JEE Advanced 2025 revises guidelines: Number of attempts limit increased to 3; Check eligibility & more

In a significant development for engineering aspirants, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur announced on Tuesday that the maximum number of attempts for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced has been increased to three over three consecutive years, effective immediately.

This new policy marks a departure from the previous guideline, which permitted candidates only two attempts over two consecutive years.

Age and educational criteria

- To be eligible for the JEE Advanced 2025, candidates must have been born on or after October 1, 2000. 

- Candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Persons with Disabilities (PwD) categories are granted a five-year age relaxation, meaning they should be born on or after October 1, 1995.

- Applicants must have appeared for the Class XII (or equivalent) examination for the first time in 2023, 2024, or 2025, with Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics as mandatory subjects.

- Notably, candidates who first appeared for the Class XII exam in 2022 or earlier are ineligible to participate in the JEE Advanced 2025, regardless of the subjects attempted.

The official notification clarifies, "By appearance in the Class XII (or equivalent) examination, it is meant that the Board concerned declared the result for that year, irrespective of whether or not the examination was conducted. It will be considered an appearance even if a particular candidate's result was withheld."

Shortlisting and reservations

The shortlisting of candidates will follow a percentage distribution across various categories:

- General-Economically Weaker Section (GEN-EWS) candidates will comprise 10 percent 

- Other Backward Classes-Non Creamy Layer (OBC-NCL) candidates 27 percent

- Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates 15 percent

- Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates 7.5 percent.

The remaining 40.5 percent is open to all other applicants.

Additionally, a 5 percent horizontal reservation is provided for PwD candidates within each of these five categories.

NTA changes in JEE Mains

In a major update for aspiring engineering and architecture aspirants, the National Testing Agency (NTA) had earlier declared that the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main 2025 will no longer feature optional questions in Section B. This revision will apply to all three papers: Paper 1 (B.E./B. Tech), Paper 2 A (B Arch), and Paper 2 B (B Planning).

Previously, the option to choose between answering 5 out of 10 questions was introduced as a temporary solution to address the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, following the World Health Organization's announcement on May 5, 2023, declaring the end of the public health emergency concerning COVID-19, the NTA has decided to revert to the original examination format.