Joint Admission Test for Masters (JAM)(IIT JAM)

About the exam

About IIT JAM

IIT JAM 2027 sets no minimum percentage for sitting the test, yet CCMN, the counselling through which NITs fill M.Sc. seats on JAM scores, set one for its 2026 round. The exam decides a rank in each paper; the marks, subjects and degree a candidate needs for a seat are set by each admitting institute and by CCMN.

The Joint Admission Test for Masters (JAM) is a computer-based test in seven test papers, and IIT Kharagpur is the Organizing Institute for JAM 2027, according to the JAM 2027 Information Brochure. The same brochure says JAM 2027 scores will be used for admission for the academic year 2027-28 to M.Sc., M.Sc. (Tech), MS (Research), M.Sc.-M.Tech. Dual Degree, Joint M.Sc.-Ph.D., M.Sc.-Ph.D. Dual Degree and Integrated Ph.D. programmes.

IIT Kharagpur takes over from IIT Bombay, which ran JAM 2026 together with IISc Bengaluru and six IITs, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras and Roorkee, as the JAM 2026 website, IIT Bombay describes that cycle; JAM 2025 was organised by IIT Delhi, per the JAM 2025 website, IIT Delhi. The JAM 2026 Admission Brochure dates the IITs' conduct of JAM to 2004-05.

For JAM 2027 the JAM 2027 brochure counts around 3000 seats at 23 IITs, which admit on JAM scores without any further interview or written test, and over 2000 seats at result sharing institutes including IISc, NITs, IISER Pune and IISER Bhopal. The JAM 2027 About page says the Organizing Institute coordinates admissions only for the admitting IITs, and that for result sharing institutes candidates must apply directly to the respective institute.

The JAM 2027 application procedure page leaves the eligibility check to the admitting institutes: it says verification of eligibility and educational qualifications is done only by them, that admission depends on merit and seat availability, and that offers stay provisional until all eligibility requirements are fulfilled.

At a glance

IIT JAM highlights

Calendar

Important dates

Applications for JAM 2027 close on October 12, 2026, the last date given by both the brochure and the Important Dates page, which marks its whole schedule tentative.

The organiser has since replaced the brochure's start date. The JAM 2027 brochure, correct as on August 22, 2026, gives September 5, 2026 as the first day to apply; the JAM 2027 announcements page strikes that date out and gives September 11, 2026 for the publication of JOAPS, the same day the JAM 2027 home page shows for registration starting.

Beyond the application window, the JAM 2027 brochure sets admit card downloads from January 05, 2027, the examination on February 14, 2027 (Sunday), and publication of the JAM 2027 Admission Brochure in the second week of March 2027. The JAM 2027 home page adds March 18, 2027 for results.

JAM 2026, which IIT Bombay held on February 15, 2026 according to its JAM 2026 Important Dates page, did not keep to its first schedule, and its notifications page logged these events.

Who can apply

Eligibility criteria

JAM 2027 is open to candidates who have completed their undergraduate degree or will appear in the final examination of their qualifying degree in 2027, per the JAM 2027 brochure. Qualifying lets you apply for admission subject to the brochure's conditions: the undergraduate programme must be completed before the admitting institute's date of admission, and proof of passing with the required eligibility must reach that institute within its timeline.

The test itself carries no marks bar. The JAM 2027 examination FAQs answer "No" to a minimum percentage requirement, and also allow candidates with backlogs, foreign nationals, any age and any number of attempts.

Marks conditions appear at the admission stage instead:

• Programme MEQs at the IITs. Each programme's Minimum Educational Qualifications sit in Annexure II of the JAM 2027 brochure, and some name a marks floor, such as a minimum of 60% marks for IIT Kanpur's Integrated Ph.D. in Sustainable Energy Engineering.
• CCMN. The CCMN 2026 Information Brochure sets at least 6.5 CGPA or 60% in the qualifying degree for GEN, GEN-EWS and OBC candidates, and 6.0 CGPA or 55% for SC, ST and PwD candidates.
• Result awaited. The same CCMN 2026 brochure permits provisional admission when the qualifying degree result is awaited, subject to meeting those marks by September 30, 2026.

Two further cases are covered at the IIT admission stage. Foreign nationals with an Indian degree may apply subject to the admitting institute's policy, per the JAM 2027 brochure, and the JAM 2026 Admission Brochure asked candidates promoted without a marksheet for a certificate from the Head of the Institute or Department.

