SSC JE EE Syllabus, Exam Pattern, Eligibility

Note the weighting in Paper-II: 100 questions for 300 marks, so three marks a question. Para 18.2 makes Paper-I qualifying: on its normalised marks, candidates are shortlisted category-wise to sit Paper-II. Paper-I decides who sits Paper-II; Paper-II decides the recruitment.

The negative marking differs sharply between the papers

Four wrong answers cancel one right one in Paper-I; three do it in Paper-II, a materially harsher rate, in the paper that actually decides the merit list.

Reasoning and General Awareness are sat by every candidate whatever post they applied for. The third section is the technical Part opted for in the application form, according to the candidate's essential qualification. Parts A to F run in one batch; only Part-G, for Junior Engineer (Telecom), runs separately.

On the console, and not in the room

• The Table of IS 456:2000 Code of Practice and the Steam Table, where required, sit under the "Useful Data" button next to Instructions, active throughout the examination.
• A scientific calculator is on the screen for the whole duration, as an icon towards the left of the candidate's application image.
• No physical table and no physical calculator may be carried into the examination lab.

Normalisation, including between branches

Marks are normalised when a paper runs in multiple shifts, by the procedure the Commission published on 2 June 2025. Two extra rules apply here. Because a few posts are open to both mechanical and electrical engineers and the two receive different papers whose difficulty may vary, the two branches' marks are normalised against each other, treated as different shifts. The same is done to Part-D, Part-E and Part-F for the IMD post. Normalised Paper-I marks shortlist; only normalised Paper-II scores determine the final merit.

Where candidates tie on Paper-II aggregate, the order is: marks in Part (i) of Paper-I, then Part (ii), then date of birth with older candidates higher, then alphabetical order of names. So Paper-I marks, qualifying though they are, still separate candidates who tie. Para 13.20 rules out re-evaluation and re-checking of any stage or paper; the paid answer-key challenge window is the only route.

The syllabus is Para 14 of the 2026 notice. The standard in the engineering subjects is approximately that of a Diploma in Engineering, and all questions are set in SI units.

Paper-I, Parts (i) and (ii)

General Intelligence and Reasoning, 50 questions, verbal and non-verbal: analogies, similarities and differences, space visualization, problem solving, analysis, judgement, decision making, visual memory, discrimination, observation, relationship concepts, arithmetical reasoning, verbal and figure classification, arithmetical number series, and questions on abstract ideas and symbols and their relationships.

General Awareness, 50 questions: the environment around the candidate and its application to society, current events, and matters of everyday observation in their scientific aspect, with questions on India and its neighbours covering History, Culture, Geography, Economic Scene, General Polity and Scientific Research. These need no special study of any discipline.

Part-B, Electrical Engineering

Eleven headings, the same in both papers. Paper-I has 100 questions for 100 marks; Paper-II has 100 for 300, over the same ground in more depth.

Three things to read off that list. The difference between the papers is depth, not scope: Paper-I is a sweep at 36 seconds a question, Paper-II the same ground at 72 seconds and three marks each. Power Electronics is a heading in its own right, not folded into Basic Electronics, so older material built around a syllabus without it is incomplete. And the IE Rules are examinable under both estimation and costing and earthing practices: a regulatory text, easy to skip by accident.

Since electrical and mechanical candidates share one merit list, it helps to know what the other paper covers: Part-C runs across Engineering Mechanics, Strength of Materials, Theory of Machines, Machine Design, Materials Science, Thermal Engineering, Fluid Mechanics, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering and Metrology. You are not examined on it; your normalised score is compared against candidates who were.

Age, reckoned as on 1 August 2026

The crucial date is fixed by DoP&T OM No. 14017/70/87-Estt.(RR) of 14 July 1988. On the electrical side the 32-year limit applies at CPWD and the Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships; every other organisation is 30.

Age relaxation is not admissible to sons, daughters and dependants of ex-servicemen. The date of birth in the form must match the Matriculation certificate: a mismatch is a ground for rejection, and no change is granted.

