The Two Cutoffs — Don’t Confuse Them

Cutoff 1 — the qualifying cutoff. This is the minimum performance needed to be included in the JEE Advanced rank list. It is defined as a percentage of marks, set category-wise, and applied the moment results are processed.

Cutoff 2 — the admission (closing-rank) cutoff. This is the last rank at which a seat was allotted in a specific IIT and branch during JoSAA counselling. It is decided round by round, varies enormously between branches, and is far more competitive than Cutoff 1.

Clearing Cutoff 1 puts your name on the list. Cutoff 2 is what then decides whether you reach the branch you want. The rest of this page focuses on Cutoff 1; Cutoff 2 belongs to the Colleges & Cutoffs pillar.

Category-Wise Rank-List Criteria

JEE Advanced has, for many years, used a consistent two-part rule for rank-list inclusion: a minimum percentage in each subject and a minimum aggregate percentage. The commonly published thresholds are:

These are the long-standing JEE Advanced rank-list criteria. The exact thresholds for 2026 must be confirmed from the official JEE Advanced 2026 information brochure on jeeadv.ac.in — we present the established criteria and do not estimate changes.

A separate, lower set of thresholds applies to a preparatory-course rank list for some reserved-category candidates. Details of that, if relevant to you, are in the official brochure.

How Rank-List Inclusion Works

The two conditions are applied together — you must satisfy both:

1. NTA-style normalisation does not apply here; JEE Advanced uses your actual aggregate across both papers.
2. Your marks in each of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics must meet the per-subject minimum for your category.
3. Your aggregate marks must meet the aggregate minimum for your category.
4. If both are met, you are included in the rank list and given a Common Rank List rank plus a category rank.
5. If either fails, you are not in the list — but your JEE Main rank still keeps NIT, IIIT and GFTI options open in JoSAA.

Qualifying Cutoff vs IIT Admission Cutoff

This is the distinction worth repeating because it shapes your expectations. Being in the rank list is the entry ticket; it is not an admission. The actual admission cutoff — the JoSAA closing rank — depends on the institute, the branch, your category, your gender and your home state, and is set only as counselling rounds play out in June and July.

A candidate ranked, say, in the tens of thousands on the Common Rank List has cleared the qualifying cutoff comfortably, yet may still find the most competitive branches at the older IITs out of reach. That is normal. The Colleges & Cutoffs pillar of this hub will publish branch-wise IIT closing ranks so you can map your rank to realistic branches.

Reading Cutoff Trends Year on Year

You will see articles quoting an exact “qualifying marks” figure for past years — for example, a specific aggregate score that ended up being the lowest qualifying total. Those numbers are an outcome of the percentage criteria applied to that year’s paper difficulty, not a separate rule. They move every year because paper difficulty moves.

Because of that, the stable thing to anchor on is the percentage criteria above — not a remembered marks figure from a previous year. For the precise 2026 qualifying marks once the result is processed, the only reliable source is the official JEE Advanced 2026 rank list on jeeadv.ac.in. We will update this page with the confirmed 2026 figures when they are published.

Frequently Asked Questions