NPCIL Assistant Grade 1 Syllabus, Exam Pattern, Eligibility

Both tests are sat on the same day, back to back, without a break, and Stage-2 is only marked if you clear Stage-1. Score 149 in Stage-2 and 59 out of 150 in Stage-1 (39.3 per cent), and your Stage-2 paper is never looked at.

The reserved-category standard applies only where the stream has a vacancy in that category. Otherwise you compete at the unreserved standard.

Guessing

On +3 and −1 with four options, a blind guess is worth exactly zero: 0.75 gained against 0.75 lost. That's unlike a +1 and −0.25 paper, where a blind guess is slightly positive. Knock out one option and it's worth +0.33; knock out two and it's +1.

Ties are broken in this order:

1. Lower negative marks in Stage-2
2. Higher marks in Stage-1
3. Lower negative marks in Stage-1
4. Date of birth, earlier placed higher

Two of the four rungs reward fewer wrong answers, so blind guessing gains nothing and can cost you a tie.

There's no interview and no skill test in the selection.

NPCIL gives the make-up of each paper but no topic list.

Stage-1, the Preliminary Test

• General Knowledge and Current Affairs: national and international affairs, polity and the Constitution, history, geography, economy and general science. Some awareness of India's nuclear programme, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and NPCIL's own plants is a reasonable bet, though not stated.
• Computer Knowledge: the advertisement's description of the later Computer Proficiency Test is the best guide: MS Windows and MS Office (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint), e-mail management and internet surfing.
• English: grammar, vocabulary, error spotting and comprehension at graduate level.

Stage-2, the Advanced Test

Two hours for fifty questions is two minutes and twenty four seconds each, against 72 seconds in Stage-1.

The two tests during probation

Typing Proficiency Test on a computer

• A printed passage of at least 300 words in English, or Hindi if you choose, with stroke counts marked.
• 10 minutes to type it at 30 words per minute, then 5 more minutes to format and print it to match the handout.
• Ten formatting features for 10 marks, of which you need at least 6: indenting paragraphs, bold, underline, italics, font type, font size, paragraph numbers, centre/left/right/justified alignment, left and right margins, and single and double line spacing.
• One mark off for each omitted or added word (untyped words count as omitted) and for each spelling mistake. Mistakes may not exceed 3 per cent of the words.
• You may use editing tools within the ten minutes if you finish early.

Computer Proficiency Test: 30 minutes, 100 marks, six questions in two parts. Part I is Word, Excel, Access and PowerPoint; Part II is e-mail and internet. It follows fifteen days of training.

Qualification

Any Bachelor's degree with at least 50 per cent in aggregate from a recognised university or institution, in any discipline, for all three streams.

• Full time and regular only. Distance, part time, private study and open schooling including NIOS are not accepted.
• The degree itself must be approved, not just the institute.
• The percentage is total marks in all subjects and years over the aggregate maximum, irrespective of honours, optional or additional optional subjects.
• Fractions are dropped, not rounded. The advertisement's example is 59.99 per cent treated as 59. So 49.99 is 49, and not eligible.
• A higher qualification doesn't replace the prescribed one, and doesn't disqualify you either.

Age

21 to 28 years on 4 February 2026, the closing date, which is also the cut-off date for qualification and experience. The floor of 21 is higher than the 18 most graduate posts use.

Current and backlog vacancies

Persons with benchmark disabilities

Two backlog posts: one in Finance and Accounts, disability category (a), and one in Human Resource, category (b). Disability must be 40 per cent or more. The suitable categories differ by stream, so check the list for yours in the advertisement.

Project Affected Persons

For those whose land was acquired for the Tarapur Atomic Power Station, for Group C posts: the qualification drops to a pass in graduation, and 20 per cent of the total marks are added as bonus at all stages, which is thirty marks on a 150-mark paper.

1. Stage-1, Preliminary Test. One hour, 50 questions, 150 marks. Qualifying only.
2. Stage-2, Advanced Test. Two hours, 50 questions, 150 marks. Sat straight after Stage-1, and marked only if you clear it. Merit is on Stage-2 alone.
3. Document verification for candidates shortlisted from the Stage-2 merit list, up to three times the vacancies per post (more on a tie at the boundary).
4. Empanelment in Stage-2 merit order against the post applied for.

