JEE Main Cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027: What the Data Says

By JEENEETard Updated 8 October 2026 14 min read Exam Info

The JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 is not a number anybody decides in advance. It is a rank boundary with a percentile printed on it afterwards, which is why last year's figure is a guide and never a promise. Here is what the real numbers have done over four years, what they mean in marks, and the two different cutoffs that get mixed up constantly.

Key takeaways.
  • It is a rank, not a mark. The top 2,50,000 in Paper 1 qualify, so the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 will be whatever percentile that rank happens to land on.
  • 2026 General cutoff was 93.4123549 percentile. That is the latest real figure, not a prediction.
  • Reserved category cutoffs are climbing fast. The ST cutoff rose 14.8 percentile points in three years while the Common Rank List rose 2.6.
  • Two different cutoffs exist and most pages blur them. The JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 gets you into the exam. A separate rule gets you onto a rank list after it.
Seats in the exam
2,50,000
Across all categories, from the B.E. and B.Tech paper of JEE Main.
2026 General cutoff
93.41
The JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 starts from this percentile.
Days to Session 1
106
From 8 October 2026 to the proposed 22 January 2027 start.

JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027: the short answer

Aim at a rank, then read the percentile off it

Every official figure on this page comes from NTA's published cutoffs and from the JEE Advanced information brochure. The JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 itself does not exist yet, and anyone printing an exact number for it is guessing.

Use 2026 as your working target: 93.41 percentile for General, 82.42 for GEN-EWS, 80.92 for OBC-NCL, 63.92 for SC and 52.02 for ST. Treat those as a floor rather than a goal, because the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 has risen in three of the last four years.

If you want one sentence to plan with, it is this. Being inside the top 2,50,000 is the real requirement, so the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 is a rank you are chasing and the percentile is just the label it wears that year.

How the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 gets set

This is the part that explains every strange thing about the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027, and almost nobody states it plainly.

Step 1
A fixed number of candidates, not a fixed mark

The JEE Advanced brochure sets the rule as performance in JEE Main: candidates must be among the top 2,50,000 successful candidates across all categories in the B.E. and B.Tech paper. The number of people is fixed in advance. The marks behind the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 are not.

Step 2
That slice is divided by category first

The 2,50,000 is split by category before anybody looks at a score, which is why the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 will be five different numbers rather than one common line. The brochure publishes the exact counts, and we have reproduced them further down.

Step 3
The percentile is read off afterwards

Once the lists are cut, NTA publishes the percentile of the last candidate in each category. That published figure is a result of the process, not an input to it. So the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 will depend on how many people sit the paper and how the normalisation falls, and neither of those is knowable today.

Why this matters for how you study. A fixed mark would reward absolute performance. A fixed headcount rewards relative performance, which means the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 moves when the cohort moves. The total may also run slightly above 2,50,000, because the brochure says ties at the boundary are all admitted. In 2026 that produced 2,50,182 qualifiers rather than exactly 2,50,000.

JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027: four years of real numbers

The shape matters more than any single year

JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 context: qualifying percentile by category from 2023 to 2026, showing the ST line rising 14.8 points while the Common Rank List rose 2.6
The JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced by category, 2023 to 2026. The reserved category lines are moving far faster than the Common Rank List.
Category2023202420252026
Common Rank List90.7893.2493.1093.4123549
GEN-EWS75.6281.3380.3882.4164528
OBC-NCL73.6179.6879.4380.9232583
SC51.9860.0961.1563.9172792
ST37.2346.7047.9052.0174712
UR-PwBD0.00135270.00187000.00793490.0023186

Official NTA figures. 2026 is given in full precision because the published lists we checked agree digit for digit. The 2023 to 2025 rows are rounded to two decimals, because the lists disagree in the last decimal places and we would rather round than print a wrong digit.

Three things fall out of that table, and between them they are worth more than any prediction of the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 you will read this year.

1
The General line has gone flat. It moved 2.46 points between 2023 and 2024 and then barely moved at all: 93.24, then 93.10, then 93.41. For a General candidate, last year's cutoff is a genuinely useful planning number.
2
The reserved lines have not. ST went from 37.23 to 52.02 in three years, a rise of 14.8 points. SC rose 11.9. For those categories, planning against last year's figure is planning against a number that has moved every single year.
3
The gaps are closing. In 2023 the ST cutoff sat 53.5 points below the Common Rank List. By 2026 that gap was 41.4. The structure of the cutoff has not changed, but who it actually excludes has.

What the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 looks like in marks

Percentiles are what gets published on the official JEE Main site, and marks are what students actually think in. The honest translation is a range rather than a number, and here is exactly why.

Why nobody can give you one number. JEE Main runs across many shifts, and percentile is calculated within each shift before normalisation. A 93.41 percentile in a hard shift and in an easy shift are not the same raw score. So any marks figure for the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 is an estimate with a spread, and a page giving you a single exact mark is making it up.
Category2026 percentileRoughly, in marks out of 300
Common Rank List93.41About 87 to 95
GEN-EWS82.42About 58 to 66
OBC-NCL80.92About 55 to 62
SC63.92About 37 to 44
ST52.02About 29 to 36

The percentile column is official. The marks column is an estimate from published marks versus percentile analyses and will shift with normalisation, so treat the top of each range as your working target.