Educational qualification, as on the closing date

Qualification is reckoned as on the closing date of the online application, unlike age. Three things follow from that table. A plain diploma with no experience gets you CPWD, CWPRS and Farakka Barrage and nothing else. CPWD accepts a mechanical diploma for its electrical post. And BRO is the only entry that accepts Automobile Engineering.

Cross-eligibility, and nationality

Note 3 makes a Junior Engineer (Electrical) applicant also eligible for Junior Engineer (Telecom), subject to its qualification, and for Junior Engineer (Electrical and Mechanical); Note 1 works the other way for mechanical candidates. Being eligible is not being entered: you apply for each post you want and must then appear in the respective examinations. Part-G runs in a separate batch, so sitting both is possible.

A candidate must be a citizen of India, or a subject of Nepal or Bhutan, or a person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia or Vietnam intending to settle permanently in India. The last two categories need a certificate of eligibility issued by the Government of India.

Physical and medical standards apply to the Border Roads Organisation alone: a one-mile run in 10 minutes at the GREF Centre, Pune, then a medical board against region-wise standards written for extreme remote, high-altitude and hilly deployment. No other organisation in this notice imposes one.

1. Paper-I, computer-based, 200 marks, qualifying in nature. On the normalised marks, candidates are shortlisted category-wise to sit Paper-II.
2. Paper-II, computer-based, 300 marks, on the technical Part alone. Only normalised Paper-II scores determine the final merit.
3. Document verification, the medical or physical requirements where the post carries them, and appointment to the organisation and post allotted.

Both papers need 30 per cent for UR, 25 per cent for OBC and EWS and 20 per cent for all other categories.

Separate merit lists, and separate select lists

Merit lists for Paper-II entry are drawn separately for Junior Engineer (Civil), Junior Engineer (Electrical and Mechanical), Scientific Assistant in IMD and Junior Engineer (Telecom), and the select lists at the end are prepared separately for each post on post preference cum normalised Paper-II marks. Electrical candidates get no list of their own: they share the Electrical and Mechanical list, which is why the two branches' marks are normalised against each other.

Allotment is preference-driven, and it is final

Allotment goes on merit cum the preferences of post, department and office. Para 18.8 states the consequence plainly: once a post is allotted, no change is made, and a candidate selected against a higher preference who then fails its medical, physical or educational standard has the candidature rejected, with no lower preference considered. Order your preferences by what you can actually clear, not only by what you want.

The extra stage that drives this applies to BRO alone. Schedule-I sets one activity, a one mile run in 10 minutes, carrying no marks but mandatory to pass, held at the GREF Centre, Pune; passing it is what allows a candidate to reach the medical examination. Schedule-II sets region-wise physical standards for GREF and Schedule-III the medical standards, written for a job profile that anticipates deployment to extreme remote areas, high altitude, difficult areas and hilly terrain. A medical board nominated by Headquarters, Director General Border Roads examines each provisionally selected candidate.

Vacancies, reservation and conduct

• The Commission maintains no waiting or reserve list for its multi-factor examinations. It fills the notified vacancies through a sliding mechanism, explained in its notices of 3 March 2026 and 8 April 2026.
• SC, ST, OBC, EWS and PwBD candidates selected on their own merit without relaxed standards are accommodated against unreserved vacancies or their category's, whichever is more advantageous. Those who qualify using a relaxed standard of age, experience, qualification or an extended zone count against reserved vacancies regardless of merit position.
• A candidate eligible for several posts may apply for several, but must appear in the respective examinations. Applying is not enough.
• Candidates found indulging in the malpractices listed in the notice, at any stage during or after the examination, have their candidature cancelled and are debarred from the Commission's examinations for the period specified, on top of any legal action.

The notice states it in its opening paragraph: these are Group 'B' posts at Level-6 (₹35,400 to ₹1,12,400) of the 7th CPC pay matrix, in every participating organisation that recruits them.

