JEE Main 2025 Cutoff: Category-Wise Percentile & Qualifying Marks

The JEE Main 2026 Session 1 exam is being conducted from January 21 to January 29, 2026, with students appearing in Shift 1 and Shift 2 closely analysing early difficulty trends and chapter-wise weightage. The JEE Main 2025 cutoff serves as an important reference point to help students understand and estimate the expected JEE Main 2026 cutoff, as cutoff trends from the previous year often provide insight into percentile ranges and competition levels. However, candidates should remember that cutoff percentiles mainly determine eligibility, especially for JEE Advanced, and do not guarantee direct admission.

JEE Main Cutoff Qualifying vs Admission

The JEE Main cutoff is of two types: qualifying cutoff and admission cutoff.

1. Qualifying Cutoff: The qualifying cutoff is the minimum percentile required for candidates to be eligible for JEE Advanced 2025. Only candidates who meet or exceed this cutoff will be allowed to appear in the next stage for admission to IITs.

• • This is the minimum percentile needed to qualify JEE Main.

  • Candidates who score equal to or above this cutoff become eligible to appear for JEE Advanced.

  • It does not give admission to any college.

  • It only decides whether you can move to the next stage (IIT admission route).

2. Admission Cutoff: The admission cutoff refers to the opening and closing ranks for admission to  JoSAA participating institutes like NITs, IIITs, and GFTIs. These ranks are released by the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) after each round of counselling.

• This cutoff is based on opening and closing ranks.

• It decides admission into NITs, IIITs, and GFTIs through JoSAA counselling.

• The admission cutoff changes every year based on:
  
  

• College

• Branch

• Category

• Number of applicants

• These cutoffs are released round-wise by JoSAA after counselling starts.

JEE Main 2025 Cutoff Percentile (Category-Wise)

Cutoff percentile for jee mains 2025 shown below are the minimum qualifying percentiles fixed by NTA to decide eligibility for JEE Advanced 2025. These percentiles are final after normalization, which means they remain the same for all sessions (Session 1 and Session 2), regardless of paper difficulty.

Only candidates who score equal to or above the cutoff percentile of their category are considered qualified for JEE Advanced.

These cutoff percentiles do not guarantee admission to IITs. They only confirm eligibility to appear for JEE Advanced 2025. Final admission depends on JEE Advanced rank and JoSAA counselling cutoffs.

JEE Main 2025 Cutoff Marks (Out of 300) 

Many students look for JEE Main 2025 cutoff marks, but NTA does not announce cutoffs in marks. The official cutoff is released only in percentile. Marks change every year because paper difficulty, number of candidates, and score normalisation are different in each session.

So, the marks given below are expected ranges, based on previous-year trends. They help you understand how many marks are usually needed to clear the cutoff.

Category-Wise JEE Main 2025 Cutoff (Qualifying Percentile)

The category-wise JEE Main 2025 cutoff shows the minimum qualifying percentile set by NTA for different reservation categories. These percentiles decide whether a candidate is eligible for JEE Advanced and counselling, not direct college admission.

General Category Cutoff

Percentile: 93.10 percentile
This is the minimum qualifying percentile required for General category candidates to be eligible for JEE Advanced 2025 and JoSAA counselling.

EWS Cutoff

Percentile: 80.38 percentile
Candidates under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) must score at least this percentile to qualify for further admission processes.

OBC-NCL Cutoff

Percentile: 79.43 percentile
This cutoff applies to OBC candidates belonging to the Non-Creamy Layer for qualifying JEE Main 2025.

SC Cutoff

Percentile: 61.15 percentile
Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates meeting this percentile are considered qualified for JEE Advanced and central counselling rounds.

ST Cutoff

Percentile: 47.90 percentile
This is the qualifying percentile for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates in JEE Main 2025.

PwD Cutoff

Percentile: 0.0079 percentile
Persons with Disability (PwD) candidates have a separate, very low qualifying percentile as per NTA reservation norms.

Previous Year's JEE Main Cutoff Trends

With the JEE Main 2025 cutoff now available, looking at previous years’ cutoff trends helps candidates understand how qualifying percentiles change every year. This comparison shows how competition level and exam difficulty impact the cutoff across categories.

Previous Year JEE Main Cutoff (Category-Wise Percentile)

The category-wise previous year JEE Main Cut Off is detailed below:

Important insights Previous Year Trend

• The General category cutoff shows an upward trend, especially from 2021 to 2024, indicating rising competition.

• Cutoffs dropped slightly in earlier years but increased again as candidate numbers and performance improved.

• Reserved categories (EWS, OBC-NCL, SC, ST) follow a similar pattern, though with lower percentiles due to reservation norms.

• Overall, the trend suggests that qualifying JEE Main is becoming more competitive each year, and future aspirants should aim well above the minimum cutoff for safety.

This trend analysis helps candidates better plan their target score and preparation level for upcoming JEE Main exams.

Previous Year JEE Main Cut Off Marks

Candidates can find the JEE Main cutoff marks for the years 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, and earlier years below. The National Testing Agency (NTA) has already released the JEE Main 2025 cutoff along with the Session 2 results. Reviewing previous years’ qualifying cutoff marks, along with the 2025 data, can help candidates understand trends and estimate their chances for JEE Advanced eligibility.

JEE Main Cutoff Marks 2024

The National Testing Agency (NTA) released the JEE Main cutoff 2024 along with the Session 2 results in April. Candidates can check the JEE Main 2024 cutoff here to know the minimum marks required to qualify.

JEE Main Cutoff Marks 2023

Candidates can check the JEE Main 2023 cutoff released by the NTA here.

JEE Main Cutoff Marks 2022 

NTA released the JEE Main 2022 cutoff along with the result of the second attempt. Candidates can check the cutoff below to know the percentile required to qualify for JEE Advanced 2022.

JEE Main Cutoff Marks 2021

Find below the JEE Main Cutoff Marks 2021 released by NTA:

JoSAA 2025 Opening & Closing Ranks

The opening and closing ranks released by JoSAA 2025 are admission cutoffs, not qualifying cutoffs. These ranks are published round-wise after each counselling round and vary by institute, branch, category, and quota.

JoSAA 2025 Opening & Closing Ranks for NITs, IIITs, and GFTIs

Below show JoSAA 2025 Round-wise admission cutoffs, which help candidates understand the rank range required for seat allotment in different institutes during counselling.

What Factors Affect JEE Main 2025 Cutoff?

The JEE Main 2025 cutoff is influenced by multiple factors that decide the minimum qualifying percentile. Below are the key factors, explained briefly and clearly:

• Total Number of Applicants: A higher number of candidates increases competition, which usually pushes the cutoff higher.

• Difficulty Level of the Exam: Tougher papers often result in a lower cutoff, while easier papers can lead to a higher cutoff.

• Normalization Process by NTA: NTA applies score normalization across multiple sessions, which directly impacts the final cutoff percentile.

• Number of Seats Available: More seats in NITs, IIITs, and GFTIs generally lower the cutoff; fewer seats increase it.

• Category-wise Reservation Policy: Reserved category seat allocation affects cutoff levels across all categories, including General.

• Previous Year Cutoff Trends: Past cutoffs help estimate the average cutoff of JEE Main and indicate whether trends are rising or stable.

• Performance of Top Scorers: Strong overall performance by top candidates can raise the cutoff percentile.

These factors together explain why the NTA cutoff 2025 may vary compared to previous years.