Class 12th marks will not be a factor for determining rankings in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for admissions to engineering undergraduate courses from next year. The present system of giving 40 per cent weightage for the Class 12th marks in calculating the ranks in the JEE Main will be dispensed with. <br/><br/>The Human Development Ministry has notified the changes in the pattern of JEE for 2017. The Ministry has taken the decision after examining the Ashok Mishra Committee's report and considering the public feedback.<br/><br/>In a statement, the Ministry has said that the performance of the students in the 12th Class Examination will be a crucial parameter for determining the eligibility of the student for the JEE examination. To qualify in the JEE, the students will have to secure at least 75 per cent marks or be in the top 20 percentile in the 12th Class Examination. <br/><br/>It said, for students belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, this condition will be relaxed to 65 per cent marks. The Ministry said, all other JEE Examination systems will remain unchanged. <br/><br/>In November last year, Mishra committee had recommended major changes in the JEE structure, including setting up of a National Testing Service to conduct tests for shortlisting about four lakh students for the exam. Its recommendations were aimed at weaning IIT aspirants away from the dependence on the coaching institutes.