₹35,400 is basic pay, not take-home. Added to it are Dearness Allowance at the rate in force, House Rent Allowance at the class of the city posted to, Transport Allowance and whatever the department concerned pays. Deducted from it are the National Pension System contribution and CGHS. The notice publishes the pay level and no take-home figure, and none is invented here.

Group 'B' status also governs one relaxation: age relaxation for ex-servicemen is admissible on the Group 'B' terms, and an ex-serviceman already re-employed on a regular basis in a Central Government Group 'C' or 'D' post after availing ESM reservation is not eligible for ESM reservation or the fee concession again.

One caution on posting. The organisations recruiting electrical engineers here run from the Central Public Works Department, which maintains government buildings, to the Border Roads Organisation, whose medical standards are written for extreme remote, high altitude and hilly terrain and which adds a physical test, to the Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships, whose installations are coastal and offshore. Read the posting profile before ranking an organisation high, because once a post is allotted it is not changed.

Applications are submitted online at ssc.gov.in, and nowhere else. The Commission runs a toll-free helpline on 180 030 930 63 for difficulty with the form.

The fee, and who does not pay it

₹100, and the exemptions are broad: women candidates, and candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Persons with Benchmark Disabilities and Ex-Servicemen eligible for reservation, pay nothing. Payment is online only, by BHIM UPI, net banking, or a Visa, MasterCard, Maestro or RuPay debit card. If the fee does not reach the Commission, the form's status shows as 'Incomplete', and an incomplete form is not an application. Check the status after paying.

Three choices on the form that cannot be undone

• The Part you sit. The technical subject in both papers is the Part opted for in the form, according to your essential qualification. For Junior Engineer (Electrical) that is Part-B, General Engineering (Electrical): one section of Paper-I and the whole of Paper-II. A candidate whose qualification also covers telecom may opt for Part-G instead, but not both in one application.
• The centre. Three preferences, all in the same region, in order of priority. No request for change of centre is considered later, under any circumstances.
• The date of birth, which must match the Matriculation or Secondary Examination certificate. No subsequent request for change is considered, and a mismatch is a ground for rejection.

Everything else can be corrected only in the three day paid correction window, 28 to 30 September 2026. Once it closes, no change, correction or modification is allowed under any circumstances, and requests by post, fax, email or hand are summarily rejected.

If you are eligible for more than one post you may apply for more than one, but you must then appear in the respective examinations for each. Decide before you apply whether you can sit them all.

This examination recruits for the Government of India as a whole. Para 2 of the notice lists fourteen organisations; these are the ones recruiting on the electrical side.

The rest recruit on other streams: Brahmaputra Board, Central Water Commission, NTRO and the Ministry of Fisheries for civil, the Department of Telecommunications for JE (Telecom), and the India Meteorological Department for Scientific Assistant. Central Water Commission and DGQA-Naval also recruit Junior Engineer (Mechanical), which feeds the same merit list you compete in.

Because allotment is on merit cum preference and Para 18.8 allows no fallback, two rules follow: do not rank BRO high unless you are confident of the one-mile run and a medical board written for high-altitude deployment, and do not rank an organisation you are not qualified for, since a diploma holder with no experience is not eligible for BRO, MES or DGQA-Naval.

On numbers, the notice gives 1,748 tentative vacancies across all posts, with post-wise and category-wise figures published separately at ssc.gov.in under For Candidates, Tentative Vacancy. The Commission states that it does not collect state-wise or zone-wise vacancies, so any state-wise breakdown published elsewhere is not its.

Both papers are Computer Based Examinations, held at centres under the Commission's nine regional and sub-regional offices: Central Region (Bihar, Uttar Pradesh), Eastern, Karnataka-Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, North Eastern, Northern, North Western, Southern and Western. Each region's centre list, with centre codes, is in Para 12.1 of the notice.

