- JEE Main is conducted in multiple sessions with different question papers for fairness
- NTA uses percentile-based normalization to compare candidates across sessions
- Percentile score shows the percentage of candidates a student has outperformed
Calculating rank from the JEE Main percentile format result is always a tough task to perform and students often find ways to calculate their JEE Main rank from the percentile result.
Lets break it down and understand the format in simple steps.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) organizes the JEE Main exam in different days and shifts. The schedule for JEE Main 2026 is expected to consist of four days of the exam with two shifts per day leading to a total of eight sessions. As question papers are different in each session, the NTA employs a percentile-based normalization system to maintain the fairness of the examination.
The JEE Main scorecard displays NTA percentile scores for each subject and an overall percentile. The percentile score indicates the candidate's performance in comparison to other candidates. For instance, if a candidate's percentile score is 70, it means that the candidate has scored better than or equal to 70% of the total candidates whereas 30% of the candidates have scored higher.
To estimate an All India Rank (AIR), candidates need two main pieces of information: their percentile score (P) and the total number of candidates (N) who appeared for the exam. The total number of candidates is usually announced by NTA after the exam.
The estimated number of candidates who scored higher than a student can be calculated using the formula: (100− P) ÷ 100 × N. This gives an approximate idea of how many students are ahead of the candidate in the merit list.
For example, if a candidate scores a 70 percentile and the total number of candidates is 10 lakh, then around 3 lakh candidates are expected to have scored higher. This means the candidate's estimated rank would be close to 3,00,000.