Step by step

Application process and fee

Registration for JAM 2027 starts on JOAPS, the JAM Online Application Processing System: a name, e-mail address, mobile number and password create the account, and the Enrollment ID and OTP arrive by e-mail and SMS, per the JAM 2027 brochure. The JAM 2027 application procedure page asks for only one application form even when you appear for two test papers.

The form asks for a scanned 10th standard marksheet with date of birth, a photograph and signature within set pixel and file-size limits, one photo ID from Aadhaar, driving licence, PAN card, passport or voter ID, and first, second and third choices of examination city. OBC-NCL and EWS certificates must be issued on or after April 1, 2026, and PwD candidates add a disability certificate with a UDID number, per the JAM 2027 brochure.

Payment is online only, by net banking, debit or credit card, UPI or wallet, and the fee is non-refundable. The JAM 2027 application fees page charges Rs 300 plus any difference in fee to change the examination city, test paper, category, gender or date of birth.

November 10, 2026 appears in two senses. The JAM 2027 brochure lets a candidate add or change a test paper for Rs 300 before November 10, 2026, and the JAM 2027 examination FAQs set rectification of minor defects, such as a poor photo or signature scan, tentatively before November 10, 2026, at no fee. The Important Dates page instead lists November 10, 2026, tentatively, as the day JOAPS opens for data correction on payment basis. In the JAM 2026 cycle, the data change window announced on October 31, 2025 carried a last date of November 10, 2025, later extended to November 13, 2025, per the JAM 2026 notifications page.

Before the exam

Admit card and exam day

JOAPS will host the JAM 2027 admit card from January 05, 2027 until the day of the examination, printed with the candidate's name, registration number, photograph, signature, test paper names and codes, and the name and address of the allotted test centre, per the JAM 2027 brochure. The card matters after exam day too: the brochure asks candidates to preserve a copy for the admitting institute, which may ask for it at admission, and to report any discrepancy on it to jam@iitkgp.ac.in.

The JAM 2027 examination FAQs turn away an admit card shown on a phone, tablet or laptop, and an ID that is a photocopy, a scan or expired. The ID has to be the original one specified in the application: for Indian candidates the FAQs accept only Aadhaar-UID (front side), passport, PAN card, voter ID and driving licence, and for foreign nationals a valid passport, another photo ID issued by their government or a driving licence.

The code of conduct in Annexure III of the JAM 2027 brochure warns that a fingerprint, a photograph or both may be captured before the examination and used for verification during admission, so fingertips should carry no ink, mehndi, henna or tattoo. Mobile phones, smart watches, calculators and printed or handwritten material are prohibited in the hall, and candidates use the virtual calculator provided on the computer screen instead. A candidate allowed in late still stops at the session's scheduled end, since the FAQs give a permitted delayed entry no extra time.

For PwD candidates the brochure adds one hour of compensatory time per paper, moving the end to 13:30 IST in the forenoon and 18:30 IST in the afternoon. Each eligible candidate who asked for a scribe at application is presented with two scribes on the day before the examination and picks one, and the brochure also allows PwD candidates to visit the centre a day early to see the arrangements.

Structure

Exam pattern

JAM 2027 will be held in two three-hour sessions on February 14, 2027: Chemistry, Geology and Mathematics from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm, and Biotechnology, Economics, Mathematical Statistics and Physics from 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm, per the JAM 2027 brochure. A second paper is allowed only if it sits in the other session, so any pair must combine one forenoon paper with one afternoon paper.

Each paper has the same marks layout, and only Section A carries a penalty.

An unattempted question scores zero in every section, while a wrong Section A answer costs marks, and the outcome shows in the last cycle: the JAM 2026 Statistical and Performance Report records 2563 of the 48170 candidates who appeared ending with a raw score below zero.

