Will JEE Main 2026 Cutoff Percentile Decline? Check What Expert Says

Will JEE Main 2026 Cutoff Percentile Decline: As per the recent analysis from Vijay Kanth, one of the subject matter experts of JEE, the GMU team approached with a question on whether the JEE Main 2026 Cutoff Decline this year? Vijay said that there ia high probability of a decline in the cutoff due to the unexpected difficulty level of the different shifts and days. Further, he added while the JEE Main exam is generally considered to be of moderate difficulty, this year, three out of the four shifts conducted so far were rated as Moderate to Difficult. This year's Session 1 Examination was surprisingly difficult. Chemistry and Mathematics were reported as the most challenging subjects.

After consulting with a few other Subject experts who assessed that this year's JEE exam for Session 1 was Moderate to Difficult for Shift 1 and Shift 2 on January 21, as well as Shift 2 on January 22. These developments will directly influence the JEE Main 2026 cutoffs. As a result, a slight drop in the cutoff percentile is expected this year, possibly in the range of 0.1 to 0.2 percentiles across all categories. 

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JEE Main 2026 Cutoff Percentile (Expected)

Check the category-wise JEE Main 2026 Expected Cutoff Percentile data available in the table below. 

Why Would JEE Main 2026 Cutoff Percentile Decline?

Reasons why the JEE Main Cutoff 2026 percentile would decline are given below.

• Increased Exam Difficulty: According to candidates who appeared for the JEE Main Session 1 Exam 2026, Mathematics and Chemistry were difficult compared to previous years. When a major subject is significantly harder, overall scores drop, which typically leads to a lower qualifying cutoff. 
• Normalization and Shift-wise Performance: If the overall performance of candidates is lower due to the difficulty level of the exam, the percentile required to be in the top 2.5 lakh may slightly decrease.
• Candidate Vs Seat Ratio: This year, JEE Main Registration has reached a record high. This will urge the Institutes to increase the seat intake and in return, this will ease the admission procedure resulting in cutoff decline. 

Also Check |

• Will Chemistry Percentile Drop in JEE Main Session 1 2026 Due to Unexpected Difficulty Level?