JEE announced Cut off marks for Top 20 Percentile Students

The aspirants aspiring for admission to Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and National Institutes of Technology (NITs), who have scored over 78.2% of marks in their class 12 CBSE exam this year and have made it to the final round of the JEE examination stand a chance of being selected to the prestigious institutes.

According to CBSE, the cut off score for the top 20 percentile for the general stream has been put at 391 (78.2%).

A student has to be in the top 20 percentile of CBSE board exam scorers to be eligible to apply to IITs. Up until last year, a student only had to have scores of 60% or above. For NITs, the school board scores will form 40 per cent of the admission criteria, and performance in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) will account for the rest.

The top 20 percentile cut-off for the JEE is 391 for general categories this year. For other backward classes, (OBCs) it is 389, for scheduled castes 350, and 338 for scheduled tribes, officials said.

Ramesh Nitin, a student who scored 450, said he was thankful the cut-off was reasonable. "When we first found out that we had to be in the top 20 percentile, it was a scary prospect. We were not sure how much we needed to score to qualify for admission. But 391 is quite attainable as it is only around 78 per cent," he said.

JEE advance test will be conducted on coming Sunday and students who have made it to this final round of examination but do not find them within the cut-off need not lose heart and should consider the exam as a "good exposure", said a CBSE official.

The new format adopted by the IIT council comprises a two-tier system - a main and an advanced test.

IIT will prepare a merit list of those who sat for the advance and then select the successful candidates if they are among the top 20 percentile.