The application for JEE Main is done online on the National Testing Agency website. Before filling out the application, go through the brochure and the instructions carefully.

The process needed to be followed to submit the application typically involves the following steps:

• Number of candidates
• Difficulty level of the examination
• Overall performance of candidates
• Number of available seats in B.Tech./B.E/B.Arch. courses

The JEE Main Cut-Off mark or simply cut-off is announced every year after the results of all sessions in the year have been declared. The All-India Merit List is prepared on the basis of this cut-off and only those candidates who secure the cut-off marks are considered.

The cut-off marks are calculated based on various factors:

There are two types of cut-off marks:

1. Admission Cut-Offs: Published by the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) for its centralized counseling that enables admission to all colleges participating in the admission process and accepting JEE Main marks. 

• This can be checked on the JoSAA website after each round of seat allotment. 
• Admission cut-offs change depending on the college and course.

2. Qualifying Cut-Offs: The minimum qualifying mark for appearing for JEE Advanced exam is published by NTA.

• This can be checked on the NTA website using the results or scorecard.
• Over 2,50,000 candidates qualified for JEE Advanced 2021.

Counseling refers to the management and regulation of the admissions to over 110 institutes including 23 IITs, 31 NITs, 26 IIITs, IIEST and 29 Centrally Funded Technical Institutes (CFTI). The counseling process starts after the final cut-offs of JEE Main are announced and is managed by the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) established by the Ministry of Education (earlier known as MHRD). Seat allocation is based on the merit list in JEE Main All India Rank and the branch and institute preference of the candidate. The counseling is completely online and to start the process, candidates have to register on the JoSAA website.

Besides the counseling done by JoSAA for IITs, IIITs, NITs, IIEST Shibpur and other CFTIs, there are three other counseling levels that are handled by the Central Seat Allocation Board (CSAB) for NIT+ system colleges. If seats are vacant even after JoSAA counseling ends, two special rounds called CSAB-Special Rounds, will be conducted by the CSAB-2024 through its own online portal (csab.nic.in). In addition, CSAB will also conduct a separate CSAB-Supernumerary round through its online portal (csab.nic.in) for admission to supernumerary seats for Union Territories of Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli in selected NITs.

The procedure of counseling by JoSAA starts with:

• Registration and Choice Filling: Over 10 days are given to applicants to register and indicate their preferences. Post registration, seat allocation rounds start. There are usually 6 rounds of seat allocation.

• Seat Allocation Rounds 1-6: Over 4-5 days are given to students to report and respond in each round. At the end of each round the list of filled and available seats is displayed. In each round when the seat is allotted, applicants have to choose one of the options below to accept or move to the next round.

• Freeze: This option should be chosen if the allotted seat is the desired seat and if the applicant does not want to participate in any more rounds of counseling.
• Float: This option should be chosen if the applicant likes the allotted seat but also wants to see if there’s a chance to upgrade it in further rounds.
• Slide: This option is for indicating that the applicant likes the allotted institute but wants to upgrade to a higher ranked course in the same college.
• Withdraw: This is for those applicants who have got a seat in the institute and course but do not want admission.

Once the seat is accepted and payments have been made, the verification of documents has to be done with the institute directly either online or offline according to the institute’s policy. 

The documents required at this institute usually include:

1. JEE Main Provisional Seat Allocation Letter
2. JEE Main Rank Card
3. JEE Main Counseling Form
4. JEE Main Admit Card
5. 2 Passport Size Photos
6. Category Certificate (if any)
7. 10th & 12th Marksheet
8. Medical Fitness Certificate

Post verification, the applicant has to visit the institute for final reporting and make the balance payment for admission. The seat is cancelled if the applicant fails to report before the last date.

The JEE Main exam is one of the toughest entrance exams designed to choose only those students who can take the rigour of an engineering course.

The preparation for this exam requires focus and early planning. Students who are interested in appearing for the JEE Main exams must ensure that they pay attention to all the relevant subjects being taught in school and cover all the topics in the syllabus as per NCERT. The National Testing Agency (NTA), which administers the JEE Main exams, provides content-based lectures on its website. However, students can often feel overwhelmed with the pressure of test preparation and anxious about their performance.

A new and breakthrough approach to preparation is to begin the learning with testing and assessment-led learning.

Besides taking the stress of the exam away, assessment-led learning also speeds up the learning process. It helps students diagnose their strengths and weaknesses in each subject, topic, and sub-topic and builds their competitive muscle in a gradual manner to help them achieve their best outcomes.