From 2013, Joint Entrance Examination will be held for admission to the undergraduate programmes in Engineering in two parts, JEE-MAIN and JEE-ADVANCED. Out of that only the top 1,50,000 candidates (including all categories) based on performance in JEE MAIN will qualify to appear for JEE ADVANCED examination.

Admissions to IITs will be based only on category-wise All India Rank (AIR) in JEE ADVANCED, subject to condition that such candidates are in the top 20 percentile categories. Admission to NITs will be based on 40 % weightage for performance in Class XII board marks (normalized) and the remainder 60 % weightage would be given to performance in JEE Main and a combined All India Rank (AIR) would be decided accordingly.

The policy could also be adopted by other Centrally Funded Technical Institutions (CFTIs) and participating Institutions. In case any State opts to admit students in the engineering Colleges affiliated to state Universities where States require separate merit list to be provided based on relative weightages adopted by the states, then the merit list shall be prepared with such relative weightages as may be indicated by States. The examination will be conducted in the Regional Languages of the State(s) on the requests of such State(s).

The candidate must have passed in the final exams of 10+2 (Class XII) or its equivalent referred to as the qualifying examination (see below).

Candidates appearing in 10+2 (Class XII) final or equivalent examination in 2013 may also appear in JEE(MAIN) 2013 provisionally. However, the admission criteria in the concerned institution/university will be followed as prescribed by concerned university/institution and as per the guidelines & criteria prescribed by AICTE. The candidates seeking admission in NITs, IIITs or CFTIs must ensure their eligibility for the admission in NITs, IIITs and CFTIs.

The candidates who are aspirants only for IITs and ISM Dhanbad must ensure their eligibility for admission in IITs and ISM Dhanbad. The candidates who are aspirants for NITs, IIITs, CFTIs, IITs and ISM Dhanbad must ensure their eligibility for admission in NITs, IIITs, CFTIs, IITs and ISM Dhanbad.

1. The +2 level examination in the 10+2 pattern of examination of any recognized Central/State Board of Secondary Examination, such as Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi, and Council for Indian School Certificate Examination, New Delhi.
2. Intermediate or two-year Pre-University Examination conducted by a recognized Board/University.
3. Final Examination of the two-year course of the Joint Services Wing of the National Defence Academy.
4. Any Public School/Board/University Examination in India or in foreign countries recognized by the Association of Indian Universities as equivalent to 10+2 system.
5. H.S.C. Vocational Examination.
6. 3 or 4-year diploma recognized by AICTE or a State Board of Technical Education.
7. A pass grade in the Senior Secondary School Examination conducted by the National Open School with a minimum of five subjects.

Subject combination for each paper and type of questions in each paper are given in the table below:

Requirement of papers for different courses is given in the table below:

There will be objective type questions with four options having only one correct answer. For each incorrect answer, one fourth (1/4) of the total marks allotted to the question would be deducted. No deduction from the total score will, however, be made if no response is indicated for an item in the answer sheet.

Admission to NITs, and IIITs, will be based on 40 % weightage for performance in Class 12th board or other qualifying examinations marks (normalized) and the remainder 60 % weightage would be given to performance in JEE (Main) and a combined All India Rank (AIR) would be decided accordingly. The policy could also be adopted by other Centrally Funded Technical Institutions (CFTIs) & participating Institutions.

Number of attempts which a candidate can avail in JEE(Main) exam shall be limited to three uniformly for all the candidates in consecutive years. Which means that the candidates who passed +2 exam in 2011 or 2012 or appearing in +2 in 2013 are only eligible to appear in JEE(Main)-2013. Candidates passed +2 in 2010 or before or appearing in 2014 are not eligible to appear in JEE(Main)-2013.

Offline Exam will be conducted on 7th April 2013
Online Exam will be conducted between 8th April and 30th April 2013 (The exact dates will be announced soon)

Only the top 150000 candidates (including all categories) based on performance in JEE MAIN will qualify to appear in the JEE ADVANCED. Admissions to IITs will be based only on category-wise All India Rank (AIR) in JEE ADVANCED, subject to condition that such candidates are in the top 20 percentile categories of their respective class xii board or other qualifying examination. The percentile will vary from year to year and across the Boards.