SSC JE Syllabus: Paper 1, Paper 2 and Branch Wise Topics

How the SSC JE exam is structured

SSC recruits Junior Engineers for central bodies such as CPWD, MES, Border Roads Organisation, Central Water Commission and others in one combined exam. The latest notice also added a Junior Engineer (Telecom) post and a Scientific Assistant post in the India Meteorological Department, each with its own technical part.

1. Paper 1: an objective CBT of 200 marks. In the latest cycle it only qualifies you, and its score does not count in the merit.
2. Paper 2: an objective CBT of 300 marks on your technical subject only. Normalised Paper 2 marks decide your rank.
3. Document verification by the user department, plus physical standards for Border Roads Organisation posts.

In older cycles Paper 2 was a descriptive pen and paper test. It is now a CBT with negative marking, so older advice about writing long answers no longer applies.

SSC JE CBT 1 exam pattern

You get 2 hours, with 40 extra minutes for candidates eligible for a scribe. Each right answer earns 1 mark and each wrong one costs 0.25. Going by reports on the latest notice, the qualifying bar is 30% for unreserved candidates, 25% in the OBC and EWS groups, and 20% for the rest, but SSC also shortlists by vacancy, so aim well above it.

SSC JE CBT 2 exam pattern and marking scheme

Each question in this SSC JE mains exam pattern carries 3 marks and a wrong answer takes away 1 mark, a one third penalty that is harsher than the one quarter cut in Paper 1. Because 100 questions decide your rank, a gap of even five correct answers can move you by many places. The paper covers the same technical topics as Paper 1, Part III, but goes deeper into numericals and design.

Reasoning and general awareness syllabus

General Intelligence and Reasoning

The SSC JE CBT 1 syllabus for reasoning mixes word based and figure based items: analogy, similarities and differences, space visualisation, problem solving, analysis and judgment, decision making, visual memory, observation and discrimination, relationship concepts, arithmetical reasoning, verbal and figural classification, and number series.

General Awareness

Knowledge of current events and of matters a person sees every day, along with India's past, its culture and geography, the economy, the polity and science research. Static GK and the last year of news give most of these 50 marks.

Technical topics by branch

Civil and structural engineering

• Civil: building materials; estimating, costing and valuation; surveying; soil mechanics; hydraulics; irrigation engineering; transportation engineering; environmental engineering.
• Structural: theory of structures; concrete technology; RCC design; steel design.

Electrical engineering

• Fundamentals: resistance and capacitance concepts, Kirchhoff and network laws, magnetic circuits, AC theory
• Instruments and the measurement of power, energy and other quantities
• DC machines, transformers, synchronous machines, three phase and single phase induction motors, and small fractional kW motors
• Power generation, transmission lines and distribution systems
• Wiring estimates and costs, uses of electric power such as heating, lighting and traction, and basic electronic devices

Mechanical engineering

• Theory of machines and machine design; engineering mechanics and strength of materials
• Thermal: properties of pure substances, first and second laws of thermodynamics, air standard cycles, IC engine performance, combustion, cooling and lubrication, Rankine cycle, boilers, air compressors, refrigeration, nozzles and steam turbines
• Fluids: properties and classes of fluids, fluid statics and pressure measurement, kinematics and dynamics, flow measurement, hydraulic turbines and centrifugal pumps
• Production: classification of steels

Telecom and Scientific Assistant candidates have their own technical parts listed in the notice annexure.

What to focus on first

With Paper 1 only qualifying, one workable split keeps reasoning and GA to about a fifth of your time and the rest to the technical subject, since it appears in both papers and is the whole of Paper 2.

• Civil: RCC and steel design, soil mechanics, hydraulics and surveying usually carry heavy numericals.
• Electrical: machines, circuits and measurement form the core, with power systems close behind.
• Mechanical: thermodynamics, fluid mechanics and strength of materials are the big three.

Use the SSC JE cut off page to see how high the Paper 2 bar has gone in past rounds.

Four months of preparation for the SSC JE syllabus

1. Months 1 and 2: technical subjects one at a time from your diploma or degree notes, with 20 numericals a day.
2. Month 3: finish the remaining technical topics, and start 30 minutes of reasoning and 30 of GA each day.
3. Month 4: Paper 1 mocks twice a week. Since you only need to qualify, keep the target safe rather than perfect.
4. After Paper 1: switch fully to Paper 2 style practice with 3 mark questions and a strict rule on guessing, because each wrong answer costs 1 mark.

SSC JE syllabus in Hindi

For readers asking what the SSC JE ka syllabus kya hai, the Hindi note below sums it up.

एसएससी जेई परीक्षा में दो कंप्यूटर आधारित पेपर होते हैं। पेपर 1 में तर्कशक्ति के 50, सामान्य जागरूकता के 50 और तकनीकी विषय के 100 प्रश्न आते हैं। कुल अंक 200 हैं और समय दो घंटे है। हर गलती पर चौथाई अंक घटता है। नए नियम में पेपर 1 केवल क्वालीफाइंग है। पेपर 2 में केवल आपकी शाखा के 100 तकनीकी प्रश्न होते हैं, जो 300 अंकों के होते हैं, और हर गलती पर पूरा 1 अंक घटता है। अंतिम मेरिट पेपर 2 के अंकों से बनती है। सिविल, इलेक्ट्रिकल और मैकेनिकल के लिए अलग तकनीकी भाग हैं।

Books and the official notice

For the technical part, your diploma or degree textbooks on each subject are the right base, backed by a good objective question bank for your branch. NCERT books of classes 9 to 12 help with general science in GA. The official scheme and the full syllabus annexure are in the notice on ssc.gov.in. If you are weighing other engineering jobs, compare this with the RRB JE syllabus, and browse other central exams on the SSC exams hub.