By: Education DeskNew Delhi | January 2, 2026 11:32 AM IST 2 min readJEE Main Prep Tips: What is the right order to answer the question paper (representative image/ Pexels)JEE Mains 2026 Exam-City Slip: The Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main 2026 Session 1 examination is scheduled to begin from January 21. The exam city intimation slip is expected to be released soon, most likely in the first week of January.A look at the last three years shows a fairly consistent pattern in how early the National Testing Agency (NTA) has issued city intimation slips for Session 1. In 2025, the city slip for Session 1 was released on January 6, around 16 days before the exam window began on January 22.Read| JEE Advanced 2026: Application fee, exam centres; changes in engineering entrance examIn 2024, the slip was issued on January 12, nearly 12 days before the January 24 exam start date. Going back to 2023, NTA released the city slip on January 18, just six days before the Session 1 exams commenced on January 24.This trend suggests that while the gap has varied year to year, city slips have consistently been released between one and two weeks before the start of the examination, barring exceptional years affected by rescheduling.If the pattern holds for 2026, candidates can expect the city intimation slip to be issued well before mid-January, ahead of the January 21 exam start.Here’s a look at JEE Main city slip release dates over the last five years:YearSessionExam City Slip Release DateExam Dates2025Session 1January 6, 2025January 22 – 31, 2025Session 2March 20, 2025April 1 – 8, 20252024Session 1January 12, 2024January 24 – February 1, 2024Session 2March 27, 2024April 4 – 12, 20242023Session 1January 18, 2023January 24 – February 1, 2023Session 2March 31, 2023April 6 – 15, 20232022Session 1June 14, 2022June 23 – 29, 2022 (Revised)Session 2July 21, 2022July 25 – 30, 2022 (Revised)2021Session 1February 11, 2021February 23 – 26, 2021Session 2March 11, 2021March 16 – 18, 2021In 2021 and 2022, multiple postponements and revisions were made due to the COVID-19 pandemic and overlaps with board examinations, which affected both exam dates and city slip timelines.Story continues below this adOnce the JEE Main 2026 city intimation slip is released, candidates will be able to download it from the official website jeemain.nta.nic.in by logging in using their application number and date of birth. The slip will mention the allotted exam city, exam date and shift details, while the complete exam centre address will be provided later through the admit card. © IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd