being used earlier as 40% weightage. Which means, now no weightage would be given to the marks of class 12 for calculating ranking in JEE Main.
2. CBSE has also made it mandatory for candidates to possess the Aadhaar number to apply for JEE Main 2017. The facilitation centres in various cities, for enrollment of such candidates who don’t have Aadhar number, have also been set up by CBSE.
3. If some candidate doesn’t possess an Aadhaar Number before applying, Aadhaar Enrollment ID printed on the enrollment slip can also be entered while filling JEE Main application. However, applicants from the states of Assam, Jammu & Kashmir and Meghalaya are exempted from the mandatory Aadhaar Card number.
4. The candidates need to have at least 75% marks or be in the top 20 percentile in 12th standard examination conducted by the respective boards. For the applicants belonging to the SC/ST Category, the minimum requirement is 65% marks in board exam.

JEE Main Eligibility Criteria

The eligibility criteria for JEE Main are some criteria that will have to be fulfilled in order to be eligible for admission. JEE Main Eligibility Criteria include eligibility requirements related to educational qualification, year ofpassing/appearing, number of attempts, qualifying examination, and Aadhaar Number. Following are the details regarding the eligibility criteria-

1. Date of Birth

Only those candidates who are born on or after October 01, 1992 are eligible to apply for JEE Main 2017. However, for Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Persons with Disabilities (PwD) candidates, age limit is relaxed by 5 years, i.e. SC, ST and PwDcandidates having DOB on or after October 01, 1987 are eligible to apply.

2. Qualifying Examination

Only those candidates who have passedtheir Class 12th Exam or any equivalent qualifying examination in 2015 or 2016 are eligible for JEE Main 2017. Also, those who are appearing for their Class 12th Exam or any other equivalent qualifying examination in 2017 are eligible to appear in JEE Main 2017.

Candidates who passed the Class 12th/Qualifying examination in 2014 or before as well as those who will appear in 2018 or later, are not eligible for JEE Main 2017.

3. Number of subjects in the Qualifying Examination

Candidates must have studied at least five subjects in the class 12^th or qualifying examination in order to be eligible for taking JEE Main.For Paper-1, one should have studied Physics and Mathematics as main subjects  along with any of the subjects among Chemistry/Biology/Biotechnology/Technical Vocational Subject, and for Paper-2 , one should have studied Maths as compulsory subjects in class 12.

4. Number of Attempts

The number of attempts which a candidate can avail for writing JEE Main is limited to 03 (three).

5. Aadhaar Card Number

This has been added as a new eligibility criterion by CBSE from the session of 2017-18. All applicants need to have Aadhaar Number to be able to fill the application form of JEE Main.

Eligibility Criteria for Admission to NITs, IIITs and CFTIs

Admissions to NITs, IIITs and other Centrally Funded Technical Institutions participating though Central Seat Allocation Board, will be based on All India Ranks of JEE Main.

For being eligible to take admission in these institutes, the candidate should have secured at least 75% marks in the 12thclass examination, or be in the top 20 percentile in the 12th class examination conducted by their respective Boards. The qualifying marks/percentage has been relaxed to 65% for SC/ST category students.

Eligibility for Admission inIITs

For admissions to IITs, the candidates have to appear for JEE Advanced. So, JEE Main is the first stage or an eligibility test for taking admission in IITs.

Eligibility for Admission in other Institutes

The above mentioned criteria could also be adopted by other Technical Institutions participating in JEE Main. If any state opts to admit students in the engineering collegesaffiliated to their State Universities,the statemay prepare separate rank list based on criteria decided by these universities.

Note: As, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa are new states participating in JEE Main, the age limit and number of attempts will remain same as per the past practices for these states.

JEE Main Exam Pattern

JEE Main Exam comprises of two papers – Paper 1 for B.E./B.Tech. and Paper 2 for B.Arch./B.Planning aspirants. Candidates can attempt any of the two papers or both, depending on the courses they are seeking admission to. Paper 1 will be in both pen paper and computer based mode, however paper 2 will be only in pen paper mode.

Here is the detailed exam pattern for both the papers-

1. JEE Main Exam Pattern for Paper-1(B.E./B.Tech)

Paper 1 is conducted for the students who aspire to pursue engineering (BE/B.Tech) courses. The paper is conducted in both online and offline modes.  Following are the details regarding JEE Main paper 1 exam pattern-

• There will be total 90 objective type questions from Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics with 30 questions from each subject. It will be 3 hours duration exam.
• For every correct answer candidates will be given 4 marks and 1 mark will be deducted for every wrong answer. Thus, the maximum marks one can score is 360.
• 12 questions will be from Class 11^th and 18 will be from 12^th among the 30 questions from each subject.

2. JEE Main Exam Pattern for Paper 2(B.Arch/B.Plan)

Paper 2 is conducted for students who are looking forward to taking admission in B.Arch/B.Planning courses. It is conducted in paper-pen based mode only. Following are the details regarding JEE Main Paper 2 exam pattern-

• Paper 2 will also cover 3 subjects including Mathematics, Aptitude Test and Drawing test. It will be 3 hours duration exam.
• Mathematics section will have 30 objective type questions having weightage of 120 marks. Aptitude Section will consist of 50 objective type questions of 200 marks.
• Drawing test will be a test having 2 questions for 70 marks on topics of Memory and 2D design. For attempting this section candidates will be given a separate drawing sheet attached to the answer sheet. It will be conducted in the latter half on the exam day.
• Negative marking will be applicable only to objective type questions. 1 mark will be deducted for each wrong response.

Timing and Mode of JEE Main 2017 Examination

You can attempt Paper-1 in both modes i.e. Offline (Pen and Paper Based Examination) and Online (Computer Based Examination)  but  Paper-2  is conducted only in Pen and Paper based mode.You have to indicate the mode of examination during the application process. Pen paper based test is scheduled from 09:30 am to 12:30 pm on April 02 while computer based test will be conducted in shifts depending on number of candidates on April 08 & 09, 2017. Second shift commences from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM.

Choice and Medium of Question Papers in JEE Main

Candidates have twolanguage options for attempting the JEE Main question paper- English or Hindi. However, for some states CBSE provides the option of attempting the question paper in their regional languages.

1. Candidates from Gujarat, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli have the option to choose Gujarati as their language of the paper.
2. Similarly, students from Maharashtra can choose Marathi and Urdu as their medium of question paper.

For the rest of the cities,only English and Hindi as medium of paperare available.

JEE Main 2017 Syllabus

JEE Main is conducted for students who are appearing in class 12 exam or have passed and seeking admission in B.E./B.Tech,B.Arch/B.PlanProgrammes. So, question paper of JEE Main will cover the syllabus of class XI & XII, as prescribed by CBSE.

For Paper-1,the syllabus will cover 3 subjects including Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics with 30 questions from each topic. Candidates are advised to go through the NCERT books of class 11 and 12 for these subjects, and other competitive books . For Physics, they have to prepare 20 chapters, for Chemistry there are 25 chapters and for Maths they have 15 chapters to prepare, from the syllabus of class 11 and class 12.

The result of JEE Main 2017 will be declared by27th April 2017.  Admissions will be based on the counselling that commences tentatively in the month of July by a Joint Seat Allocation Authority.