Last verified: 1 October 2026. The AISSEE 2027 notification has not been released yet by NTA (CONFIRMED — checked the official AISSEE portal). All city and timing details below are from the AISSEE 2026 cycle and are marked EXPECTED for 2027 until the new information bulletin confirms them.
The AISSEE 2027 application form — expected to open this month — will ask you to choose exam city preferences before you have had much time to think. This one decision decides where your child will sit on 31 January 2027, in the middle of North India’s fog season. A wrong choice means an overnight journey on exam eve; a smart choice means your child walks in rested.
Here is everything the 2026 cycle tells us, and how to use it when the form goes live.
1. Think January travel, not October comfort. The exam is on 31 January 2027 (CONFIRMED, tentative — NTA exam calendar, 16 Sept 2026). Morning trains in Bihar, UP and Punjab run hours late in fog season. Prefer a city with a direct road or a short train ride, even if a bigger city looks more prestigious.
2. Your first choice is almost always your home city. NTA allots centres based on availability, and the first preference is usually honoured when capacity exists. Fill all the preferences honestly — do not leave the second, third and fourth blank thinking “only the first matters”. If your city fills up, NTA moves down your list.
3. Exam city ≠ admission quota. This is the most common confusion among parents. The 67% home-state quota is decided by your domicile certificate (EXPECTED, per AISSEE 2026 counselling rules), not by where you write the paper. A Bihar-domicile child writing the exam in Delhi still counts under the Bihar quota. So choose cities purely for travel convenience — never to “game” the quota.
4. Watch for the city slip before the admit card. NTA releases an exam city intimation slip weeks before the exam (in 2026 it came out on 7 January for an 18 January exam, per News18). This slip shows only the city — the admit card with the exact centre name and address arrives separately, closer to the exam. Check the slip the day it drops; if the allotted city makes travel impossible, contact the NTA helpline immediately rather than hoping for a correction later.
5. Plan the exam-day logistics now. The Class 6 paper ends at 4:30 PM, Class 9 at 5:00 PM. Work out, for each city on your list, how you would reach the station by 12:30 PM and return after 6 PM in winter conditions. If a city fails that test, do not put it on the form.
The notification window is open as of today. Forms historically stayed open for about three weeks in the 2026 cycle (10–30 October 2025, 5 PM; fee payment till 31 October). When it drops, the parents who have their cities and documents ready submit in the first week — and avoid the server crashes of the last 48 hours.
How many exam cities were there for AISSEE 2026? AISSEE 2026 was conducted at 464 centres across 190 cities in India, as confirmed by NTA’s official result notice. A similar network is expected for AISSEE 2027.
Is the AISSEE exam city the same as the admit card city? No. NTA first releases a city intimation slip showing your allotted exam city, and the admit card with the exact centre name and address comes separately, a few days before the exam.
Does my exam city choice affect my home-state quota? No. The 67% home-state quota is decided by your domicile certificate, not by the city where you write the exam. Pick exam cities purely on travel convenience.
What are the AISSEE 2027 exam timings? Following the 2026 pattern, the Class 6 paper runs from 2:00 PM to 4:30 PM (150 minutes) and the Class 9 paper from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM (180 minutes).
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