IIT JAM 2026: Admit Card (5 Jan), Exam Date (15 Feb), Eligibility, Syllabus, and More

The IIT Bombay (exam conducting authority) has released the official notification for the IIT JAM 2026 on 26^th July 2025. The JAM Online Application Processing System (JOAPS) portal will open for the entrance test registration on 5^th September 2025. Aspirants will be able to register themselves online at ‘jam2026.iitb.ac.in’ till 12^th October 2025.

Moreover, applicants who want to make changes in the application form in categories such as Gender, Test Paper, Category, Exam Centre can do the same before 10^th November 2025. The last date to upload the OBC-NCL / EWS Certificate with the requisite changes is 20^th November 2025.

Furthermore, the IIT JAM Admit Card 2026 will be available for printing & downloading from 5^th January 2026. The IIT JAM 2026 is scheduled to be conducted on 15^th February 2026 in 2 sessions & the results will be announced on 20^th March 2026. The qualifying students will be able to download their scorecards from 27^th March 2026.

The Joint Admission Test for Masters is commonly known as JAM / IIT JAM. Every year, the exam is conducted once by one of the IITs. In 2026, IIT Bombay will conduct the exam. Students aspiring to take admissions in M.Sc, MS, Joint, and Dual Degree programs can check the eligibility and apply for IIT JAM exam 2026.

This article will help students to get an understanding about IIT JAM, important aspects like its eligibility, registrations, exam schedule, admit card, results, cut-off, and much more.

IIT JAM is a National level examination which Indian Institute of Bombay will conduct in 2026. It will be an online test for which the registration will also be done via online mode. Through IIT JAM, students can get admission in M.Sc, M.Sc (Tech), MS (Research), M.Sc – M.Tech Dual Degree, Joint M.Sc – Ph.D, and M.Sc – Ph.D Dual Degree courses offered by Indian Institute of Technology and other participating Institutes.

The highlights of IIT JAM 2026 are mentioned in the below-given table:

The aspirants of IIT JAM must know the essential exam dates and the schedule for all related events; below-mentioned table highlights the same:

* For PwD Candidates, the last date to provide confirmation for the Scribe assistance or avail Compensatory Time is 30^th December 2025.

* The candidates must keep-checking the official website to remain updated over the exam schedule.

The IIT JAM 2026 National-level entrance test will be conducted for 7 different subjects. Aspirants can appear in any one or two of the test papers.

The test paper code for each of the subjects is represented below:

* Students opting to appear for 2 test papers must carefully select the subjects to avoid session clash

The IIT JAM 2026 Eligibility Criteria refers that to appear for the examination, a candidate must have passed a UG degree or is currently appearing in the final year of the same. Students must note that both Indian Nationals and Foreigners can apply for IIT JAM as far as they match the educational requirements. Moreover, there is no minimum or maximum age limit to apply for the exam.

Check: IIT JAM Eligibility Criteria 2026

The IIT JAM 2026 Registration will begin on 5th September 2025 and will be closed by 12th October 2025. Students can register for the exam by navigating the official website and after that proceed for login to fill the application form.

Students must know that they are allowed to make changes in information provided during application such as Candidate’s Gender, Category, Test Paper, Exam Cities, etc. They can make these changes maximum by 10^th November 2025.

Note: Once the applicants have submitted the application form, they cannot cancel their application. Also, the IIT JAM 2026 exam fee is non-transferable & non-refundable.

Check: IIT JAM Registration 2026

The Syllabus for IIT JAM 2025 includes seven different subjects which are commonly known as Test Papers for this exam. These subjects are Biotechnology (BT), Chemistry (CY), Economics (EN), Geology (GG), Mathematics (MA), Mathematical Statistics (MS), and Physics (PH).

The syllabus of above mentioned subjects include topics from 10+2 or 10+2+3 level. In order to prepare well for the exam, students need to prepare all the given topics under the syllabus of their chosen subjects. For this, candidates must check the detailed IIT JAM 2026 Syllabus.

