The Joint Entrance Exam, commonly known as JEE, is conducted to offer admission to various engineering colleges across India. The National Testing Agency (NTA) has announced that JEE will be conducted twice. Once in April (16-21) and again in May (24-29). If you are preparing for JEE, you must be aware of the number of attempts available to you to plan your studies accordingly.
JEE Main
JEE Main is a computer-based online test conducted by the NTA to pursue undergraduate courses in top engineering institutes in India. JEE Main is the first phase of the IIT Joint Entrance Exam.
Revised JEE Main Criteria
There have been some changes regarding the eligibility of students in JEE Main. No age limit has been set for applicants. Any student who has qualified for class 12 board exams in 2020, and 2021, or is appearing, can appear for JEE Main. NTA has further relaxed the weightage given to 12 marks. Earlier students of the general category needed to secure a minimum of 75% marks to get admission after clearing JEE. Now, they need to provide the class 12th passing certificate at the time of admission.
Total Number Of Attempts For JEE
If you are a student who will attempt JEE Main, you need to be aware of all the changes made by NTA. Unlike previous years, brings a lot of updates regarding exam patterns, eligibility, and marking system.
For your convenience, all the changes introduced by NTA have been listed below:
- Candidates can apply for JEE Main based on eligibility and not on the basis of a number of previous attempts.
- If you are a student who will appear for class 12th board or have passed the 12th board exam, you can apply for JEE Main irrespective of your age.
- The JEE Main attempt will be considered a single attempt.
- You can appear for both the JEE Main exam.
Benefits of Reduced Attempts
Any change brings some amount of disagreement in people, and when it is connected to our career, any change bothers us a lot. Some of you must be bothered by the reduction in the number of JEE attempts. However, there is a silver lining in this as well.
Some of the benefits of the changed exam pattern are listed below:
- If you are a student of class 12 who will be attempting JEE for the first time, you have extra time to prepare for both exams.
- With reduced attempts, your exam stress will also decrease, and this will ultimately result in better performance.
- Since there is no age restriction, it will be beneficial for older applicants.
JEE Main Qualifying Exams
The most important requirement to take JEE Main is qualifying class 12 from a recognised board. However, some other qualifying exams hold equal importance as passing class 12.
These exams include:
- Qualifying the final exam of a 2-year course offered by the Joint Service Wing of NDA.
- Qualifying the Senior Secondary School Examination (with a minimum of 5 subjects) conducted by the National Institute of Open Schooling.
- Any examination conducted in India or any other country recognised by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) is equivalent to the class 12 board exam.
- Qualifying Higher Secondary Certificate Vocational Examination.
- Completing a diploma course with a 3-years course duration that is recognised by AICTE or a State board of technical education.
- Completing a GCE examination from Srilanka/London/Cambridge of advanced level.
JEE Main Application Process
Students can follow the below-mentioned steps to complete the registration process of JEE Main successfully.
Registration
- All the new applicants need to do the online registration for JEE Main.
- Students who have applied earlier can use their previous registration credentials to log in.
Filling up the details
- After completing the registration process, all the students must fill in their academic, personal, and contact details.
- All the applicants need to choose a maximum of 4 preferred locations to take the JEE Main exam.
- In this step, applicants need to pen down their application number generated by the system for further use.
- Students are needed to provide a scanned copy of their signature and photograph. The photograph must contain the applicant’s name and date of taking the photograph.
Subject Combination For JEE Main
Different sections of JEE Main have different subject combinations. Students need to have these subjects in their qualifying exams. Subject combinations for all three sections are listed below:
- B.Tech/B.E: Mathematics and Physics are the compulsory subjects. In addition, students need to have chemistry, biotechnology or Biology as a third subject.
- B.Planning: Maths is a compulsory subject.
- B.Arch: Students need to pass in Maths, Chemistry, and Physics in any qualifying exam.
JEE Main Eligibility Criteria for Repeater Applicants
There is no age restriction for an applicant who wishes to opt for JEE after completing class 12. However, if you are a repeater applicant, you need to consider the factors listed below:
- You can opt for JEE Main in the three consecutive years after completing class 12.
