JEST 2026: Exam Dates & Schedule, Application Process, Answer Key, Result, Cutoff Analysis, and Counselling

The JEST exam is only conducted once a year. Also, it is recommended to all the students who want to qualify the JEST exam is to always go through the official website for the latest updates and notices related to the JEST Admission process and exam related dates.

The JEST exam is conducted once in a year and the mod eof JEST exam is offline. This exam is an opportunity for students who want to study PhD and International PhD courses in Physics and theoretical computer science/neuroscience.

The JEST Exam is conducted for those students who want to get admission to courses and programmes to complete their PhD and Integrated PhD in theoretical computer science, physics, and neuroscience in India.

Students who appeared for previous year JEST exam find the difficulty level from moderate to difficult. It is expected that the JEST exam 2026 will be moderate to difficult. 

Note: Students are advised to prepare 100% for the exam. Make a preparation plan and study well.

Generally, a good score in JEST for physics falls above 55 for PhD and above 40 to 45 marks for the integrated PhD program.

The application fee for JEST 2026 is given below. Students are advised to go through these details:

General Category: INR 950

Non SC/ST female: INR 475

SC/ST (male), EWS, and differently abled: INR 475

SC/ST female: Fully Waived

There are many important documents for JEST 2026 but a photograph (a clear, recent passport size photo) and a signature (on a white background).

The JEST 2026 exam is a pen and paper offline exam. The exam duration is 3 hours with 50 questions divided into three sections.

Part A, Part B and Part C

Students can go through the marking scheme of JEST 2026 exam:

Part A: 1 mark for a correct answer & -1/3 for an incorrect answer

Part B: 3 marks for a correct answer & -1 for an incorrect answer

Part C: 3 marks for a correct answer &   no negative marking for incorrect answer

Absolutely not, you must take one, either physics or theorerical Science in JEST 2026. You cannot take both the subjects.

No a single exam is conducted for both the courses.

Use this prep strategy for JEST 2026 to score exceptionally good marks:

First you should create a study plan, priotitise the important topics and study according to it, go through the syllabus once. Solve the previous year question paper. Also, you can practice mock test to practice to track your progress. And make sure to revise regularly and learn time management during your preparation period.

Previous year students who appeared for the JEST exam found that the exam is moderate to difficult. And therefore, JEST 2026 is assumed to be moderate to difficult. Candidates are advised to study hard for their exam.

Applicants can find JEST admit card download link via visiting the official website which is jest.org.in. Sometimes it can happen that the link does not work or the website doesn't open then in that case it is advised to retry after some times as it happens mainly due to heavy load on the website or some server side errors. 

Here is the list of some JEST participating colleges 2026 students shall know about:

Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore

• Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bangalore
• Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER)
• Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore
• National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), TIFR, Pune
• Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad
• Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT), Indore
• Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (SINP), Kolkata
• Bose Institute
• Institute of Physics (IOP), Bhubaneswar
• International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS)-TIFR, Bangalore
• National Brain Research Centre (NBRC), Manesar
• National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar
• Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bangalore

The JEST cut off  2026 will be decided on the difficulty level of the exam, and number of applicants who appeared in the exam. As of now there is no official announcement regarding the cut off.

If you find any disperancies, you can challenge the key by sending a mail to the exam authorties. There is no fee required to challenge the answer key.

Applicants who secured the minimum passing marks are considered passing as per JEST Results. The result was released on the official website of JEST.

Along with declaration of the result, IIST also released the score card as well as JEST cut off marks. Applicants who appeared in the exam can check their marks in JEST exam. 

The JEST 2026 is expected to begin by August 2026. Yet the counselling dates has not been announced yet officially. Students are advised to check the website regularly.

JEST counselling is not a centralised process but it is conducted by individually by each participating institution. The selection process is based on the JEST score, you need to attend the interview and undergo document verification.

Joint Entrance Screening Test (JEST) is an entrance exam test for admission to PhD and International PhD programme of different participating institutes for two subjects Physics and theoretical Computer Science/Neuroscience.

This exam is conducted in offline mode/ pen-paper mode. This year exam conducting authorities have changed, earlier it used to be Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) but now it has changed to Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST). Hence the final validation will be declared along with releasing of notification but as per previous year JEST exam pattern it will be conducted in offline mode only. 

The JEST exam analysis comprises the difficulty level of the exam, the average questions attempted by the applicants, whether any question was wrong or mis spelt and expected cutoff etc. It will be out after the conclusion of the exam. By checking the exam analysis, applicants can get to know about the chances of qualifying the exam.