A candidate gives three centre preferences within one region, in order of priority. No request for change of centre is considered later, under any circumstances, though the Commission reserves the right to add or cancel centres and to divert candidates from one to another.

That is 40 minutes of compensatory time on a 2-hour paper, for candidates eligible for a scribe under the notice's provisions for Persons with Benchmark Disabilities.

The console carries the IS 456:2000 table and the Steam Table under "Useful Data", and a scientific calculator as an icon, both available for the whole duration. No physical table and no physical calculator may be brought into the lab. Learn where those buttons are before the day; hunting for them inside a two hour paper is time you do not have.

Parts A to F are conducted in one batch, so Part-B sits with the main group; only Part-G, for Junior Engineer (Telecom), runs separately. Paper-I is tentatively in October or November 2026 and Paper-II in December 2026, as separate events with separate city intimations and separate Admission Certificates.

One date is not a deadline: age is reckoned as on 1 August 2026, under DoP&T OM No. 14017/70/87-Estt.(RR) of 14 July 1988, rather than on the closing date. Educational qualification, by contrast, is reckoned as on the closing date of the application.

The dates that trip people

• The fee deadline is a day after the application deadline. 22 September for the form, 23 September for the payment, and a form whose fee has not reached the Commission shows as 'Incomplete'.
• The correction window is three days and it is charged. After 30 September no correction of any kind is allowed.
• Both examination dates are tentative. Para 13.19: any change is communicated only through the Commission's website.

For scale, the previous cycle ran like this: Paper-I in November 2025 with self-slot selection notices, the Paper-I tentative answer key on 19 December 2025, tentative vacancies on 26 February 2026, the Paper-I result on 6 March 2026, city intimation and Admission Certificates for Paper-II on 23 and 27 March, and the Paper-II tentative answer key on 16 April 2026. A little over a year from notice to final result, with a dated notice at every step.

The Commission issues an Admission Certificate for each paper, downloaded from the website of the regional office concerned, whose addresses are in Para 12.1 of the notice. A separate intimation of the city of examination goes up some days earlier. Both are announced on the notice board at ssc.gov.in, separately for Paper-I and Paper-II, and qualifying in Paper-I is what generates the second.

No Admission Certificate follows an 'Incomplete' form, which is what the status shows if the fee has not reached the Commission. Women, SC, ST, PwBD and eligible ex-servicemen candidates pay no fee and should still confirm the form is complete.

Candidates eligible for a scribe get 2 hours 40 minutes instead of 2 hours for each paper. The Commission runs a One Time Registration for Scribe facility on its website, and the eligibility has to be claimed in the application rather than at the centre.

Your centre cannot be changed: three preferences within one region were given at the application stage, and no request for a change is considered later, though the Commission may itself divert candidates between centres. Carry no physical calculator or printed code table; both are on the console.

Paper-I is qualifying: its normalised marks shortlist candidates category-wise for Paper-II, through separate merit lists for Junior Engineer (Civil), Junior Engineer (Electrical and Mechanical), Scientific Assistant in IMD and Junior Engineer (Telecom). Only normalised Paper-II scores determine the final merit. Select lists are then prepared separately for each post, on post preference cum normalised Paper-II marks, and published on the Commission's website, with document verification and allotment following.

Tentative answer keys for each paper go up after the examination, together with the candidate's own response sheet. Representations are accepted online only, within the window given, at ₹50 per question, non-refundable; anything sent by letter, application or email is not entertained. The Commission's Challenge and Objection Management System guidelines of 10 April 2026 govern it. Final answer keys are published with the marks after the result. Para 13.20 rules out re-evaluation and re-checking of any stage or paper, so the paid window is the only route.

Results appear on ssc.gov.in, under the notice board and the results section, and on the regional office websites. The Commission also publishes scores of non-recommended willing candidates for the benefit of other employers.

SSC publishes its cut-off marks, category-wise, with the write-up accompanying each result, for Paper-I and for the final result. Those documents, on ssc.gov.in under the notice board and results for the year concerned, are the only real figures. Nothing is published in advance.