- You must have passed all the compulsory subjects in the qualifying exams.
- To get admission in IITs, NITs, and CFTIs, you need to score either a minimum of 75% aggregate points or be in the top 20 percentile of your respective board.
Documents Required To Appear For JEE Main
Applicants need to have the following documents for JEE Main:
- Educational documents: Applicants must submit their class 10th mark sheet. Though a class 12th mark sheet is required, it is not mandatory at the time of application. However, students need to produce their class 12th mark sheet at the time of admission. Without this document, their admission can be cancelled.
- Identity Proof: You need to have identity proof that is provided by the government of India.
- Signature and Photograph: You need to have a scanned photograph and signature with a maximum size of 100 KB and a minimum of 10 KB.
JEE Main Reservation Of Seats
According to the central government’s rule, JEE Main offers reserved seats to particular sections of students. The allotted seats are illustrated in the below table:
Category of student | Reservation percentage |
General Economically Weaker Section (General- EWS) | 10% |
Scheduled Caste (SC) | 15% |
Non-Creamy Layer – Other Backward Classes (NCL-OBC) | 27% |
People with Disability (PwD) | 3% |
Scheduled Tribe (ST) | 7.5% |
Admission To Engineering Colleges As Per JEE Main AIR
Though there are seats reserved for various categories, students need to remember the admission criteria to different institutes.
- However, you must remember that admission to IITs, CFTIs, and NITs are offered based on All India Rank (AIR) instead of rank as per the reserved category.
- The qualifying marks of class 12th for SC/ST students is 65%, whereas, for the general category, it is 75%.
There will be 2 question papers in the JEE Main exam.
- Paper 1 is for the B.Tech/B.E course
- Paper 2 is for B.Planning and B.Arch course
NTA has introduced a few changes in JEE Main for answering questions. They are listed below:
- JEE Main paper 1 will have a total of 90 questions (30 for each Physics, Chemistry, and Maths). Students need to answer only 25 questions from each subject, i.e., a total of 75 questions.
- Students need to answer only 5 numeric questions.
- Paper 1 carries 300 marks, whereas paper 2 is 400 marks.
FAQs On JEE Main Attempts and Preparation
Q1. Can I qualify JEE by preparing with HC Verma alone?
There is no doubt that HC Verma is an excellent book to understand the concepts of Physics. All the theories are well explained to grasp the knowledge easily. However, you need to follow NCERT to know the syllabus. Almost all the questions are asked from the NCERT textbooks. Therefore, to increase your chances of selection, you need to follow various test series, NCERT textbooks, notes provided by teachers, along with HC Verma textbooks.
Q2. What is the prime way to prepare for JEE Maths?
To succeed in JEE Main, students need to have good command and understanding of all the topics of class 11 and 12 Maths syllabus. Primarily you need to thoroughly cover all the chapters of the NCERT Maths textbook and follow relevant reference books to practise more questions. Apart from this, you should also solve practice question papers, mock tests and previous year’s question papers to enhance your preparation.
Q3. Are NCERT books enough to crack JEE Main?
About 80-90% of the questions asked in JEE Main are from NCERT books. You need to thoroughly complete the NCERT books at least 2-3 times during your preparation for JEE Main. Still, to improve your problem-solving capacity, you need to practise solving a lot of questions. For this, you must refer to supporting books and sample papers.
Q4. What is the ideal preparation strategy for JEE Main?
You can refer to the strategies mentioned below to improve your JEE Main preparations:
- Focus on completing NCERT textbooks for all the subjects.
- Take help of relevant additional books to practise solving questions.
- Prepare a study plan and follow it to accomplish your daily goals.
- Take numerous mock tests to know the exam pattern.
- Take the help of teachers to discuss and clarify your doubts.
- Note down the formulas and try practising them every day.
Q5. Can I get admission to good colleges by scoring 100 marks in JEE Main?
If your score is 100 in Jee main, there is a low chance of getting admission in good NITs or IITs with the general category.
Q6. If I attempt both the phases of JEE Mains, whose marks will be considered while offering admission?
If you take both the JEE Main exams, whatever will be your higher score between the 2 exams will be considered while offering admission.