As per the IIT JAM exam pattern, there are seven test papers available for which the exam will be conducted Online once in a year. The IIT JAM 2026 Exam Pattern can be understood with the below-given points:

• It will be conducted for 3 hours
• The test paper will be provided to students which contain 60 questions.
• As per the pattern, the exam paper will be of total 100 marks.
• There will be 3 sections including A, B, and C. The First section will include 30 MCQs – Multiple Choice Questions, Second section will have 10 MSQs – Multiple Select Questions, and the Third section will comprise 20 NAT – Numerical Answer Type questions.
• Negative marking will be there for Section 1 of the exam.

The students must check the detailed exam pattern to get a deep understanding of the questions type and marking scheme.

Check: IIT JAM Exam Pattern 2026

The IIT JAM 2026 Admit Card will be released by IIT Bombay on 5^th January 2026. All the candidates who have registered for the exam must download the Admit Cards as soon as these are made available by the authorities on the official website. The Admit Card of the exam includes essential information including Candidate’s name, registration number, signature, photograph, the allotted test centre, etc. Without the Admit Card, students will not be allowed to appear for the exam.

Students must check that the details on the Admit Card must be accurate as per the provided information. In case of any mismatch, the candidate must get in touch with the exam help desk.

Also Check: IIT JAM Admit Card 2026

IIT JAM 2026 will be conducted in around 100 cities across the country. While providing the preference, students must check a test centre’s zone and list cities which are suitable considering factors like ease of commute, etc. While filling the application form, students are required to list their three preferable IIT JAM 2026 Exam Centre from the same zone only and the exam authorities will later on allot a suitable one from the listed preferences.

Below-given are the test-zones for IIT JAM Exam 2026:

Note: Students must be informed that the conducting authority reserves the right to add / remove an exam centre because of operational constraints. The details about the change will be notified to the applicants on the official website.

Aspirants of JAM 2026 must ensure that they prepare effectively for the exam to score well and get admission in the desired Institute. The students can consider below-given IIT JAM 2026 Preparation Tips:

• The students must download the IIT JAM subject-wise Syllabus PDFs and go through the same.
• On the basis of the syllabus, a daily, weekly, and monthly time table needs to be made.
• Candidates also need to check the exam paper pattern to have an understanding about the type of questions & marking scheme.
• Prepare with the best study material and practice with the previous year question papers & mock tests.
• Students need to evaluate their preparation progress to understand where they are doing well and which sections require more focus.

On the exam day, candidates need to be careful about following the instructions given by the authorities. Below-given are the guidelines students must consider:

• The students must carry an authenticated ID proof issued by the Government such as Aadhaar Card or any other in order to get the verification completed. The ID proof must be the same, the details of which were filled in the application form.
• The candidates must bring their printed admit card along on the exam day; without this, they are not allowed to attempt the exam.
• On the exam day, the photograph & fingerprint of the applicants may be captured. Students are suggested to avoid applying any ink / henna / tattoo on their fingertips so as to complete the requisite verification process accurately.
• The students need to enter the exam hall and login their systems before time to read instructions; they need to arrive at the centre around half an hour to 1-hour before the time.
• Appearing candidates will be provided with the provision of using an online virtual calculator; thus, they are not supposed to carry a physical calculator with them.
• Electronic & communication devices, and reference materials such as mobile phones, graph sheets, charts, etc. are strictly prohibited inside the exam hall.
• Students will be provided with one scribble pad at a time for rough work during the exam. However, they must return the same after the examination ends.
• The MCQ & MSQ type questions are to be answered using a mouse. For the NAT type questions, applicants have to type in the numerical answer using a mouse on the virtual numeric keypad displayed on the screen.
• Students caught being involved in unfair practices including tampering with the computer hardware during the entrance test or at any other stage will be directly disqualified from the IIT JAM exam.

