JEE Main 2016 : Exam Dates, Application Form & Syllabus

JEE Main

JEE mains is the gateway to most of the engineering colleges in the country. Most notably the IITs and NITs. Here’s what you need to know about India’s largest engineering entrance exam.

JEE Main quick facts

• The JEE main is attempted by roughly 14 lakh students in 2015.
• The aim of the JEE was to unify all entrance exams and reduce the pressure of several exams on students. However, it is still a high pressure exam for Indian students.
• Not all states have accepted the JEE mains system. The States of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Odisha have however joined JEE (Main) system.
• 2 lakh students will be selected for JEE Advanced 2016 through the JEE Main 2016 ranks.
• The Committee of Eminent Persons (CEP) has proposed some major changes for JEE on November 8th 2015. These changes may be implemented for JEE 2017 onwards.

JEE Main 2016 – Important Dates

JEE 2016 Event	Dates
Start of JEE 2016 Online Applications	December 1st, 2015
JEE Main 2016 Exam (1 & 2, Paper based)	April 3rd, 2016
JEE Main 2016 Online test	April 9th and 10th, 2016

The dates for declaration of results for JEE Main 2016 has not been specified. The results for JEE Main 2015 were declared on June 24th, 2015. So we can expect the results for JEE Main 2016 to also be roughly around the last week of June.

JEE Main Eligibility

Number of Attempts

The maximum number of consecutive attempts is 3. If you have given the JEE twice, and have also skipped a year without giving the JEE, you are not eligible for JEE Main 2016.

Qualifying Board Exam (or Equivalent exam)

The JEE Main accepts any of the boards that are accepted by the Association of Indian Universities, this includes the National Institute of Open Schooling as well. Also, Diplomas recognized by the All India Council for Technical Education also make a candidate eligible for the JEE Main. For a complete list of eligible exams and other criteria, refer to the official document. 

Qualifying Board Exam year

This is roughly equivalent to the maximum number of attempts eligibility.

Only those candidates who have passed their Class 12th Exam or any other qualifying examination in 2014 or 2015; or those who are appearing in their Class 12th Exam or any other qualifying examination in 2015 are eligible to appear in JEE (Main) – 2015.

Note that if you have given the first attempt of your 12th board exam in 2013, but have repeated the exam to pass in 2014, you are not eligible for JEE Main 2016.

State specific guidelines

The student should also confirm the guidelines as issued by their respective state governments.The States of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Nagaland & Odisha have joined JEE (Main) system. This means that admissions to engineering institutes in these states will be based on the JEE Main exam instead of the local state exams.

However, there are some doubts remaining. For example, as the State of Odisha has joined the JEE (Main) system, admission to B.Tech/Engineering seats in Odisha will be through the JEE (Main). However, according to the official communication from CBSE – The maximum number of attempts and age limit for students applying in Odisha will be the “same as per their past practice”.

This is confusing as there was no age limit for student attempting the Odisha JEE, and no mentioned number of attempts limit. However the JEE Main has a maximum of 3 attempts. We are waiting on more information from the state of Odisha to clear this confusion.

JEE Main Application Form

Form Filling Date

The form filling for JEE Main is announced to start on 1st December. The last date for application will be 31st December. This is a significant delay from last year (for JEE 2015, the form filling had begun on 7th November). Most likely, the discussion around the changes in the JEE system delayed the process.

Apply online by following these points;

1. Download the information bulletin
2. Read it carefully to check whether you are eligible
3. Read the contents of online format & instructions for applying online given in the information bulletin
   Keep the entire information ready
4. Keep the scanned images of your photograph, signature and left hand thumb impression ready in JPG format only
5. Fill in the online application form
6. Upload scanned images of photograph, signature and left hand thumb impression
7. Pay your examination fee by debit/credit card or e-challan
8. E-challan can be generated after submission of details in online application form
9. Download acknowledgement slip and keep the same in safe custody for future reference

Application Fees

Scroll to the right to see all details.

Paper(s) Appearing	Pen and Paper Based Examination		Computer Based Examination (Paper-1(B.E./B.Tech.) only)
FOR EXAMINATION CENTRE OPTED IN INDIA
	(General/OBC)	(SC/ST/PWD/Girls)	(General/OBC)	(SC/ST/PWD/Girls)
JEE (Main) Paper-1(B.E./B.Tech.) or JEE (Main) Paper-2 (B.Arch./B.Planning) only	1000	500	500	250
Both JEE (Main) Paper-1(B.E./B.Tech.) and JEE (Main) Paper-2 (B.Arch./B.Planning)	1800	900	1300	650
FOR EXAMINATION CENTRE OPTED IN FOREIGN COUNTRY
JEE (Main) Paper-1(B.E./B.Tech.) or JEE (Main) Paper-2 (B.Arch./B.Planning) only	2500	1250	2500	1250
Both JEE (Main) Paper-1(B.E./B.Tech.) and JEE (Main) Paper-2 (B.Arch./B.Planning)	3800	1900	3800	1900

JEE Main Exam Pattern

Paper	Subjects	Type/Mode
Paper 1 For All Undergraduate Engineering Courses	Physics Chemistry Mathematics	Online/Offline
Paper 2 For B.Arch/B.Planning	Mathematics Aptitude Drawing	Only pen and paper based exam.