Clearing that floor is necessary and nowhere near sufficient. The Paper-I shortlist is drawn category-wise on merit above it, and the final cut-off is simply whatever the last selected candidate scored in Paper-II.

Why Paper-II is the harder paper

• Paper-I: 200 questions, 200 marks, 2 hours. 36 seconds a question, 0.25 deducted for a wrong answer, so four wrong cancel one right.
• Paper-II: 100 questions, 300 marks, 2 hours. 72 seconds a question, 1 mark deducted against 3 for a right one, so three wrong cancel one right.

That second rate is unusually harsh and it applies to the paper that decides the recruitment. A candidate who guesses freely in Paper-II can finish below where they would have finished by leaving those questions blank.

And a published cut-off is a normalised figure. Marks are normalised across shifts by the procedure of 2 June 2025, and Electrical and Mechanical branch marks are normalised against each other because the two sit different papers, with Part-D, Part-E and Part-F treated the same way for the IMD post. Measuring your raw total against last year's number is not a like-for-like comparison.

The vacancies move too. The 1,748 in the notice is tentative; post-wise and category-wise figures are published separately and revised by corrigenda, and a cut-off is a function of the final count rather than the headline.

Work backwards from the two negative-marking rates

In Paper-I an educated guess between two options is usually worth taking. In Paper-II it is close to a coin flip on a three mark swing, in the only paper that counts. Leave what you do not know in Paper-II.

Know what normalisation does to your score before you see it

Electrical marks are normalised against mechanical marks, treated as different shifts, on top of the ordinary shift normalisation. So the total you compute off the answer key is not the number that gets published, and a previous year's cut-off is itself a normalised figure. Judge your paper by how much of it you could actually do, not by arithmetic against last year's number.

Do not let the qualifying paper cost you the exam

The Paper-II shortlist is drawn on merit above the qualifying floor, not from everyone who cleared 30 per cent, so a bare pass in Paper-I may not reach Paper-II at all. Paper-I is also the first and second tie-breaker at the end, Reasoning marks then General Awareness. Those two general sections are 100 of Paper-I's 200 marks and the cheapest marks in the examination, because they need no engineering.

Give Power Electronics and the IE Rules real time

Both are routinely under-prepared. Power Electronics is a heading of its own, naming thyristor V-I characteristics, firing and gating circuits, buck, boost and buck-boost converters and the three controlled-rectifier configurations. The IE Rules appear twice, under estimation and costing and under earthing practices, and they are a regulatory text that rewards reading rather than deriving.

Practise with numbers, in SI units

Measurement carries the bridges, the meters and the instrument transformers; Electrical Machines carries transformers, DC machines and induction motors with their starting, speed control and braking. Both are large and heavily numerical at Paper-II depth, and all questions are set in SI units. Sit the Commission's per-cycle mock on the real CBT platform too, so the first time you hunt for the on-screen calculator is not during a two hour paper.

Decide your preference order before you apply

Allotment is on merit cum preference, and a candidate selected against a preference whose physical, medical or educational requirement they cannot meet has the candidature rejected, with no fallback. If you hold only a diploma with no experience, do not list BRO, MES or DGQA-Naval. If you are not confident of a one-mile run in 10 minutes and a medical board written for high-altitude deployment, do not rank BRO first.

Finally, download the response sheet while the answer key window is open, whether or not you challenge anything. Challenges are online only at ₹50 per question, non-refundable, and there is no re-evaluation afterwards.

SSC publishes past papers for this examination under For Candidates > Previous Year Question Papers on ssc.gov.in, alongside the tentative answer keys and the final answer keys for each cycle. Cut-off marks go up category-wise with each result write-up on the same site.

Two other things are worth having. After each computer based examination the Commission uploads a tentative answer key together with your own response sheet, for a limited window; it is the closest thing to a real paper on offer and it comes down when the window closes. And it announces a per-cycle mock test on the real CBT platform before the examination, which is the only way to see the actual console, including the "Useful Data" button and the on-screen scientific calculator, before the day.