The easier bar is on the harder paper: 40 per cent for Stage-1, 30 for Stage-2 (unreserved). Beyond qualifying, Stage-1 only matters as the second tie-breaker.

Probation

In the advertisement's words, a candidate who fails the typing test at the second chance or fails the Computer Proficiency Test will have his or her services terminated for not acquiring the requisite skills for performing the duty satisfactorily.

NPCIL can conduct or re-conduct the test at any or all centres, and won't change your centre, date or time on request.

The DA rate changes as the Government of India notifies.

Allowances, depending on posting: transport, house rent (or leased accommodation or housing), site location allowance, and an annual professional update allowance.

Benefits: leave and leave encashment, LTA; Contributory Health Service Scheme for self and dependants, and post-retirement medical care; schooling for children within the township and children's education assistance; reimbursement of cable TV, mobile, newspaper and professional membership fees; canteen subsidy; Performance Linked Incentive; house building and general purpose advances; EPF, gratuity, benevolent fund, group insurance, and the NPCIL Defined Contribution Pension Scheme-2025, a defined contribution rather than a defined benefit pension.

Other posts in the same advertisement

Apply online on NPCIL's recruitment portal, npcilcareers.co.in.

Only male General, EWS and OBC applicants pay, and it isn't refundable. SC, ST, PwBD, ex-servicemen, dependants of defence personnel killed in action, all women and NPCIL employees are exempt. Pay by card or net banking between 15 January 2026, 10:00 and 4 February 2026, 16:00.

The form has five stages: qualifications, work experience, personal details, photo and signature upload, then submit. You see a full draft before submitting and can still go back. After submitting, nothing can be changed. Exempt candidates get a registration number straight away; others are sent to the payment page first.

Your photo is printed on the e-Admit Card, and only the person in that photo is let in. Use a current, clear one.

At document verification bring the e-Admit Card, all marksheets for each year or semester, any caste, EWS, disability or ex-serviceman certificate in the Government of India format, and proof of age.

NPCIL keeps a standing Beware, do not get tricked notice on its Opportunities and Policies page. The portal is the only way in.

NPCIL designs, builds, runs, maintains and decommissions India's nuclear power reactors. Its stations are Tarapur, Rawatbhata, Kalpakkam, Kaiga, Narora, Kakrapar and Kudankulam, with projects under construction at Rawatbhata, Kudankulam, Gorakhpur in Haryana and Kaiga. Each has a township, hence the site allowance and township schooling.

There's no national recruitment. Each site advertises on the common portal: in the same period Kaiga, Kakrapar, Madras (Kalpakkam), Rajasthan Rawatbhata and the Mumbai headquarters all had their own. The scheme is the same; vacancies and dates differ.

No list of test cities is published. You're told by e-mail and SMS when the e-Admit Card is ready, and the time and venue are on the card, downloaded through Applicant's Login on npcilcareers.co.in.

No change of centre, date or time is allowed. NPCIL allots centres as it sees fit and can re-conduct the test at any centre.

The day is three hours straight: Stage-1 for one hour, then Stage-2 for two with no break. Don't burn yourself out on Stage-1; its marks don't count.

Carry a clearly printed e-Admit Card with your photo. PwBD candidates get help with access and seating, and NPCIL publishes an Equal Opportunity Policy for Persons with Disabilities on its main site.

The window closes at 16:00, not midnight. Test and verification dates come by e-mail and SMS.

NPCIL has no annual calendar. In 2026 its portal carried advertisements from different sites in every month from January to August, but rarely the same post at the same site. Keep an eye on npcilcareers.co.in.

You'll get an e-mail and SMS when the e-Admit Card is ready. Download it through Applicant's Login on npcilcareers.co.in. It shows the time and venue, and one card covers both papers.

Bring a clear printout. You won't be let in without it, and only the person whose photo is on the card may sit.

