JEE Main eligibility criterion has been decided by CBSE and there is one new criterion included this year i.e from this year every candidate has to give his/her Aadhaar number issued by UIDAI and the rest of the criterion are more or less same every year. So candidates are advised to go through the JEE Main 2018 eligibility criteria conditions before applying for JEE Main 2018.
Updated JEE Main Eligibility criteria
Every candidate has to provide his/her aadhaar number issued by UIDAI for their authentication and identity proof. Candidates who haven’t enrolled for aadhaar yet have to apply for their aadhaar. Such applicant may visit any Aadhaar enrolment facilitation centres set up in JEE Main exam cities.
Age Criteria
- Aspirants who are born on or after October 1, 1992 are eligible to apply.
- Candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Persons with Disabilities (PwD), should have been born on or after October 1, 1987. Candidates of these categories have been given a relaxation of 5 years.
Date of birth will be considered as per the Secondary Education Board/University certificate.
Qualification Criteria
- There is no prescribed percentage to appear in the examination. Candidates having passing marks can also apply.
- Only for admission to NITs, IIITs and CFTIs, candidates should secure minimum 75% marks (65% for SC/ST students) in the qualifying examination or must be in top 20 percentile in class 12th examination conducted by respective boards.
Subject Combination Criteria
- It is mandatory for aspiring candidates to have taken 5 subjects in 12th or qualifying exam
- The 5 subjects for B.Tech/B.E. are: 1-Language, 2-Physics, 3-Mathematics, 4-Any one of (Chemistry, Biology, Biotechnology, Technical Vocational Subject), 5-Any other subject
- According to MHRD, apart from admissions to IITs, the qualifying marks for admission to NITs, IIITs and GFTIs have also been revised. As per the notification, for candidates to qualify for admissions to NITs/IIITs/GFTIs, they should have secured at least 75% marks in class 12th exam or be in the top 20 percentile in the class 12th exam conducted by the respective boards. For SC/ST candidates, the eligibility criteria is 65% marks in class 12th.
Year of Passing and Number of Attempts
- Candidates who have passed 12th class or equivalent exam in 2016 or 2017 (not before 2016) are eligible to apply for this exam.
- If candidates have appeared in a 12th or equivalent exam in 2015 but did not cleared in 2015, but passed in 2016 are not eligible to apply.
- If candidates qualify 12th exam in 2017 & appear for improvement in 2018 for one or few subjects, then top 20 percentile cut-off for 2017 will be considered.
- However, if a candidate writes all the subjects in 2018, then the best of the two performances will be considered.
- Candidates also note down that for the percentile system, total marks obtained in all the five subjects of mark sheet are required for JEE Main and JEE Advanced.
Every candidate can give at most 3 attempts for JEE Main 2018
State Codes for JEE Main Eligibility
State code of eligibility is a code of the state from where the candidate has appeared in class 12th board examination. If candidate has given the improvement exam from another state then his state code will be the state from where he has first appeared for the exam not the later one.
| Name of State/UT | Code | Name of State /UT | Code |
| Andaman & Nicobar Islands (UT) | 01 | Lakshadweep (UT) | 19 |
| Andhra Pradesh | 02 | Madhya Pradesh | 20 |
| Arunachal Pradesh | 03 | Maharashtra | 21 |
| Assam | 04 | Manipur | 22 |
| Bihar | 05 | Meghalaya | 23 |
| Chandigarh (UT) | 06 | Mizoram | 24 |
| Chhattisgarh | 07 | Nagaland | 25 |
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli (UT) | 08 | Odisha | 26 |
| Daman & Diu (UT) | 09 | Puducherry (UT) | 27 |
| Delhi (NCT) | 10 | Punjab | 28 |
| Goa | 11 | Rajasthan | 29 |
| Gujarat | 12 | Sikkim | 30 |
| Haryana | 13 | Tamil Nadu | 31 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 14 | Tripura | 32 |
| Jammu & Kashmir | 15 | Uttar Pradesh | 33 |
| Jharkhand | 16 | Uttarakhand | 34 |
| Karnataka | 17 | West Bengal | 35 |
| Kerala | 18 | Telangana | 36 |
| Foreign/OCI/PIO/Nepal / Bhutan | 98 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Q- What is the age limit to appear for the JEE Main 2018?
Candidates born on or after October 1,1992, are eligible for the Joint Entrance Examination. For SC/ST and PwD candidates, there is a relaxation of 5 years.
Q- What are the maximum number of attempts for the JEE Main 2018?
Candidates can appear for a maximum number of 3 attempts for JEE Main 2018.
Q- What is the Eligibility for the Diploma Students in JEE Main 2018?
To appear in JEE Advanced 2018, diploma students can apply in JEE Main 2018. However, the rank and score for JEE Main will not be declared as the diploma holders cannot apply for admissions in NITs and CFTIs through JEE Main.
Q- What are HSC vocational courses?
The HSC vocational courses may be different for different states. Candidates of different state will require to verify it from their respective state