On this page
Two friends sit the same JEE Main shift and score the same raw marks. Their NTA scores match to seven decimal places, yet their All India Ranks are different. That is not an error. NTA has a fixed order for breaking ties, and it reaches further into your answer sheet than most students expect. This post sets out that order from the official bulletin, explains why ties are so common, and works through examples.
Why do equal NTA scores happen so often?
The JEE (Main) 2026 Information Bulletin explains in Appendix VII that your NTA score is a percentile worked out within your own shift:
Percentile = 100 × (candidates in your shift with a raw score equal to or less than yours) ÷ (total candidates who appeared in your shift)
Percentiles are calculated to seven decimal places "to avoid the bunching effect and reduce ties". But the formula has a direct consequence: everyone in the same shift with the same raw total gets exactly the same percentile.
The bulletin's own example shows how big these groups can be. In its sample Day-2 Shift-1, with 41,326 candidates, 381 candidates scored 41 raw marks. All 381 get the percentile 50.4549194, because 20,851 candidates scored 41 or less, and 100 × 20,851 ÷ 41,326 = 50.4549194. Another 77 candidates share 90.1224411 at a raw score of 121.
Ties reach the very top too. NTA's result notice of 20 April 2026 lists 26 candidates with an NTA score of exactly 100 in Paper 1, out of 15,38,468 unique candidates who appeared. All 26 had the same total score, so the order among them came from the tie-break rules.
Seven decimal places reduce ties between shifts, but they cannot split candidates inside a shift who have identical raw totals. That is what the tie-break rules are for. For how the percentile itself works, see our guide to JEE Main percentiles and normalisation.
What is the official tie-break order?
For Paper 1 (B.E./B.Tech.), the 2026 bulletin's "Method of resolving ties" goes in this order:
NTA score in Mathematics.
NTA score in Physics.
NTA score in Chemistry.
The candidate with the lower proportion of incorrect to correct answers across all subjects.
The same proportion in Mathematics.
The same proportion in Physics.
The same proportion in Chemistry.
If still tied, the candidates are given the same rank.
The merit list uses the better of your two session totals: the bulletin says the higher of the two NTA scores "in Total (and not in individual subject)" is used for candidates who sit both sessions. Paper 2A and 2B have their own orders, starting with Mathematics and then the aptitude parts.
Worked example 1: same shift, same total
Two candidates, P and Q, sit the same shift and each scores 180 raw marks out of 300. These are sample numbers for illustration.
Total: both have 180 in the same shift, so their total NTA scores are identical.
Step 1: P scored 72 in Mathematics, Q scored 64. Each subject's NTA score is also a percentile within the shift. P's maths percentile counts everyone at 72 or below, which includes everyone at 64 or below plus at least P, so it must be higher.
Result: P ranks above Q. The physics and chemistry scores are not used.
This is why candidates level on total still receive different ranks: within a group tied on total, the Mathematics score sets the order first.
Worked example 2: when the ratios decide
Steps 4 to 7 matter only if Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry NTA scores are all identical too, which is rare. Suppose that happens for R and S (sample numbers):
R answered 45 questions correctly and 15 incorrectly. Ratio = 15 ÷ 45 = 0.33.
S answered 40 correctly and 8 incorrectly. Ratio = 8 ÷ 40 = 0.20.
S has the lower proportion of wrong to right answers, so S ranks higher. The rule rewards accuracy, not the number of attempts.
What do families misread?
"Same percentile, same rank." Only if every tie-breaker also matches. Usually it does not.
"Percentile means percentage of marks." The bulletin says plainly that the percentile score is not the same as the percentage of marks obtained.
"Subject scores are averaged into the total." The bulletin says the total percentile is not an aggregate or average of the subject percentiles; it is calculated from your total raw score.
"The rules are fixed forever." They are set each year. The bulletin for the next session may change them, so read the "Method of resolving ties" section when it is published on jeemain.nta.nic.in.
What can you do with this?
The rules suggest three habits, none of them tricks:
Treat Mathematics as the first tie-breaker it is. In a close finish, a few extra maths marks move you past everyone level on total.
Guess less. Negative marking already costs one mark per wrong answer, and a high incorrect-to-correct ratio can cost you again in a tie.
Track your own ratio in mock tests: wrong answers ÷ right answers, per subject. Aim to bring it down over the months.
If wrong answers in mocks come from choosing the wrong method, the Fermi Problem Library has a step-by-step solver that explains the reasoning rather than printing an answer, so you can see where a method went off track.
JoSAA admission to NITs and IIITs uses the All India Rank, per the bulletin. For JEE Advanced, see our guide to its qualifying marks and cut-offs.
After your next mock test, work out your incorrect-to-correct ratio for each subject and note it beside your score.