Apart from the above listed points, students must check the detailed guidelines stated by the authorities to avoid any conflicts & consequences on the exam day.

Candidates must check, download, and start practising with the IIT JAM Previous Year Question Papers. It will help them understand what kind of questions they can expect in the actual exam and where they stand currently as per their preparation.

Students can find out the previous year exam papers on the official website and download the same to start solving these. The past year papers follow the exact exam pattern and marking scheme as per the actual one. So, solving the old papers will help the students become familiar with the IIT JAM 2026 exam. 

The authorities / conducting body of the exam upload mock tests on the official website which the students can access with their login ID and credentials. Students must take these mock tests in order to ensure that they are well prepared for the exam. Moreover, taking the IIT JAM 2026 Mock Test will aid the students better understand the paper pattern and the type of questions which will be there in the exam. Skipping the mock tests may result in confusion & low-scores later on.

The IIT JAM 2026 Answer Key will be made accessible for the candidates tentatively in February 2026. The key will consist of right answers for all the questions included in the main IIT JAM 2026 exam paper. Students will be able to challenge the answer key for a few days after the answer key release date at the official website i.e., ‘jam2026.iitb.ac.in’.

After the release of Answer Key on the official website, students need to visit the site, look for the ‘Answer Key’ tab, click on the same to enter the login credentials. Afterwards, they will be able to access and download it.

The exam authorities will announce the IIT JAM 2026 Result on 20^th March 2026. Also, the Score cards are expected to be available for download from 27^th March 2026 for the qualifying candidates. Once released, the students can log in on the official website to check their results and then download the Scorecard for future use.

The Results will include the All India Rank of the candidate, their total score achieved and the individual scores of every section. In future, while finalising the admission in any Institute, candidates need to submit their copy of Scorecard indicating that they have passed the exam.

After the announcement of the result, the exam authorities release the Cut-Off list which indicates the qualifying marks for all 7 test papers. The list will specify the percentile (category-wise) students need to attain to clear the exam for getting admissions in the M.Sc and other related courses in participating Institutes.

Through the IIT JAM Score 2026, qualifying candidates will be eligible for getting admission in the preferred programs in top educational Institutions like IISc, and numerous CFTIs including NITs, DIAT, IISER Pune, IIEST, IIPE, IIESR Bhopal, SLIET, and JNCASR via Centralized Common Counselling for M.Sc (CCMN).

To check the IIT JAM 2026 Cut Off, students need to visit the official website and navigate the option to check the first cut-off list. Afterwards, students need to visit the JAM Online Application Processing System (JOAPS) portal to download the PDF of the Cut-off list released by the exam authorities.

The IIT JAM 2026 Counselling is a crucial part of the selection process for students’ admissions in the top Colleges. Admission process in the educational Institutions will be done depending on its respective Eligibility Requirements (ERs) & the Minimum Educational Qualification (MEQ). Also, admission will be granted to the qualifying students on the basis of their merit, reservation norms of the Government of India, and the availability of seats.

Students can get admission through 2 methods:

• Admitting Institutes: The conducting body will co-ordinate the admission procedure with such educational Institutions.
• Result Sharing Institutes: The qualifying students have to directly approach the respective educational Institutions.

Candidates must note that a Centralised Counselling for M.Sc / M.Sc (Tech) Admissions (CCMN) is done for admissions through the IIT JAM scores. It means that the students who go through the centralised counselling process will not have to pass any further interviews for admissions; for them passing through the CCMN process will be enough.

The Counselling process usually includes allocation of seats to the students in the Colleges as per their exam scores and the verification process for finalising their admission.

There are various IIT JAM 2026 Participating Institutes that grant admission to the students based on their merit in the entrance test. As per the authorities, below given table include the 22 Admitting IITs:

* Apart from the above-listed IITs, there are many National Institute of Technology (NITs), Indian Institute of Science (IISc) which accepts admissions on the basis of IIT JAM results.

Check: Colleges Accepting IIT JAM