What to study

Syllabus

The syllabus for all seven JAM 2027 papers is printed in Annexure I of the JAM 2027 Information Brochure, and each paper is organised differently:

• Biotechnology (BT) combines Biology or Biotechnology with Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics; its Chemistry section is set at the 10+2+3 level, and its Mathematics and Physics sections at the 10+2 level.
• Chemistry (CY) opens with basic mathematical concepts at the 10+2 level before physical, organic and inorganic chemistry.
• Economics (EN) runs from Mathematics for Economics and Statistics for Economics through Microeconomics and Macroeconomics to Indian Economy.
• Geology (GG) is a topic list running from the planet Earth and geomorphology to economic and applied geology, with Indian stratigraphy and mineral deposits named.
• Mathematics (MA) has Real Analysis, Multivariable Calculus and Differential Equations, and Linear Algebra and Algebra.
• Mathematical Statistics (MS) gives Mathematics (Sections 1 to 3) about 25% weight and Statistics (Sections 4 to 12) about 75%, per Annexure I of the JAM 2027 brochure.
• Physics (PH) runs from Mathematical Methods to Solid State Physics, Devices and Electronics.

How to prepare

Preparation and books

Past papers from 2022 to 2026, each with its answer key, are posted for every one of the seven JAM papers on the JAM 2027 downloads page, and the JAM 2027 brochure says a mock test link will be made available on the JAM 2027 website. No book list appears in the brochure.

For calibration, the JAM 2026 Statistical and Performance Report puts 5243 of the 9617 Mathematics candidates who appeared in the 0 to 10 raw-mark band, and no candidate in any paper in the 90 to 100 band.

Where it is held

Exam centres

A candidate choosing Hyderabad writes JAM 2027 in the IISc zone rather than the IIT Madras zone, Port Blair also sits under IISc, and Srinagar and Jammu-Samba come under IIT Delhi, according to Annexure IV of the JAM 2027 brochure. The grouping decides a candidate's options, because the first city chosen fixes the zone and the second and third choices must come from that same zone; a city that cannot be allotted for operational reasons is replaced by another. The eight zones are named for IISc and for IIT Bombay, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras and Roorkee, and the JAM 2027 home page rules out international centres.

Jhansi is on the organiser's web list of cities, in the IIT Kanpur zone, though not in Annexure IV; the examination cities page marks its list tentative and says the JAM 2027 Committee may add or remove cities. The headline count varies too, from around 114 cities in the JAM 2027 brochure to approximately 100 on the JAM 2027 About page.

After the exam

Answer key

For JAM 2026, IIT Bombay put candidates' recorded responses on JOAPS on February 18, 2026 and opened the challenge window on February 24, 2026, closing it at 11:59:59 PM on 27.02.2026, per the JAM 2026 notifications page, which names no challenge fee. The JAM 2027 brochure sets no answer key date for the coming cycle.

The final keys went up on the JAM 2026 master question papers page in the same table as each paper's cut-off marks. That page matches every final key to the Master Question Paper, not to the order in which questions and options appeared on a candidate's console, and an MTA entry in a key, short for Marks to All, credited that question to everyone who took the paper.

Scores

Result and scorecard

March 18, 2027 is the result date on the JAM 2027 home page. A year earlier, the JAM 2026 Important Dates page had scheduled results for March 20, 2026, and the JAM 2026 notifications page records them going live on JOAPS at 16:15 hrs on March 19, 2026, with the scorecard enabled for download on March 26, 2026.

The result works per paper. The JAM 2026 scorecard and merit list page says each test paper gets an All India Rank for every candidate and an All India Merit List whose length depends on the seats available in each category in that subject; candidates on it are the Qualified Candidates who can apply for admission, and their scorecard shows the AIR and the marks obtained.

For JAM 2026, 58622 candidates were issued admit cards, 48170 appeared and 15814 qualified, per the JAM 2026 Statistical and Performance Report.

Scores you need

Cutoff

A JAM 2026 candidate saw an All India Rank and scorecard on JOAPS only with marks at or above the cut-off for their category, according to the JAM 2026 master question papers page, and the JAM 2026 Admission Brochure let exactly those candidates apply for admission. The figures below, set by paper and category, belong to JAM 2026 and are not a forecast for the next cycle.

A low cut-off does not mean a low top score. In JAM 2026 the Physics GEN cut-off was 12.04 against a highest raw mark of 68.67, and the Biotechnology GEN cut-off was 42.3 against a highest raw mark of 85.67, per the JAM 2026 Statistical and Performance Report.

Getting a seat

Counselling and seat allotment

The JAM 2027 brochure splits admission on a JAM 2027 score into two categories, admitting institutes and result sharing institutes, and the second category is reached through more than one body.