Put the General row of the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 next to the actual paper and it stops feeling abstract. Around 90 marks out of 300 is roughly 30 questions right out of 75 with nothing wrong, which is why chapter selection matters more than heroics at this level. Our chapter wise weightage guide sets out which chapters pay for that.

JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027: how the 2,50,000 splits

These are the actual numbers from the JEE Advanced information brochure, and they explain why each category gets its own line.

CategoryShareMain listPwD within itCategory total
OPEN40.5%96,1875,0631,01,250
OBC-NCL27%64,1253,37567,500
SC15%35,6251,87537,500
GEN-EWS10%23,7501,25025,000
ST7.5%17,81293818,750

From the JEE Advanced information brochure. The five category totals add to 2,50,000, and 5% of every category is set aside for PwD candidates within it.

The counts that actually qualified under the 2026 version of the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced track those quotas closely: 96,873 in the General list, 67,597 OBC-NCL, 37,522 SC, 25,009 GEN-EWS and 18,790 ST, for 2,50,182 in total. The small overshoot is the tie rule doing its job.

There is a practical point about the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 hidden in that table. GEN-EWS is the smallest reserved slice at 25,000, which is part of why its cutoff sits so close to the OBC-NCL line despite OBC-NCL having nearly three times as many places. Scarcity, not difficulty, sets that gap.

The two cutoffs people confuse

One gets you in, the other gets you ranked

This single confusion causes more panic than anything else on the topic, so it is worth being very clear. The JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 is only the first of two gates, and clearing it is not the same as qualifying.

GateWhat it isWhen it applies
The JEE Main cutoffA percentile, published by NTA, deciding who may register for JEE AdvancedAfter the JEE Main result, before you can even sit the paper
The JEE Advanced qualifying marksA minimum percentage in each subject and in aggregate, deciding who enters a rank listAfter you have sat JEE Advanced, when ranks are prepared

Two different exams, two different mechanisms. Clearing the first says nothing about clearing the second.

The second gate is published as percentages rather than percentiles, and it is far less talked about. These are the minimums for inclusion in each rank list, taken from the rank list clause of the brochure.

Rank listMinimum in each subjectMinimum aggregate
Common Rank List10.0%35.0%
OBC-NCL and GEN-EWS9.0%31.5%
SC, ST and all PwD lists5.0%17.5%
Preparatory course lists2.5%8.75%

From the JEE Advanced information brochure. The brochure also notes the aggregate minimum can be lowered later if a government directive requires it.

Read the subject column again, because it catches out people who cleared the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 comfortably. A Common Rank List candidate needs 10% in every subject, so a strong physics and maths score cannot rescue a near zero in chemistry. Students who drop a subject entirely in the last month are gambling against that rule without realising it.

What could move the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027

Since the boundary is a headcount rather than a mark, only a few things can actually shift the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 once it is published. Knowing which ones they are keeps you from reading meaning into noise.

What changesEffect on the published percentileHow much to worry
More candidates sit the paperThe same 2,50,000 becomes a smaller slice of the cohort, so the percentile risesThis is the main driver. Build it into your buffer
A stronger or better prepared cohortPercentile is relative, so it rises even if your own marks improveReal, and invisible until results day
A harder or easier paperVery little, because percentile is computed within each shift and normalisedAlmost none. This is the thing students worry about most and it matters least
A change to the 2,50,000 figure itselfDirect and large, in whichever direction it movesRare. Check the brochure when it is released
Ties at the boundarySlightly more candidates qualify than the quotaNone. It can only help you

Our reading of the published mechanism. Only the first two rows have historically moved the number by much.

The third row deserves emphasis because it contradicts what most students assume. A brutally hard paper does not lower the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 in percentile terms, because everybody in that shift finds it hard and the percentile is calculated inside the shift. It lowers the marks equivalent, not the percentile. That is also why your own practice scores are a poor guide to where you sit, and why timed full length papers against a real cohort tell you more. Our guide to how many mock tests you need covers how many is enough, and how many years of past papers to solve covers the cheapest version of the same practice.

What to target for the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027

Nobody can give you the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 today, so the sensible move is to set a target with a margin built into it and stop refreshing prediction pages. Here is how we would size that margin.

Your category2026 actualSensible working target
Common Rank List93.4195 percentile, because the line has been flat and a two point buffer is cheap
GEN-EWS82.4285, since this line rose 2 points in a single year
OBC-NCL80.9284, same reasoning
SC63.9268, because this line has risen every year since 2023
ST52.0257, the fastest moving line on the chart

Our targets, not official figures. The buffers are larger where the recent trend is steeper, which is the only defensible way to set them.

One more thing is worth knowing before you plan around a single attempt. The brochure allows a maximum of two attempts at JEE Advanced, in two consecutive years, and sets an age condition as well, so the exam is not something you can keep returning to indefinitely. If you are weighing January against April, our guide on choosing session 1 or session 2 works through which attempt should carry your weight, and the best of two rule means a weak January is not fatal. A good test series is the only way to find out where you actually sit against the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 before results day.

