JEE Main has two papers, Paper-1 and Paper-2. Candidates may opt for either or both of them. Both papers contain multiple choice questions. Paper 1 is for admission to B.E./B.Tech courses and is conducted only online. Paper-2 is for admission in B.Arch and B.Planning courses and is conducted offline only. From January 2020 an additional Paper - 3 is being introduced for B.Planning courses separately. JEE Main, unlike JEE Advanced, has a fixed exam structure and is not subject to change every year. Paper-1 is of three hours duration and consists of thirty multiple-choice questions in each of the three subjects. 4 marks are awarded for correct answers and 1 mark is deducted for incorrect answers. New pattern consisting of 20+5 questions per subject is introduced in January 2020 with 20 multiple choice questions + 5 numerical type question. In multiple choice questions 4 marks are awarded for correct answers and no marks are deducted from numerical type questions. From 2013 to 2016, the marks obtained in the class XII school board examination used to be accorded a 40% weightage in deciding the JEE Main all India ranks.
Number of applicants by year
The number of applicants taking the JEE Main has varied over the years. In 2016, fewer aspirants registered as compared to the previous three years as shown in the table below.1.3 million candidates appeared for JEE Main in 2014.
Year
No. of Students
2020
Postponed
2020
921,261
2019
929,198
2018
1,043,739
2017
1,186,454
2016
1,194,938
2015
1,304,495
2014
1,356,805
2013
1,282,000
2012
479,651
JEE Advanced
The top students who take the JEE-Main qualify for the JEE-Advanced examination. In 2018, 224,000 students were allowed to take the JEE-Advanced, a number that had gone up from 220,000 in 2017 and 200,000 in 2016.
History
The JEE pattern has undergone many changes. Since 2010 candidates are given paper copies of their answers, and cutoffs are announced. This transparency was achieved after a tenacious legal tussle waged by IIT Kharagpur professor Rajeev Kumar, who was nominated for the National RTI Award 2010 for his crusade. Since 2013–14, JEE has changed a lot and recently adopted new online admissions and application selection procedures which were not available in recent years. In 2012, the government-run Central Board of Secondary Education that earlier conducted the AIEEE, announced the JEE that replaced the AIEEE and IIT-JEE. The JEE-Main, which replaces AIEEE, is for admission to the National Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Information Technology, and some other colleges designated as "centrally funded technical institutes". The JEE-Advanced, which replaces IIT-JEE, is for admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology. Only the students selected in JEE Main are eligible for appearing in JEE Advanced. About 224,000 students will be selected from 2018. In September 2013, the IIT Council approved the decision of the Joint Admission Board to continue with the two-phase JEE pattern for IITs in 2014. Joint Seat Allocation Authority conducted the joint admission process for a total of 23 IITs, ISM, 32 NITs, 18 IIITs and 19 other Government Funded Technical Institutes.
JEE Main counselling
Earlier, counselling for JEE main was conducted through CSAB but now officials have made changes in the counselling procedure. The JAB, representing IITs and CSAB, are making agreements on the behalf of NITs and other CFTIs, and are now united to conduct a counselling for the two exams of JEE. The memo for the same was signed on May 2, 2015. These two together will be known as the Joint Seat Allocation Authority. No Changes in JEE Main 2017 except that Board Marks will not be considered for normalisation and A.I.R will strictly be based on JEE Scores. As per the official changes made in Eligibility Criteria of JEE Advanced, 12th Marks will not matter for appearing in the exam.
