JEE Mains Session 2 exam 2026: NTA explains percentile system, addresses score variations across shifts

The National Testing Agency (NTA) has presented a data-backed analysis for the NTA JEE Main session 2 exam on its official handle on X for the percentile scores and raw marks in the Joint Entrance Examinations (JEE) Mains session 2 exam. According data presented by NTA, the marks required to reach the 99th percentile ranged from 165 in the toughest shift to 196 in the easiest, marking a gap of 31 marks out of 300.

At the 98th percentile, the variation stood at 27 marks, while at the 97th percentile, it was 26 marks. The agency further stated that only two shifts recorded a perfect score of 300. In another shift, 285 marks were sufficient to secure the 100th percentile, as it was the highest score achieved in that session.

Multi-shift exams cannot ensure identical difficulty

NTA said such variations are not unusual in large-scale examinations conducted across multiple days and shifts. Despite several layers of moderation and calibration, it noted that question papers cannot be perfectly identical in difficulty.

Percentile reflects relative performance

Explaining the evaluation process, NTA said the percentile score reflects a candidate’s performance relative to others in the same shift. A percentile indicates the percentage of candidates a student has outperformed within that particular session, ensuring that each shift is assessed independently.

Normalisation used to prepare final merit list

The agency clarified that raw marks alone cannot be used to prepare a common merit list, as this would disadvantage candidates appearing in tougher shifts and benefit those in easier ones.

To address this, NTA follows a normalisation process in which percentile scores are calculated for each shift and then combined to generate the final ranking. Candidates with similar percentiles across different shifts are treated equally, irrespective of differences in raw scores.

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