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JEE Advanced 2026: SC, ST Qualification Rates Soar, Women Achieve Six-Year High
M
Moneycontrol•05-10-2026, 10:31
JEE Advanced 2026: SC, ST Qualification Rates Soar, Women Achieve Six-Year High
- •The qualification rate for SC candidates in JEE Advanced 2026 increased by 9.8 percentage points to 50.16%, while ST candidates saw an 8.1 percentage point rise to 42.14%.
- •Women recorded their highest qualification rate in six years, reaching 23.4% in 2026, up from 21.7% in 2025.
- •Despite increased qualifying marks across all categories, general category qualification rates fell by 3.2 percentage points to 39.8%, and OBC-NCL rates declined by 0.7 percentage points to 17.5%.
- •A total of 56,880 candidates qualified for JEE Advanced 2026, including 15,856 SC and 6,379 ST candidates, significantly higher than the previous year.
- •The female supernumerary seat system, introduced in 2018, has helped increase women's representation in IITs to nearly 20%, and also improved representation for SC and ST women.
Key Questions Answered
The qualification rate for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates increased to 50.16% in 2026 from 40.41% in 2025, while the rate for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates rose to 42.14% from 33.99% last year.
The qualifying threshold increased across all categories in 2026. The Common Rank List (CRL) cut-off rose from 74 to 92 marks out of 360, OBC-NCL and GEN-EWS cut-offs increased from 66 to 82, and SC and ST cut-offs went up from 37 to 46.
Women recorded their highest qualification rate in a six-year period at 23.4% in 2026, up from 21.7% in 2025. Out of the 40,562 women who appeared in both papers, 10,107 successfully qualified, marking the first time over 10,000 girls qualified for IIT admission.
