Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur has postponed the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced 2021 due to COVID-19. JEE Advanced 2021 was earlier scheduled to be held on 3 July. The revised exam date has not been announced yet. 
While the exam and application dates are usually released along with the JEE Advanced brochure, this time, only the admission brochure has been released. As per the released JEE Advanced brochure 2021, there are certain changes pertaining to the eligibility criteria, female quota, and exam centres. Candidates must go through the official brochure carefully to read about the changes in detail.
JEE Advanced Brochure 2021 – Changes
1. JEE Advanced 2021 Eligibility Criteria
Students must note that based on the relaxed JEE Advanced eligibility criteria 2021, candidates are no longer required to fulfil the minimum eligibility criteria of having 75% marks (65% for SC/ST) in Class 12 beside qualifying JEE Main to get admission in IITs. As per the JEE Advanced eligibility criteria 2021, students who have simply passed Class 12 and JEE Main will be eligible to appear for JEE Advanced.
Additionally, for the very first time, the candidates who had qualified JEE Main in the previous year i.e., 2020 but were not able to appear for JEE-A 2020 will be eligible to sit for the exam in 2021 along with the JEE Main 2021 qualifying candidates. Since these students have already cleared JEE Main 2020, they are not required to sit for the JEE Main exam again this year.
This relaxation has been provided after the JEE Main 2020 qualifying candidates had appealed for another attempt of JEE Advanced since they were not able to appear for the exam due to the COVID-19 imposed restrictions.
Read the exact notification regarding this in the JEE Advanced 2021 brochure –
Relaxation of Criteria 1 to 4 as a special case for JEE (Advanced) 2021:
“Candidates who successfully registered for JEE (Advanced) 2020 but were absent in both the papers, i.e. Paper 1 and Paper 2, of JEE (Advanced) 2020 are eligible to appear for JEE (Advanced) 2021 and do not need to fulfil Criteria 1 to 4 above*. However, they must successfully register for the JEE (Advanced) 2021 in the online registration portal and pay the registration fee [see Clause 12. REGISTRATION FOR JEE (ADVANCED) 2021].
Further, these candidates would be considered in addition to and not as part of the total number of candidates who would qualify from JEE (Main) 2021 for appearing in JEE (Advanced) 2021. This is a one-time measure valid only for JEE (Advanced) 2021. These candidates can confirm their eligibility for appearing in JEE (Advanced) 2021 by visiting the official website (https://jeeadv.ac.in) and filling in the requisite information. A Unique Reference Code (URC) will be provided to the eligible candidates, which will be required during the registration process; instructions for the same shall be provided on the official website at the time of registration”
*Check Criteria 1 to 4 in the JEE Advanced Brochure here
2. Female Quota/Supernumerary Seats for Female Candidates
Supernumerary seats have been created especially for female IIT candidates to improve the gender balance in IIT-led UG programs. In 2021, the number of supernumerary seats in different undergraduate programmes shall be decided by each of the IIT’s individually in such a way that there will be a minimum of 20% female enrolment in UG programs of every IIT.
As per the brochure – “These supernumerary seats will be offered (a) to only those female candidates who are declared qualified in JEE (Advanced) 2021, and, (b) strictly based on the performance in JEE (Advanced) 2021.”
Things to note:
- In 2019, the female quota for admission across IIT’s was 17% while in 2018, it was 14%.
- The EWS quota and foreign quota provided by the IIT’s is also supernumerary in nature.
- Currently, there is 15% quota for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates 7.5% quota for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates.
- There is also a 5% quota for Persons with Disability (PwD) candidates.
3. Exam Cities
There have been some new additions to the JEE Advanced 2021 exam cities. The newly added exam cities are –
- Bhuj, Gujarat
- Bagalkot, Karnataka
- Balasore, Orissa
- Jeypore, Orissa
- Valsad, Gujarat
- Burdwan, West Bengal
- Sangamner, Maharashtra
- Dhule, Maharashtra
At the same time, a few of the JEE Advanced exam cities have been removed in 2021. These are –
- Himatnagar, Gujarat
- Vapi, Gujarat
- Gulbarga, Karnataka
- Raigarh, Chhattisgarh
- Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh
- Palghar, Maharashtra
- Virar, Maharashtra