The card doesn't mean your candidature is accepted. Eligibility is checked against originals at document verification.

Stage-1 failures are screened out with their Stage-2 unmarked. The rest are ranked on Stage-2, up to three times the vacancies are called to document verification, and those who clear it are empanelled in merit order.

NPCIL does publish cut-off marks for various disciplines, select lists and shortlists for document verification and interview. In 2026 it did so for the Stipendiary Trainee and Scientific Assistant streams. Look for them on the Opportunities and Policies page and under Results on npcil.nic.in, and on npcilcareers.co.in under the advertisement. Call letters are notified by e-mail and SMS.

The published bars are qualifying marks, not cut-offs: Stage-1 at 60 out of 150 unreserved (45 reserved), Stage-2 at 45 (30 reserved). The real line is set by calling three candidates per vacancy: roughly eighteen for Human Resource, fifteen for Finance and Accounts and twelve for Contracts and Materials Management.

NPCIL publishes cut-off marks for various disciplines with its select lists on the Opportunities and Policies page; it did so in 2026 for other streams. Each site and stream is a separate merit list, so there's no single Assistant Grade 1 cut-off.

Two things push marks down: +3 and −1 marking, and a hard two-hour Stage-2. A 75 out of 150 here isn't the same as 75 on a paper with no penalty. Project Affected Persons' thirty bonus marks per paper can also move a closing mark.

• Don't guess blind. On +3 and −1 a blind guess is worth nothing, and fewer negative marks win ties. Answer what you know or can narrow down, and leave the rest.
• Stage-2 is what counts. Clear Stage-1 comfortably and keep your concentration for the two hours that follow.
• Prepare Stage-2 for depth, Stage-1 for speed. Quantitative Aptitude and Critical Reasoning get nearly two and a half minutes a question.
• Computer Knowledge is 45 of Stage-1's 150 marks. Windows, Office, e-mail and internet.
• General knowledge is half of Stage-1 and English only ten questions, the reverse of most clerical papers.
• Practise the real day. Sit a one-hour Stage-1 mock (25, 15, 10) and then a two-hour Stage-2 mock (25, 25) back to back, marked +3 and −1.
• Learn to type before you join. 300 words in ten minutes at 30 wpm, under 3 per cent mistakes, then five minutes of formatting. The full procedure is on pages 33 and 34 of the advertisement.
• Check your percentage before applying. 49.99 counts as 49.

NPCIL doesn't publish question papers, answer keys or model papers for this recruitment.

The full paper make-up, marking and the detailed typing and computer proficiency procedures are in the 41-page Advertisement No. TMS/HRM/01/2026. Cut-off marks and select lists for earlier cycles are on NPCIL's Opportunities and Policies page.

• NPCIL recruitment portal, current, closed and archived advertisements from every site
• Advertisement No. TMS/HRM/01/2026, Tarapur Maharashtra Site, 41 pages
• Opportunities and Policies, with cut-off marks and select lists of earlier cycles
• Results
• Pay Structure and Career Growth, Promotion and Development Avenues
• Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited

Who recruits NPCIL Assistant Grade 1?

NPCIL itself, site by site. The latest was the Tarapur Maharashtra Site's TMS/HRM/01/2026. Other sites advertise separately on the same portal.

How many vacancies were there?

15: Human Resource 6, Finance and Accounts 5, Contracts and Materials Management 4. Four are backlog, and two are reserved for persons with benchmark disabilities.

I have 49.99 per cent. Am I eligible?

No. Fractions are dropped, so 49.99 is 49.

What is the age limit?

21 to 28 as on 4 February 2026, plus 5 years for SC and ST and 3 for OBC. Serving NPCIL employees have no upper limit.

Does Stage-1 count towards my rank?

No. Merit is on Stage-2 only, and Stage-2 isn't marked unless you clear Stage-1.

Is there an interview or typing test?

Neither in the selection. The typing test comes six months into probation, and failing it twice ends your service.

What is the fee?

Rs 100, paid only by male General, EWS and OBC applicants. Women and the other listed categories are exempt.

Can I correct my application?

Only before you submit.