JEE Main 2026 Registration

JEE Main registration is the first formal step toward admission to NITs, IIITs, GFTIs, and — for candidates who go on to qualify — the IITs via JEE Advanced. Registration is conducted entirely online through the official NTA portal, jeemain.nta.nic.in, and typically opens separately for Session 1 and Session 2 each year, with Session 1 registration usually beginning in late October or November and Session 2 registration opening a few weeks after Session 1 concludes. Candidates are permitted to register for both sessions, and doing so is generally advisable since NTA considers your best percentile across both attempts for the final merit list — appearing twice gives you a genuine second chance without any additional eligibility requirement.

The registration process itself involves creating an account with a valid email address and mobile number (ideally your own or a parent's, since all official communication — including admit card release notifications — is sent to these), filling in personal and academic details exactly as they appear on your Class 10 and Class 12 certificates, selecting exam city preferences, uploading scanned documents in the specified format and size, and paying the applicable fee online. It's worth being careful and unhurried at every stage: NTA allows only a limited correction window after initial submission, and errors in details like date of birth, category, or Aadhaar number can create complications much later during JoSAA/CSAB document verification — problems that are often harder to fix after counselling has begun than during registration itself.

One detail that trips up many first-time applicants is the difference between registering for Paper 1 (B.E./B.Tech), Paper 2A (B.Arch), and Paper 2B (B.Planning) — these require separate registration and fee payment, and candidates unsure of their intended course sometimes register for the wrong paper or miss registering for a paper they later wish they had. If you are even mildly considering architecture or planning alongside a core engineering branch, it is generally safer to register for the relevant additional paper at the time of registration itself, since adding it afterward is not typically possible.