Seat allocations for Preparatory Courses are simultaneously taking place with the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) allotment rounds. As per the Joint Admission Board (JAB) records, so far 105 seats have been allocated in the 2016 Preparatory Courses.

All the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian School of Mines (ISM) run a year-long Preparatory Course for Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and Person with Disability (PwD) candidates who failed to secure a seat this year (provided the conditions are met), but wish to pursue the same programme in the next academic year (2017 – 2018).

JAB is yet to release the admission schedule for Preparatory Courses. Prof KV Krishna, Chairman, JEE Advanced Unit 2016, said, “We are yet to announce the date of reporting, and place of reporting for Preparatory Courses. It will take some time.”

There are 23 IITs, but not all of them conduct the Preparatory Course. Krishna continued, “IIT Hyderabad will host the programme for students from IIT Bhilai, IIT Indore, IIT Bhubaneswar and IIT Hyderabad itself. We will make similar groups, only then the admission schedule for Preparatory Courses be announced.”

Students who secured a seat in the Preparatory Courses should not worry about the admission schedule. The academic session for Preparatory Courses at IITs will start only in August 2016, unlike other academic programmes which will commence from July.