How Much Percentile Is Good in JEE Main 2026?

A JEE percentile ranging from 90-95 is considered as a good percentile score to secure admission in top IITs, NITs, and IIITs in desired courses. Further, candidates must reach the ranks in the top 15,000-20,000 to gain admission by qualifying the JEE Main cutoff.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) is expected to conduct the JEE Main 2026 exam in Jan 2026 in designated exam centers. A score of 290+ in JEE Main is considered a good score. Candidates who qualify with the required cutoff will be eligible to participate in the JEE Main counselling process, which will begin tentatively in June 2026. 

What is a Good percentile in JEE Main 2026

A good percentile in JEE Main 2026 is around 90-95 percentile and an ideal score for JEE Main is considered to be between or higher than the 281-285 marks (estimated range). In terms of rank, students should get approx 15,000-20,000 in rank to secure seats at various IITs. With ranks after 20,000, they can expect to get seats at IIITs, NITs, and other institutions.

JEE Main Percentile varies from candidate to candidate. There is a difference between a good percentile for NITs and IIITs and a good percentile for IITs. If we consider qualifying for JEE Advanced, then based on the previous year’s requirements, the minimum cut-off to appear in JEE Advanced was 93.471231 percentile for the General Category.

Year-Wise Good Percentile for JEE Main (For Qualifying JEE Advanced)

Although it won’t be difficult to either get into the prestigious institutes or qualify for JEE Advanced, it entirely depends on whether the candidate has prepared a foolproof academic strategy in order to achieve that goal.

However, that's hard to do if you don’t know the bare minimum requirements you’ll need to meet to achieve those goals. One of those requirements is getting a ‘good’ percentile. Following is the year-wise cut-off percentile for JEE Main. It largely differs annually based on the performance of the candidates writing the exam.

Good JEE Main Score/ Percentile to be Eligible for JEE Advanced

How much percentile is good in JEE Main 2026 to qualify for JEE Advanced? As mentioned in the beginning, to qualify for JEE Advanced alone, you’ll need to land anywhere above or equal to the 90th percentile range.

An estimation of 281-285+ marks is a good ballpark to aim for if you want to get admitted into IITs. Another way to look at whether you are likely to qualify for IIT admissions is by taking a look at your rankings. Falling anywhere in the ranks of above 15,000 can guarantee success.

Good JEE Main Score/ Rank to Secure Admission in NITs

The scores mentioned above are exclusively for those who wish to admit themselves into JEE Advanced and IITs in the future. When it comes to NITs, the score requirements are substantially lower when compared to the requirements for JEE Advanced or IIT admissions.

A good percentile for those wanting to get into NITs and IIITs is 80+. However, if we consider the rankings as well, then you need to ensure that you fall into the top 15,000 ranks. This will increase your likelihood of being admitted into NITs.

Good JEE Main Score/ Rank to Secure Admission in IIITs

The requirements for getting into IIITs are slightly lower when compared to NITs. The percentile requirements come down to the 70-80 percentile. If we take into consideration the ranking as well, then anyone that falls within the top 25,000 ranks will be eligible for admission to IIITs.

This does not mean that anyone falling below those rankings will not be admitted into IIITs; it’s just their chances of getting admitted would be lower.

Also Check: How to Calculate JEE Main 2026 Rank From Percentile?

Good Percentile To Secure Admission in B.Tech Colleges

Many B.Tech colleges offer admission if you have above the 80 percentile in JEE Main exam (apart from IITs, NITs, or IIITs). You can also apply for these colleges by appearing in their admission tests. Additionally, you can also fill the direct admission in B.Tech courses in top private engineering colleges across the country.

List of Colleges based on JEE Main Percentile 2026

Here is the list of colleges that offer admissions based on the JEE Main Percentile 2026. However, the candidates need to achieve the individual qualifying percentile for JEE Main 2026 set by the colleges. 

Also Check: Top Colleges Accepting 50,000 Rank in JEE Main 2026

List of Colleges based on JEE Main Rank 2026

Various colleges admit candidates based on the JEE Main rank 2026. The list of colleges that offer admission is listed in the table below. 

List of Colleges Offering B.Tech Courses without JEE Main 2026

Many colleges offer admission without considering the JEE Main scores. These colleges offer admission through their entrance exam. The list of colleges is as follows:

How to secure good marks in JEE Main 2026?

Candidates appearing for the JEE Main 2026 exam must strategise a study plan to cover the entire syllabus and important topics as per the JEE Main exam pattern. Here are some of the important tips on how to secure good marks in JEE Main 2026:

• Focus on High Scoring Topics: It is important to know the JEE Main chapter-wise weightage and focus on the topics that has more weightage first to score good marks in the exam
• Understand the Concepts: Candidates must not ramdomly memorise the topics as the question papers will have tricky questions especially in subject like Physics and Mathematics. 
• Choose the Right Study Material: Concepts of Physics by HC Verma, Concepts of Organic Chemistry by O. P. Tandon, Differential Calculus by A. Das Gupta are some of the best JEE Main books students can refer to apart from NCERT books to prepare for the JEE Main exam
• Prepare Short Notes: This can be implemented to memorise formulas and definitions that can be utilised during the time of revision to stay on track.
• Being Aware of Negative Marking: This could be an important factor to lose marks in the exam apart from applying good JEE Main preparation strategies. Candidates must be very careful in choosing the right option to avoid negative marking. 

Previous Year JEE Main Cut Off

JEE Main cut off 2026 will be released after the results in the official website by the National Testing Agency. The expected JEE Main cutoff for general category is 95+ for SC it is 65+ and for ST it is 50+. Given below is the previous year JEE Main cut off:

JEE Main Marks Vs Percentile Vs Rank

The National Testing Agency will deploy the JEE Main normalisation process to derive the JEE Main rank 2026. The expected JEE Main mark vs percentile vs rank is given in the table below:

Several factors can affect the JEE Main percentile vs mark vs rank, including the exam difficulty level, number of test takers, raw score of the candidate, etc. The NTA will release the JEE Main rank list along with the results based on the performance of the candidate.