3 traps that cost students a qualification

1
Planning against last year's number with no buffer. The JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 is set by a headcount, so it moves with the cohort every single year. Aiming at exactly 93.41 means a slightly larger or stronger cohort takes your place. Aim two to five points above, with the bigger margin if your category's line has been climbing.
2
Abandoning a subject in the last month. This one has two separate costs. It lowers your JEE Main percentile, and if you do qualify it can take you below the 10% subject minimum on the JEE Advanced rank list. Dropping a subject is the only revision decision on this page that can end your year twice over.
3
Believing a predicted cutoff. Predictions for the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 are already circulating and the exam has not happened. Even the published 2026 marks equivalents vary by shift because of normalisation. Use the official percentile history, add a buffer, and ignore the rest.

None of the three is about ability. All three come from planning against the wrong version of the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027, which is the cheapest category of mistake there is, because fixing it costs nothing but a change of target.

Frequently asked questions

What is the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027?

The JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 has not been set and cannot be known until the JEE Main 2027 results are declared. The cutoff is decided by taking the top 2,50,000 candidates in the B.E. and B.Tech paper and then publishing whatever percentile that boundary landed on. The most recent real figures, from 2026, were 93.4123549 for General, 82.4164528 for GEN-EWS, 80.9232583 for OBC-NCL, 63.9172792 for SC and 52.0174712 for ST.

How many marks are needed in JEE Main to qualify for JEE Advanced?

Roughly 87 to 95 out of 300 for a General candidate, based on the 2026 version of the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced, which was 93.41 percentile. The spread exists because percentile is calculated within each shift and then normalised, so the same percentile corresponds to different raw scores across sessions. Treat the top of the range as your target rather than the bottom.

Why is the cutoff different for each category?

Because the 2,50,000 places behind the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 are divided by category before any score is looked at. The JEE Advanced brochure allots 1,01,250 to OPEN, 67,500 to OBC-NCL, 37,500 to SC, 25,000 to GEN-EWS and 18,750 to ST, with 5% of each reserved for PwD candidates. Each category's cutoff is simply the percentile of the last candidate inside its own allotment.

Is the cutoff rising every year?

Not uniformly, which is why the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 needs a different buffer for each category. The Common Rank List has been nearly flat since 2024, moving between 93.10 and 93.41. The reserved category cutoffs have risen sharply, with ST climbing from 37.23 in 2023 to 52.02 in 2026 and SC from 51.98 to 63.92 across the same period. So the usefulness of last year's number depends heavily on which category you are in.

What are the JEE Advanced qualifying marks?

They are a separate gate, applied after you sit JEE Advanced. For the Common Rank List a candidate needs at least 10% in each subject and 35% in aggregate. For OBC-NCL and GEN-EWS it is 9% per subject and 31.5% aggregate, and for SC, ST and all PwD lists it is 5% and 17.5%. Preparatory course lists use 2.5% and 8.75%.

Does qualifying for JEE Advanced mean I will get an IIT seat?

No. Qualifying in JEE Main only earns you the right to sit JEE Advanced. After that paper you still have to meet the subject wise and aggregate minimums to appear in a rank list, and then your rank has to be good enough in JoSAA counselling, which allocates seats across 23 IITs and more than a hundred other institutes. Each of those is a separate filter, and 2,50,000 candidates compete for a far smaller number of seats.

How many attempts do I get at JEE Advanced?

A maximum of two, and they must be in two consecutive years. The brochure also sets an age condition, with a five year relaxation for SC, ST and PwD candidates. Because the window is narrow, it is worth checking the current year's brochure for the exact birth date rule before planning a drop year around it.

Does the number of qualifiers stay exactly at 2,50,000?

It can run slightly higher. The brochure says the total may be a little above 2,50,000 if several candidates share the same score at the boundary, since all of them are included. In 2026 that produced 2,50,182 qualifiers, with 96,873 in the General list, 67,597 OBC-NCL, 37,522 SC, 25,009 GEN-EWS and 18,790 ST.

Should I use predicted cutoffs for planning?

Only as a rough sanity check. Predictions for the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 are being published already, and they are extrapolations from the same history shown on this page. A safer approach is to take your category's 2026 figure, add a buffer sized to how fast that line has been moving, and plan against that. The official history is a better input than anyone's forecast.

Final word

The JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 will be announced months from now, and when it arrives it will be a consequence rather than a decision. A fixed number of candidates go through, split by category, and the percentile printed afterwards describes where that line happened to fall.

So plan against a rank with a margin, sized to how much your category's version of the JEE Main cutoff for JEE Advanced 2027 has been moving. If you are General, 2026's number is a solid guide. If you are SC or ST, it has been a moving target for three straight years and deserves a bigger buffer.

And keep the two gates separate in your head. Clearing the JEE Main cutoff gets you a seat in the exam hall. The 10% per subject rule on the other side is what decides whether sitting there turns into a rank.

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