Those students interested in non-engineering courses (even at IITs, such as B.Des or B.Arch at IIT Guwahati and IIT Kharagpur) should register for Paper 2 as well, which is relatively not a challenging paper.

Further details such as number of question and type of questions will be released later.

Board Exam Weightage for JEE Main rank

JEE Main 2016 will have 40% weightage for Board exam marks. The CEP (Chair of Eminent Persons) has recommended that board weightage be removed from 2017 onwards. The recommendations are under review.

JEE Main Syllabus

The syllabus for JEE Main and advanced are slightly different. Also, the chapters important for JEE Main are not necessarily Important for JEE Advanced. See this comparison of important chapters.

Chemistry

The syllabus for the exam is very vast, and requires significant amount of preparation. This includes Organic, Inorganic, and Physical Chemistry.

Make sure that you do not miss out on easy marks by not studying the simpler subjects such as Practical Chemistry and Nomenclature!

Physics

The major Units in Physics include Basic Mechanics, Waves,Electromagnetism, Optics, Modern Physics, Advanced Mechanics and Thermodynamics. Physics will require more practice than theory, to get your fundamentals in place!

Mathematics

In your Mathematics preparation, you would have to have a firm grip of Differential Calculus, Integral Calculus, Trigonometry, Algebra, Co-ordinate Geometry, as well as Statistics and Mathematical Reasoning.

Complete Syllabus for JEE Main and JEE Advanced

For a detailed study on which chapters have the highest weightage, read the chapters with highest weightage for JEE.

Preparation for JEE

Best Books

As the syllabus for the JEE Main is derived from the NCERT syllabus, the NCERT books are very good for learning the theory for the JEE Main. For practicing questions and for a deeper understanding of theory, students prefer books like H.C. Verma for physics, etc.  Have a look at our expert’s picks for the Best books for JEE.

Important Chapters

The important chapters change every year. However, by observing the recent trend in JEE Mains and JEE Advanced, we can predict the likelihood of questions from a particular chapter. We did just that on this post – where we calculated how many questions were asked from each chapter over the past 15 years. Our academic experts took this information a step further when they analyzed the difficulty level of each chapter to tell you ‘which chapters are less difficult, but worth more marks?‘. These according to us are the most important chapters for JEE, as they are easy to learn, and also high-scoring.

Preparation Strategy

The JEE being an extremely competitive and difficult examination, knowing the important chapters and the best books isn’t enough to be a ranker. What sets apart a ranker from the lakhs of students who apply for the JEE is the right preparation strategy. Most students don’t know the importance of strategy while preparing for JEE.

The strategy could involve Preparation strategy, or the right attitude and mentality, or even the strategy for attempting each question. 

Students/College Statistics

• Not including the IITs and NITs, many other colleges also accept JEE Mains scores. The States of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Odisha have begun accepting the JEE mains scores in  the state level colleges and universities (though in some cases with a quota for state exam students).
• There are a little over 15,000 seats in the NITs and over 9600 seats in the IITs. The IISERs and IIScs are also strong research institutes which admit students based on JEE.
• Around 14 lakh students competed for these seats in 2015. However, there is a slight trend away from engineering as 50,000 fewer students gave the JEE mains in 2015 as compared to 2014.
• Apart from these institutes, some private colleges conduct their own examinations for entrances, such as BITSAT, VIT and Manipal University. Some of these are also good options for your under-graduation.

JEE News

The latest news and updates will be found as early as possible on the http://www.collegetime.in/  blog. We are closely following any story that is relevant to students and can affect their preparation.

Official Notices

Admission Notice – Dated November 18th.

This has the preliminary information regarding JEE eligibility and procedure. Further details are expected on December 1st, along with the application form.

CEP report to MHRD.

These are suggestions made by a Committee of Eminent Persons (CEP) regarding the exam structure of JEE. They proposed several major changes that you can read about here –  however, most changes will be implemented after JEE 2017.

We will continue to update this page as more official news is received, the next update is expected on December 1st.