What NTA has announced
The NTA calendar lists JEE (Main) Session 1 (January) on 22–24 and 28–30 January 2027, with 31 January 2027 as a buffer date, spread over six exam days. The same calendar schedules CMAT on 7 February 2027 and CUET (PG) in March 2027.
NTA's notice says clearly that these dates are tentative and may change, and that the calendar is not a notification for any exam. The information bulletin, application form and exam-specific notices will be issued separately. Treat late January as your target and keep checking jeemain.nta.nic.in.
- Session 1 (proposed): 22, 23, 24, 28, 29, 30 January 2027
- Buffer date: 31 January 2027
- Calendar published: 16 September 2026 (tentative)
- Not yet released: information bulletin, application dates, fee, exam cities
When will registration open?
NTA has not announced this yet. For reference, the JEE (Main) 2026 Session 1 application form went live on 31 October 2025, and NTA had asked candidates in advance to update their Aadhaar, UDID and category certificates (EWS/SC/ST/OBC-NCL) before applying. Do those updates now. A name or date-of-birth mismatch between Aadhaar and your Class 10 records is one of the most common reasons applications get stuck.
Keep these ready as well: a recent photograph, a scan of your signature, your category certificate (if you are applying under a reserved category) and your UDID card (if you are a PwD candidate). Session 2 was held in April in the 2026 cycle. This calendar only runs to March 2027, so dates for an April 2027 session have not been published yet. For now, plan around January as your main attempt.
The pattern to prepare for
The 2027 bulletin will confirm the pattern, but the JEE (Main) 2026 Paper 1 (B.E./B.Tech.) pattern gives you a solid base to prepare on:
- 75 questions, 300 marks, 3 hours, computer-based
- Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry: 25 questions each. Section A has 20 MCQs and Section B has 5 numerical-value questions.
- Marking: +4 for a correct answer and −1 for a wrong one in both sections, including numerical questions
- Numerical answers are entered as integers (rounded to the nearest integer) using an on-screen keypad
- No calculator of any kind. NTA clarified in 2025 that the on-screen calculator of the generic test platform does not apply to JEE (Main).
An 18-week plan
The plan below assumes you are in Class 12 and have covered most of the Class 11 syllabus once.
- Weeks 1–6 (now to end-October): Finish the Class 12 syllabus in all three subjects, and revise one Class 11 unit per subject each week. Solve past-paper questions topic by topic as you finish each chapter.
- Weeks 7–12 (November to mid-December): Take one full-length paper every week and analyse it the next day. Rework weak chapters such as rotational mechanics, electrostatics, organic reaction mechanisms, calculus and coordinate geometry, whichever your mocks show you are weak in.
- Weeks 13–16 (mid-December to mid-January): Take two full papers a week in the same time slot as your likely shift. Revise NCERT Chemistry line by line, since inorganic and physical chemistry questions often come straight from it.
- Weeks 17–18: Light revision only, plus formula sheets and one paper every two or three days. Check your city intimation slip and admit card as soon as NTA releases them.
Strategy points that matter this cycle
Numerical questions carry −1, so treat them like MCQs. Attempt them only when you can actually work the answer out. Since there is no calculator, practise mental arithmetic and approximation throughout, not just in the final month.
Scores are converted to NTA percentiles across shifts, so don't read too much into a hard shift. Your target is accuracy on the questions you choose to attempt. Also keep the NIT+ admission criterion in mind: under the JoSAA/CSAB rules quoted in the 2026 bulletin, you need 75% aggregate in Class 12 (65% for SC/ST/PwD) or a place in your board's top 20 percentile. Your board marks still matter.
Before the real exam, practise the real pattern with a free full-length ExamguruX mock to test your pacing across all three subjects.
Key takeaways
- NTA's tentative calendar lists JEE Main 2027 Session 1 on 22–24 and 28–30 January 2027, with 31 January as a buffer.
- Registration dates are not out yet. The 2026 cycle opened on 31 October 2025, so update your Aadhaar and certificates now.
- Prepare for the 2026 pattern: 75 questions, +4/−1 including numerical questions, and no calculator.
- Finish the Class 12 syllabus by October, then move to weekly and later twice-weekly full papers.
Sources
Dates and patterns change — always confirm on the official website before applying.
