JEE Main cutoff: What You Need to Know About Scores, Ranks, and Admission Limits

When you hear JEE Main cutoff, the minimum score required to qualify for admission to engineering colleges in India, including NITs, IIITs, and GFTIs. Also known as JEE Main qualifying score, it’s not just a number—it’s the gatekeeper to your engineering future. Every year, lakhs of students take the exam, but only a fraction clear the cutoff. And that cutoff isn’t fixed. It changes based on difficulty, number of applicants, and seat availability. One year, 90 percentile might be enough for a top NIT. The next, you might need 95. There’s no magic number—only patterns.

The JEE Main rank, your position among all test-takers, calculated from your percentile score. Also known as All India Rank (AIR), it’s what colleges actually use to fill seats. Your score tells you how you did. Your rank tells you where you stand. And your cutoff is the line that separates those who move forward from those who don’t. If you’re aiming for an IIT, you’ll need to clear JEE Advanced too—but first, you must clear JEE Main. The cutoff for general category students usually hovers between 90 and 95 percentile. For reserved categories, it drops significantly, sometimes below 70 percentile. But don’t just chase the minimum. The cutoff is just the entry ticket. To get into a good branch at a top NIT, you’ll need a rank under 10,000. For the best ones, under 5,000.

What affects the cutoff? Three things: exam difficulty, number of candidates, and available seats. If the paper is easy, scores go up, and so does the cutoff. If more students take it, competition tightens. And if new seats are added, the cutoff might drop slightly. Past cutoffs are your best guide. Look at the last three years—not just the highest or lowest. See where the trend is going. And remember, cutoffs vary by state, category, and branch. Computer Science at NIT Trichy? You’ll need a much higher rank than Civil Engineering at NIT Srinagar. Your goal isn’t just to clear the cutoff—it’s to beat it by enough to get your preferred program.

You’ll find real data in the posts below—actual cutoffs from recent years, how ranks map to colleges, and what students with similar scores ended up with. No theory. No guesswork. Just what worked, what didn’t, and what you can realistically aim for. Whether you’re just starting out or days away from the exam, this collection gives you the clarity you need to plan your next move.