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By rohit.pandey1
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Updated on 6 Apr 2026, 10:57 IST
JEE Main 2026 result is released as a percentile score, not raw marks. Your All India Rank is decided from that percentile — not from how many questions you got right. Understanding this conversion is important because your rank determines which colleges you can apply to in JoSAA counselling.
Given below is the complete marks vs percentile vs rank data for JEE Main 2026, along with the normalisation process, category-wise rank tables, and college-wise percentile benchmarks.
JEE Main ranks and percentile work differently from what most students expect. The JEE Main 2026 result is released in percentile, not raw marks. If your scorecard shows 95.4 percentile and your rank is 78,000, that is not an error. That is how JEE Main works.
Also check: JEE Main 2026 Rank and College Predictor
| Event | Date |
| Session 2 Exam Dates | April 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 2026 |
| Official Answer Key Release | Second week of April 2026 |
| Session 2 Result | By April 20, 2026 |
| Final AIR Released | With Session 2 result |
| JoSAA Counselling Begins | June 2026 |
Most students use these three interchangeably. They are three completely different things.
| Term | What It Is | What It Is Used For |
| Raw Marks | Your score out of 300 using +4/–1 | Starting point — not shown on scorecard |
| NTA Score / Percentile | Your relative performance vs all students in your shift after normalisation | Shown on scorecard — used to prepare rank list |
| All India Rank (AIR) | Your final position among all JEE Main 2026 candidates | Used for JoSAA, NIT/IIIT admissions, JEE Advanced |
NTA does not release raw marks on the scorecard. It releases your percentile. Your rank is decided from that percentile — not from your marks. This is why two students with the same raw marks can get different percentiles if they appeared in different shifts.
Percentage = marks out of 100. 180 out of 300 = 60%.
Percentile = percentage of students who scored equal to or below you in your session. 95 percentile means you scored better than 95 out of every 100 students in your shift. It says nothing about how many marks you got.
A student with 95 percentile may have scored 130 marks in a very tough shift or 165 marks in an easier shift. Both give 95 percentile.
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NTA percentile formula:
Percentile = (Number of candidates with raw score ≤ yours ÷ Total candidates in the session) × 100
Calculated to 7 decimal places to reduce ties.
Worked example:
Rohan appeared in JEE Main April 4 Shift 2. 13,00,000 students appeared in his session. 12,22,000 scored equal to or less than him.
His percentile = (12,22,000 ÷ 13,00,000) × 100 = 94.0 percentile
His expected AIR = around 78,000
Based on Session 1 January 2026 data and NTA normalisation trends from 2024 and 2025. Use this table to estimate your expected percentile and rank from your marks.
| Marks (out of 300) | Expected Percentile | Expected AIR (Approx.) |
| 285–300 | 99.97–100 | Top 390 |
| 260–284 | 99.9–99.97 | 390–1,300 |
| 240–259 | 99.7–99.9 | 1,300–3,900 |
| 220–239 | 99.3–99.7 | 3,900–9,100 |
| 200–219 | 98.5–99.3 | 9,100–19,500 |
| 180–199 | 97.0–98.5 | 19,500–39,000 |
| 160–179 | 94.0–97.0 | 39,000–78,000 |
| 150–159 | 92.0–94.0 | 78,000–1,04,000 |
| 140–149 | 89.0–92.0 | 1,04,000–1,43,000 |
| 120–139 | 82.0–89.0 | 1,43,000–2,34,000 |
| 100–119 | 72.0–82.0 | 2,34,000–3,64,000 |
| 80–99 | 58.0–72.0 | 3,64,000–5,46,000 |
These are expert estimates based on previous year trends and normalisation patterns. Actual percentile depends on difficulty of your shift and the performance of all students in your session. Use these ranges to plan — do not treat them as final.
If you know your percentile from Session 1 or can estimate it from the marks vs percentile table, use this to find your expected rank directly.
| Percentile | Expected AIR (Approx.) | What It Means |
| 100 | 1–50 | Topper level — IIT Bombay CSE territory |
| 99.99 | 50–130 | IIT top branches |
| 99.9 | 130–1,300 | IIT most branches / Top NIT CSE |
| 99.5 | 1,300–6,500 | Top NIT CSE/ECE — Warangal, Trichy, Surathkal |
| 99.0 | 6,500–13,000 | Good NIT — CSE at Tier 2 NITs |
| 98.0 | 13,000–26,000 | NIT — ECE/Mech at Tier 1, CSE at Tier 2 |
| 97.0 | 26,000–39,000 | Mid NITs — all branches |
| 95.0 | 39,000–65,000 | IIIT Hyderabad, good IIITs, mid-NITs |
| 93.0 | 65,000–91,000 | Lower NITs, GFTIs — qualifies for JEE Advanced (general) |
| 90.0 | 91,000–1,30,000 | GFTIs, state colleges |
| 85.0 | 1,30,000–1,95,000 | State and private colleges |
| 80.0 | 1,95,000–2,60,000 | Private colleges |
99 percentile means roughly 13,000 rank because approximately 1% of 13,00,000 candidates (1,30,000 students) scored above you — NTA AIR is based on the combined merit list, which compresses at the top.
