The National Testing Agency confirmed on Sunday that calculators will not be available during the JEE Main in 2026. The NTA had made waves last week after announcing that candidates would get access to an onscreen virtual calculator during the examination next year. The agency will be conducting the Joint Entrance Examination in two sessions — starting in January and April 2026.
The agency had issued a notice last week that said candidates would be able to use an on-screen calculator during the computer-based exam. A clarification was issued on Sunday night to address the “typographic error”. The NTA clarified that such a feature existed on its generic test platform but was not available for use during JEE (Main).
“It has been mentioned that an onscreen standard calculator will be available during the Computer-Based Test. However, this feature forms part of the generic test conducting platform and does NOT apply to JEE (Main) conducted by the NTA, as the use of calculators in any form is not permitted in this examination,” read an official notice.
The National Testing Agency is slated to conduct the Joint Entrance Examination (Main) for 2026 in two sessions — Session I in January 2026 and Session II in April 2026. The online application form went live on the official website on the last day of October. Eligible candidates will now be able to submit their forms till November 27. The first exam session will be held between January 21 and 30 — with results announced on February 26.
The initial information bulletin issued by NTA on Friday night had claimed that “n onscreen standard calculator will be available throughout the computer-based Test”. It further explained that the basic calculator could be used for math with addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication. It also included functions for square root, percentage etc. The revised bulletin has removed details about the on-screen standard calculator.