IIT Seats Through JOAPS

All 23 admitting IITs take a single application, filed online through the JAM 2027 website with programmes listed in order of preference and a non-refundable processing fee of Rs 750, per the JAM 2027 brochure. A maximum of four rounds of admission are planned, with an additional round possible if seats stay vacant.

In each round an offered candidate can accept the seat as final, accept it while staying in line for a higher preference, or reject it and leave the process. Accepting means paying an advance seat booking fee of Rs 15,000 for General, OBC-NCL and EWS candidates or Rs 7,500 for SC, ST and PwD candidates, adjusted against the institute fee at registration, per the JAM 2027 brochure.

The JAM 2026 schedule on the JAM 2026 Important Dates page shows the rhythm: applications from March 27, 2026 to April 15, 2026, choices frozen by May 06, 2026, the first admission list on May 25, 2026 and the fourth on June 27, 2026. The JAM 2026 Admission Brochure refunded a withdrawn seat booking fee after deducting a processing fee of Rs 6,000, and IIT Bombay's JAM 2026 opening and closing ranks page lets that cycle's ranks be filtered by institute and admission round.

NIT and CFTI Seats Through CCMN

Centralized Counselling for M.Sc./M.Sc.(Tech.) Admission (CCMN) was initiated in 2015, according to the CCMN 2026 website, and in its 2026 round a candidate could fill one online form for every eligible M.Sc. or M.Sc. (Tech.) programme at NITs, IIEST Shibpur and some CFTIs. Its contact page names NIT Agartala as the coordinator of CCMN 2026.

The CCMN 2026 Information Brochure ranks candidates on a Common Percentile calculated from the JAM rank, breaking ties by the higher JAM score, then the elder candidate, then a random number. It provided for three regular rounds, two special rounds and a National Spot Round, with a non-refundable registration fee of Rs 3,500 for GEN, GEN-EWS and OBC candidates and Rs 3,000 for SC, ST and PwD candidates, and a seat acceptance fee of Rs 15,000 for GEN, GEN-EWS and OBC candidates or Rs 10,000 for SC, ST and PwD candidates. CCMN's opening score-closing score page holds a closing score file for each year from 2022 to 2026.

Institutes That Admit Directly

The JAM 2026 result sharing institutes page lists IISc, IIPE Visakhapatnam, IISER Bhopal, IACS Kolkata and RGIPT Amethi among institutes using JAM 2026 results, and says details of their programmes and admission process are to be obtained directly from the respective institute.

Where it is accepted

Participating institutes

The admitting IITs for JAM 2027 are Bhilai, Bhubaneswar, Bombay, Delhi, (ISM) Dhanbad, Dharwad, Gandhinagar, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jammu, Jodhpur, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras, Mandi, Palakkad, Patna, Roorkee, Ropar, Tirupati and (BHU) Varanasi, per the JAM 2027 About page.

On the result sharing side, the JAM 2027 brochure names IISc, CFTIs, NITs, DIAT, IIEST Shibpur, IISER Pune, IISER Bhopal, IIPE, JNCASR and SLIET among others, and notes that the MEQs and seat matrix in its Annexure II can change at the admitting institutes' decision.

Each row of that annexure pairs a programme with the subjects a bachelor's degree must contain. IIT Delhi's M.Sc. in Chemistry, for example, asks for Chemistry for three years or six semesters, so a rank in the Chemistry paper alone does not settle eligibility for it.

Get help

Contact

Queries to the JAM 2027 office at IIT Kharagpur should carry the candidate's JAM application number and go by e-mail, to jam@iitkgp.ac.in for exam and PwD matters or gatejamfee@adm.iitkgp.ac.in for payments, per the JAM 2027 contact page. The same page gives +91 (3222) 28 2091 and +91 (3222) 28 2095, with office hours of 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM and 2:30 PM to 5:30 PM, Monday to Friday, and lists a GATE-JAM office for each of the eight zones, from jam@iisc.ac.in at IISc Bengaluru to jam@iitr.ac.in at IIT Roorkee.

Source

Official links

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Disclaimer

Disclaimer

Exact application/exam dates, answer-key/result release, number of programmes/seats, and qualifying cutoffs change every cycle. Anything per-cycle here is stated for the cycle it names and is taken from the conducting body's own notification; confirm it on the official website before acting on it. Expertie does not conduct any exam, process applications or charge fees.

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