JEE (Advanced) 2026: Official Exam Date & Eligibility Criteria Announced

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IIT Roorkee, the organising institute for JEE (Advanced) 2026, has officially announced the exam date and the detailed eligibility criteria for Indian Nationals and OCI/PIO(I) candidates on its website. All IIT aspirants targeting the 2026 admission cycle must carefully go through these requirements to ensure they meet every condition.

JEE (Advanced) 2026 Exam Date

According to the official announcement posted on December 05, 2025, JEE (Advanced) 2026 will be conducted on Sunday, 17 May 2026.

The exam will consist of:

Paper 1
Paper 2

Both papers are mandatory.

Eligibility Criteria for JEE (Advanced) 2026

A candidate must satisfy all five criteria (A1–A5) simultaneously.

1️⃣ Criterion A1 – Performance in JEE (Main) 2026

Top 2,50,000 candidates (across all categories) in the B.E./B.Tech. paper of JEE (Main) 2026 will be eligible to appear for JEE (Advanced) 2026.

Category-wise distribution for the top 2,50,000 candidates:

Category	Seats
OPEN	96,187
OPEN-PwD	5,063
GEN-EWS	23,750
GEN-EWS-PwD	1,250
OBC-NCL	64,125
OBC-NCL-PwD	3,375
SC	35,625
SC-PwD	1,875
ST	17,812
ST-PwD	938

Note: OCI/PIO(I) candidates do not get category reservations except under OPEN-PwD.

How It Will Be Done:

Ranking Process: When the JEE (Main) result is declared, a rank list will be made for each category (OPEN, GEN-EWS, OBC-NCL, SC, ST, and PwD candidates within those categories). This list will reflect the performance of candidates within their respective categories.

Top Candidates: From this rank list:

Top 96,187 from OPEN will be selected for JEE (Advanced).
Top 5,063 from OPEN-PwD will be selected for JEE (Advanced).
Top 23,750 from GEN-EWS will be selected for JEE (Advanced), and so on for the other categories.

Also See: JEE Main 2026: Why It’s Conducted Twice & Which Session You Should Choose

In other words, the overall JEE (Main) result will be divided into category-specific rank lists, and each category will have a set number of top-ranked candidates who qualify for JEE (Advanced).

Example 1: Suppose you are an SC candidate

JEE (Main) creates an SC-only rank list, ranking only SC students.
From this SC rank list, the top 35,625 SC candidates qualify for JEE (Advanced).

For Example:

Your overall rank doesn’t matter, only your category rank matters here.

2️⃣ Criterion A2 – Age Limit

Must be born on or after 1 October 2001.
SC/ST/PwD: Born on or after 1 October 1996.

3️⃣ Criterion A3 – Number of Attempts

A candidate can attempt JEE (Advanced) only twice, and the attempts must be in two consecutive years.

What does this mean in practical terms?

✔ You get only 2 chances to write JEE (Advanced).

✔ These two chances must be in back-to-back years.

You cannot skip a year in between and still attempt again.

Example 1: First attempt in 2025
- If your first attempt is JEE (Advanced) 2025, then:
- Second (last) attempt = JEE (Advanced) 2026
- After that, you cannot write JEE (Advanced) again.
Example 2: First attempt in 2026
- If your first attempt is in 2026, then:
- Second (last) attempt = 2027
- You cannot attempt in 2028 because it would break the “two consecutive years” rule.
Example 3: If you skip a year
- If you attempt in 2025, skip in 2026, and want to attempt in 2027:
- ❌ Not allowed Because the attempts must be consecutive.
Example 4: If you never attempted Advanced
- You attempted only JEE Main in previous years but never attempted JEE Advanced:
- ✔ You can still take Advanced twice, in two consecutive years.
- Your JEE Main attempts do not reduce your JEE Advanced attempts.

Also See: How to Revise Class 11 in 20 Days Before JEE Main 2026 Session 1

Important Note

To attempt JEE (Advanced), you must also clear JEE (Main) in the same year.
So even if you have attempt chances left for Advanced, you must still qualify through JEE Main each time.

4️⃣ Criterion A4 – Appearance in Class 12

To appear for JEE (Advanced) 2026, you must have written your Class 12 board exam for the first time in:

✔ 2025 or
✔ 2026

❌ Who is NOT eligible?

If you wrote Class 12 board exam for the first time in 2024 or earlier, then you are NOT eligible for JEE (Advanced) 2026.

Example:

First time Class 12 appearance	Eligible for JEE Advanced 2026?
2026	✔ Yes
2025	✔ Yes
2024	❌ No
2023	❌ No
2022	❌ No

This keeps the rule strict and ensures only fresh candidates appear.

⭐ BUT THERE IS ONE IMPORTANT EXCEPTION

The rule gives an exception only for boards whose results were declared very late.

If your Class 12 result for the 2023–24 academic year was declared on or after June 18, 2024, then:

✔ You are allowed to appear for JEE (Advanced) 2026 even if you took Class 12 in 2024.

Why this exception?

Because some boards (state boards or special cases) release results much later than CBSE/ISC.

If the board delayed the announcement date of all results, then the candidate is not punished for that.

So they treat your 2024 appearance as equal to 2025.

⚠ BUT IMPORTANT CONDITION

If the board declared the general results before June 18, 2024, but your individual result was withheld, delayed, or declared later, then:

Also See: Is 75% Criteria Still Required for JEE Main 2026? Clarified by NTA

❌ You are NOT eligible.

Because the exception applies only when the entire board declared results late — not individual cases.

5️⃣ Criterion A5 – Earlier Admission at IITs

A candidate is NOT eligible if previously admitted to any IIT, regardless of continuation.
Exceptions:

Admitted to an IIT preparatory course in 2025 → Eligible
Allocated an IIT seat via JoSAA 2025 but did not report / withdrew / seat got canceled before the last round → Eligible

Summary

All announcements are published on the official website: jeeadv.ac.in
Always refer to the official source before planning your application or preparation.

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