This is NTA normalisation. JEE Main 2026 was held across 10 shifts (5 days × 2 shifts). Each shift had a different difficulty level and different question sets.
If Shift A was tough, students scored lower raw marks on average. If Shift B was easy, students scored higher raw marks. Without normalisation, a student in the tough shift would be unfairly disadvantaged.
NTA uses equi-percentile normalisation — it compares how a group of students performed in one shift against how a similar group performed in another shift, then adjusts the scores to make them comparable.
What this means in practice:
| Shift Type | Marks for 99 Percentile (Approx.) |
| Easy shift | 190–200 marks |
| Moderate shift | 175–185 marks |
| Moderate to difficult shift | 160–175 marks |
| Difficult shift | 150–165 marks |
The same 165 marks can fetch 98 percentile in a difficult shift and 94 percentile in an easy shift. This is not unfair — it is the system working correctly.
JEE Main 2026 percentile on the scorecard is the same regardless of category. But NTA prepares separate rank lists for each category. Your category rank will be significantly lower (better) than your CRL (Common Rank List) rank.
| Category | Expected Qualifying Percentile for JEE Advanced 2026 | Approx. CRL Rank at Cutoff |
| General (UR) | 93.5–95 | 65,000–91,000 |
| OBC-NCL | 80–82 | 2,34,000–2,86,000 |
| EWS | 82–84 | 2,08,000–2,34,000 |
| SC | 61–65 | 4,55,000–5,07,000 |
| ST | 48–55 | 5,85,000–6,50,000 |
| PwD (General) | 0.11 | — |
Admission in reserved seats uses category rank, not CRL rank. A student with CRL rank 2,00,000 may have an OBC category rank of 60,000 — giving access to many NIT branches that their CRL rank would not allow.
April session historically requires 5 to 10 more marks than January session for the same percentile. This is because April repeaters are generally better prepared than January first-timers, raising the overall score distribution.
| Percentile | Expected Marks — January Session | Expected Marks — April Session |
| 99.5 | 200–210 | 205–215 |
| 99.0 | 175–185 | 180–190 |
| 95.0 | 140–155 | 145–160 |
| 90.0 | 115–130 | 120–135 |
If your April percentile is the same as or better than your January percentile, your final AIR improves. NTA uses the best of your two session percentiles to prepare the final rank.
There is no single answer — it depends entirely on which college and branch you are targeting.
| Target | Minimum Percentile Needed | Approx. Marks Required |
| IIT (any branch) — through JEE Advanced | 93.5+ (to qualify for JEE Advanced) | 150+ |
| NIT Trichy / Warangal / Surathkal — CSE | 99.5+ | 240+ |
| Any top NIT — CSE | 99.0+ | 200+ |
| Any NIT — decent branch | 95.0+ | 155+ |
| IIIT Hyderabad — CSE | 99.5+ | 240+ |
| Good IIIT | 97.0–99.0 | 175–200 |
| GFTI — any branch | 88.0–93.0 | 130–150 |
| State government college | 80.0–90.0 | 100–130 |
A percentile above 93.5 qualifies you for JEE Advanced (general category). A percentile above 99 keeps all top NIT options open. Below 85, focus on state counselling and private colleges alongside JoSAA.
Related Articles
This article covers the conversion overview. For deeper dives into specific parts of this topic, check the articles below.
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Based on Session 2 difficulty trends, approximately 175 to 190 marks out of 300 are expected to correspond to 99 percentile. The exact score varies by shift — easier shifts require higher marks for the same percentile.
With approximately 13 lakh candidates in Session 2, 99 percentile corresponds to roughly AIR 13,000. Even 1% of 13 lakh is 13,000 students ahead of you.
Because JEE Main has over 12 to 13 lakh candidates. Even 95 percentile means 5% scored above you — that is 65,000 students. Your rank reflects the actual number of students ahead of you, not a percentage.
150 marks is expected to give approximately 92 to 94 percentile and an AIR of around 78,000 to 1,04,000 in a moderate shift. This qualifies for GFTIs and lower NITs in some categories but may not be enough for top NIT branches in general category.
Yes. If your April percentile is higher than your January percentile, NTA uses the April score for your final AIR. You cannot lose your January rank by appearing in April.
The expected qualifying cutoff for general category is 93.5 to 95 percentile. For OBC-NCL it is 80 to 82, for SC it is 61 to 65, and for ST it is 48 to 55.