JEE Advanced 2026 — Registration Date, Exam Schedule, Eligibility, and Everything You Need to Know
Story By -
Divya Sharma 2026-03-16 JEE Advanced 2026, IIT Admission 2026 49
For hundreds of thousands of engineering aspirants across India, one date defines the year. JEE Advanced 2026 is scheduled for May 17, 2026, and the registration window opens on April 23, 2026. IIT Roorkee is the organising institute for this edition.
If you are among the top 2.5 lakh candidates in JEE Main 2026, you are eligible to appear for JEE Advanced — the gateway to admission in the Indian Institutes of Technology. Missing the registration window means missing your chance for the year. Here is the complete guide.
JEE Advanced 2026 — Key Dates at a Glance
|
Event
|
Date
|
|
Registration
Opens (Indian Nationals)
|
April
23, 2026
|
|
Registration
Opens (Foreign Nationals)
|
April
6, 2026
|
|
Last
Date to Register
|
May
2, 2026
|
|
Admit
Card Release
|
Approximately
one week before exam
|
|
JEE
Advanced 2026 Exam Date
|
May
17, 2026 (Sunday)
|
|
Paper
1
|
9:00
AM – 12:00 PM
|
|
Paper
2
|
2:30
PM – 5:30 PM
|
|
Provisional
Answer Key
|
Last
week of May 2026
|
|
Result
Declaration
|
Second
week of June 2026
|
|
JoSAA
Counselling
|
After
result
|
About JEE Advanced
JEE Advanced is India's most competitive engineering entrance examination. It is the second stage of the IIT admission process — the first being JEE Main, conducted by NTA. Only the top 2.5 lakh rank holders from JEE Main Paper 1 are allowed to register for JEE Advanced. Those who qualify JEE Advanced become eligible for the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) counselling, through which seats are allotted in IITs.
IIT Roorkee is conducting the 2026 edition. The organising institute rotates among the IITs every year, supervised by the Joint Admission Board (JAB).
Eligibility Criteria — Who Can Apply?
Before registering, ensure you meet all the following conditions:
- JEE Main 2026 Qualification You must have appeared in JEE Main 2026 Paper 1 (B.E./B.Tech) and must be among the top 2,50,000 qualified candidates. Your JEE Main 2026 application number and password are required to log into the JEE Advanced registration portal.
- Age Limit Candidates born on or after October 1, 2001 are eligible. SC, ST, and PwD candidates get a five-year age relaxation (born on or after October 1, 1996).
- Board Exam Qualification You must have appeared for the Class 12 (or equivalent) board examination for the first time in 2025 or 2026. Candidates who appeared for the first time before 2025 are not eligible.
- Academic Performance You must have secured at least 75% aggregate marks in Class 12 board exams (Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics as mandatory subjects). SC, ST, and PwD candidates need at least 65%.
- Number of Attempts A candidate can appear for JEE Advanced at most two times in two consecutive years. If you appeared in JEE Advanced 2025, 2026 is your final opportunity.
- No Previous IIT Admission If you were previously admitted to any IIT — including a preparatory course — you are not eligible to appear for JEE Advanced 2026, unless your admission was cancelled or you withdrew before the last round of JoSAA.
How to Register — Step by Step
Registration is entirely online through the official website jeeadv.ac.in.
Step 1: Visit jeeadv.ac.in and click on the JEE Advanced 2026 registration link (active from April 23).
Step 2: Log in using your JEE Main 2026 application number, name, and date of birth. Some details will be pre-filled from your JEE Main database.
Step 3: Fill in the remaining details carefully, including your choice of exam city and preferred language (English or Hindi).
Step 4: Upload scanned copies of required documents:
- Class 10 certificate (for date of birth proof)
- Class 12 mark sheet or board admit card
- Category certificate (if applicable — SC, ST, OBC-NCL, PwD)
- Recent passport-size photograph
- Scanned signature
Step 5: Pay the registration fee through online mode (credit card, debit card, or net banking) or offline via e-challan at designated bank branches.
Step 6: Submit the form and download the confirmation page. Keep it safely for reference.
Application Fee
|
Category
|
Fee (India)
|
|
Female
candidates (all categories)
|
₹1,600
|
|
SC
/ ST / PwD candidates
|
₹1,600
|
|
General
and OBC-NCL (male)
|
₹3,200
|
For foreign nationals, the fee is USD 100 (SAARC countries) or USD 200 (other countries).
Exam Pattern — What to Expect
JEE Advanced 2026 is a Computer Based Test (CBT) consisting of two mandatory papers:
Paper 1: 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM (3 hours) Paper 2: 2:30 PM to 5:30 PM (3 hours)
Both papers cover Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics. The question types include Multiple Choice Questions (single and multiple correct), Integer type (numerical answer), and Matching List type. Negative marking applies to some question types — the exact marking scheme is announced in the instructions provided to candidates on exam day.
Your final rank is based on your combined performance in both papers. Missing either paper means disqualification.
Preparation Strategy — What Toppers Focus On
With registration opening April 23 and the exam on May 17, candidates have about three to four weeks between registration and exam day. Use this period wisely.
Master the basics before speed. JEE Advanced tests conceptual understanding, not just formula application. Questions regularly require multi-step reasoning across topics.
Solve previous years' papers. The 2025 JEE Advanced papers (and their provisional and final answer keys, available on jeeadv.ac.in) are your best indicator of question style, difficulty, and topic weighting. Mock tests are also available on the official website.
Focus on high-weightage topics. In Physics: mechanics, electrodynamics, optics, and modern physics. In Chemistry: organic reactions, coordination chemistry, and physical chemistry calculations. In Mathematics: calculus, algebra, coordinate geometry, and probability.
Manage negative marking. Attempting a question you are unsure about can reduce your score. Partial and negative marking makes accuracy more important than volume.
Take care of your health. The exam is a full-day affair — Paper 1 in the morning, Paper 2 in the afternoon with a break between. Stamina and mental freshness matter. The weeks before the exam should include regular sleep, adequate nutrition, and controlled screen time.
After the Exam — JoSAA Counselling
Candidates who qualify JEE Advanced 2026 (by meeting category-wise cutoffs in all subjects and overall) will be eligible to participate in JoSAA counselling. JoSAA manages seat allotment for IITs, NITs, IIITs, and Government Funded Technical Institutes (GFTIs).
The counselling process typically opens a few weeks after the result and runs through multiple rounds of allotment. Candidates register on the JoSAA portal, fill their preferences for institutes and programmes, and receive allotments based on their rank, category, and seat availability.
Choosing branches and institutions wisely during JoSAA counselling is as important as cracking the exam. Research the IIT you are targeting, the specific branch offered, and the career pathways it typically opens. The decision made in those few counselling rounds shapes the next four to five years of academic life.
One Final Reminder
JEE Advanced 2026 registration opens April 23. The last date is May 2. The exam is May 17.
Keep your JEE Main 2026 credentials handy. Check jeeadv.ac.in regularly for updates. And if the preparation feels overwhelming in these final weeks — remember that the effort is finite. The opportunity is not.
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