JEE Advanced is an academic examination held annually in India. JEE Advanced is conducted every year by one of the seven Zonal Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) namely IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur, IIT Madras, IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay, IIT Guwahati, and IIT Roorkee or Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore under the aegis of the Joint Admission Board (JAB). Admissions to Bachelor’s, Integrated Master’s and Dual Degree programmes (entry at the 10+2 level) in all the 23 IITs, including the Indian School of Mines (ISM) are done based on ranks obtained by candidates in JEE Advanced. 

Other universities such as the Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy (IIPE), the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology, the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISERs), and the Indian Institute of Science use the score obtained on the JEE-Advanced exam as the basis for admission. The JEE score is also used as a possible basis for admission by Indian applicants to non-Indian universities such as the University of Cambridge and National University of Singapore.

Through JEE Advanced, candidates can secure admissions to the following courses:

• 4-year Bachelors - B. Tech, BS
• 5-year BArch
• 5-year Dual Degree - BTech, M. Tech, BS, MS
• 5-year Integrated Masters - MTech, MSc, Dual Degree

The JEE Advanced 2021 will be conducted as two papers in two sessions. Paper-1 will be conducted from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm while paper-2 will be was conducted from 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm. Candidates have to register themselves online for the computer-based entrance test. The two papers based on a predefined JEE Advanced syllabus released by the conducting authorities were mandatory for all the aspirants.

JEE Advanced 2021 exam eligibility entails that candidates must qualify Paper-1 of JEE Main 2021. Candidates who wish to take this exam have to fulfil certain criteria as fixed by JAB. The eligibility criteria for JEE Advanced 2021 is as follows:

1. Performance in JEE Main 2021

Candidates who fall among the top 2,50,000 rankers in JEE Main 2021 across all categories are eligible to appear for JEE Advanced. Out of this number, the percentage of candidates eligible for admissions under different categories are as follows:

• General category candidates (from the common merit list) – 46.5% 
• General EWS – 4%
• OBC-NCL candidates – 27%
• SC candidates – 15% 
• ST candidates – 7.5%
• PWD candidates - Horizontal reservation of 5% in all the above categories

Candidates can check the category-wise distribution of candidates under JEE Advanced exam:

2. Age limit

• General or OBC-NCL category candidates born on or after October 1, 1996, can apply for the exam.
• However, the age limit for SC, ST or PwD category candidates has been relaxed. SC, ST or PwD candidates born on or after October 1, 1991, will be eligible for the exam.

3. Number of Attempts

• A candidate can attempt JEE Advanced a maximum of two times in two consecutive years

4. Appearance in Class 12 (or equivalent) examination

• Candidates can appear for this engineering entrance exam if they have appeared for their Class 12 or equivalent exam for the first time in 2020 or 2021. 

5. Earlier admission at IITs/ISM

• A candidate should NOT have been admitted in an IIT irrespective of whether or not he/she continued in the programme OR accepted an IIT seat by reporting at a reporting centre in the past. Candidates whose admission at IITs was cancelled after joining any IIT are also not eligible to appear in JEE Advanced 2021.
• Candidates who have been admitted to a preparatory course in any of the IITs for the first time in 2020 can appear in JEE Advanced 2021.
• The candidates who paid seat acceptance fee in 2020 but (i) did not report at any reporting centre OR, (ii) withdrew before the last round of seat allotment, OR, (iii) had their seat cancelled (for whatever reason) before the last round of seat allotment for IITs, during the joint seat allocation in 2020 are eligible to appear in JEE Advanced 2021.
• However, in any of the above cases, the candidate is required to fulfil the conditions mentioned from criterion 1 to criterion 4.

JEE Advanced Admission Criteria 2021:

Aspirants who will qualify JEE Advanced 2021 exam have to fulfil at least one of the criteria given below for admission to bachelor’s programmes, integrated master’s programmes and dual degree programmes at IITs:

• Candidates must have secured a minimum of 75% aggregate in the Class 12 (or equivalent) board examination. The aggregate marks for SC, ST and PWD marks should be at least 65%
• Candidates should be within the category-wise top 20 percentile of successful candidates in their respective Class 12 (or equivalent) board examination. 

Reservation of Seats:

As per the JEE Advanced information brochure, “Candidates who are not citizens of India at the time of registering for JEE Advanced 2021 (by birth or naturalised) are treated as foreign nationals”. It is further shared that, “Seats allotted to foreign nationals are supernumerary. However, not all Institutes may have supernumerary seats. The availability of supernumerary seats will be announced at the time of seat allocation”.

Indian nationals will be offered admissions based on seats reserved for the category under which they fall. This reservation of seats was done as per the rules mentioned by the Government of India.

As per the information brochure, “Unfilled seats in the OBC-NCL category can be allotted to GEN category candidates whereas seats remaining vacant under the SC and ST categories shall not be allotted to candidates belonging to other categories. The reservation for PwD candidates was horizontal and hence, unfilled seats were allotted to candidates belonging to the respective categories, i.e, unfilled SC-PwD seats were allotted to candidates belonging to the SC category and so on”.

Candidates should note here that, once they select a category at the time of JEE Advanced registration, then they will not be given an option to make any changes in their category selection field in the registration form.

JEE Advanced 2021 admission process:

JEE Advanced 2021 admission process includes the following steps:

STEP 1: JEE Advanced 2021 Registration/ Filling the online application form

The first step towards appearing in JEE Advanced 2021 exam will be filling the online application form. Candidates can register for JEE Advanced 2021 even if they do not opt to give the examination while registering for JEE Main 2021. JEE Advanced application cannot be withdrawn after the registration process has been completed by the candidate. 

STEP 2: JEE Advanced 2021 Admit cards

After the registration process for JEE Advanced gets over, candidates can download their JEE Advanced admit card from the official online registration portal of this engineering entrance examination. At the time of JEE 2021 Advanced registration, Candidates can select their preferences from a list of exam centres. The same will be displayed on their admit card.

Candidates will be asked to produce a copy of their downloaded admit card at the time of examination. The original JEE Advanced admit card must be retained by the candidates until all the exam's admission formalities are completed.

STEP 3: JEE Advanced 2021 Results

JEE Advanced 2021 results will be announced later. The exam result comprises a candidate’s score in the exam and qualifying status. Candidates will be able to check their JEE Advanced 2021 results on the official website of IIT Delhi. IIT Delhi under the guidance of JAB will be conducting JEE Advanced in 2021 and will also be responsible for the release of exam results.