JEE Main Marks vs Rank vs Percentile

Every year, lakhs of students appear for the JEE Main exam as a gateway to entering one of India’s top engineering colleges. With so much competition and high cut-off scores, it is no wonder that students are often confused about how to interpret their JEE Main marks vs rank vs percentile. In this article, we will answer all your questions and help you understand the differences between the three. We will also provide you with some tips to calculate your JEE Main score accurately and make sure that you get an idea about where you stand in comparison to other applicants. 

Why are JEE Results Announced in Percentile?

Aspirants who appear for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main exam must be wondering why the results are announced in percentile and not in marks. Well, there is a reason behind it. The main purpose of JEE Main is to shortlist students for admission to engineering colleges across India.

Percentile is a way of normalizing students' marks so that they can be compared with each other. It gives a better idea of how a student has performed in comparison to others. For example, if a student gets 95 percentile, it means that he/she has scored better than 95% of the students who appeared for the exam. Similarly, if a student gets the 99 percentile, it means that he/she has scored better than 99% of the students who appeared for the exam. 

Difference between JEE Main Marks, Rank and Percentile 

Marks: Marks are the raw score that a candidate obtains in an examination. It is a reflection of how many questions the candidate has answered correctly in the exam. 

Rank: Rank is a position that a candidate secures amongst all the candidates who have appeared for an examination. It is usually calculated based on the marks obtained by a candidate in an examination.

Percentile: Percentile is a measure of how many candidates have scored below a particular score in an examination. It gives an idea of where a candidate stands in comparison to all the other candidates who have appeared for the exam.

To calculate the percentile, firstly the marks obtained by all candidates who appeared in JEE Main are arranged in descending order of merit. The percentile score of a candidate is then calculated as follows:

Percentile = (Number of candidates appearing in JEE Main - All India Rank of the candidate)/(Number of candidates appearing in JEE Main) x 100.

Marks vs Percentile

Now let us understand marks vs percentile with the help of an example. Suppose there are 100 students who appeared for JEE Main and their scores are as follows:

Student A – 90 marks 

Student B – 80 marks 

Student C – 70 marks 

… … … … Student X – 10 marks 

Now if we calculate the percentile of each student, we will get the following results: 

Student A – 90% (i.e. he has scored better than 90 students) 

Student B – 80% (i.e. he has scored better than 80 students) 

Student C – 70% (i.e. he has scored better than 70 students) 

JEE Main Normalisation Method

The process of score normalization is done to ensure fairness in the merit list preparation process. It takes into account the difference in difficulty level of question papers across multiple sessions and provides a level playing field for all candidates.

Candidates who have appeared in multiple sessions of JEE Main exam can use the Normalization Formula to calculate their normalized score. This score is then used for preparing the CML. The top 2,24,000 candidates (including all categories) are considered for admission into IITs/NITs/IIITs and other C. 

JEE Main Tiebreaker Guidelines

If two or more candidates score the same marks in JEE Main, then their inter-se merit will be decided on the basis of the following tie-breaking criteria: 

1. A candidate with a higher Mathematics percentile score will be ranked higher. 

2. In the event of a tie, the applicant whose Physics percentile is higher will be assigned the higher position. 

3. In the event of a tie, the applicant with the higher percentile score in Chemistry will be ranked higher.

4. If a tie still remains, older applicants will be given preference. 

JEE Main Cut-Off 

The Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main is an entrance examination for engineering courses offered by various institutes in India. It is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). The examination consists of two papers, Paper 1 (B.E./ B.Tech.) and Paper 2 (B.Arch./ B.Planning). Candidates can attempt both papers or either of the two papers as per their course of interest. 

The JEE Main Cut-Off is the minimum mark required to be eligible for admission to the various engineering courses offered by the participating institutes. The Cut-Off marks are released by NTA after the declaration of JEE Main results. The Cut-Off marks vary for each institute and each course. They are also dependent on factors such as the difficulty level of the exam, the number of candidates appearing for the exam, etc.

Candidates who score equal to or more than the Cut-Off marks are said to have qualified JEE Main. However, qualifying JEE Main does not guarantee admission to the candidate's choice of engineering course or institute. Admission to engineering courses is based on various other factors such as ranks obtained in JEE Advanced (for IITs), scores in Class 12th examinations, etc.

JEE Main Cut Off Previous Year