Check the pattern of any practice paper against Para 13 of the current notice before trusting it. This cycle's Paper-II carries 100 questions for 300 marks with one mark deducted for a wrong answer and a calculator on the console, and a memory-based paper from an older cycle will not reflect that. The syllabus at Para 14 is more granular than most conducting bodies publish and is the document to work from.

• Staff Selection Commission, the official website and the only place any of this is authoritative. Its For Candidates menu carries the Scheme of Examination, the Syllabus, the Examination Calendar, Previous Year Question Papers and Tentative Vacancy; the notice board carries results, answer keys and cut-offs.
• Notice of the Junior Engineer Examination, 2026, F. No. HQ-C-3019/1/2026-C-3 of 2 September 2026. The authoritative document: post-wise essential qualifications and age limits, the scheme of examination, the full syllabus at Para 14, the fee, the centres and the rules.
• Addendum of 10 September 2026, revising the Scientific Assistant qualification.
• The Commission's Guidelines regarding the Challenge / Objection Management System, notice of 10 April 2026, which govern the paid answer key window, and the Normalization Method published on 2 June 2025.
• Notices of 3 March 2026 and 8 April 2026, explaining the sliding mechanism used in place of a waiting list.
• The Scribe Procedure and One Time Registration for Scribe, the regional office websites from which the Admission Certificate is downloaded, and the toll-free application helpline on 180 030 930 63.

Is Paper-I qualifying, or does it count towards the final merit?

Qualifying. Its normalised marks decide who is shortlisted, category-wise, for Paper-II, and only normalised Paper-II scores determine the final merit. Paper-I marks return in one place: they are the first and second tie-breakers.

How much is deducted for a wrong answer?

0.25 marks in Paper-I and one full mark in Paper-II. Since a Paper-II question carries three marks, three wrong answers there cancel one right one. To qualify you need 30 per cent if you are UR, 25 per cent for OBC and EWS and 20 per cent otherwise, in both papers.

Can I carry a calculator or a printed code table?

No. A scientific calculator is on the screen for the whole duration, and the IS 456:2000 table and Steam Table, where required, sit under the "Useful Data" button next to Instructions. No physical version of either is allowed inside the lab.

What is the fee, and who is exempt?

₹100, payable online only. Women candidates and candidates belonging to SC, ST, PwBD and eligible Ex-Servicemen categories pay nothing. If the fee does not reach the Commission the form shows as 'Incomplete', which is not an application.

Can I change my centre, or my date of birth, after applying?

No to both. Three centre preferences are given within one region, and no request for a change is considered later under any circumstances. The date of birth must match the Matriculation certificate, and a mismatch is a ground for rejection. Other fields can be corrected only in the paid window of 28 to 30 September 2026.

Why would my marks change from what I calculated off the answer key?

Normalisation. Marks are normalised across shifts by the Commission's procedure of 2 June 2025, and Electrical and Mechanical branch marks are normalised against each other, treated as different shifts, because the two sit different papers. Published cut-offs are normalised figures too.

Can I ask for a re-check?

No. Para 13.20 rules out re-evaluation and re-checking of any stage or paper. The only route is the answer-key challenge window, online only, at ₹50 per question, non-refundable.

How many vacancies are there, and is there a waiting list?

Tentative vacancies are 1,748 across all posts; post-wise and category-wise figures come later under For Candidates, Tentative Vacancy, and are revised before the final notice. There is no waiting or reserve list; the Commission uses a sliding mechanism instead, explained in its notices of 3 March and 8 April 2026.

Do electrical candidates have their own merit list?

No. Separate lists are drawn for JE (Civil), JE (Electrical and Mechanical), SA in IMD and JE (Telecom), and electrical and mechanical candidates share one. Because they sit different papers, their marks are normalised against each other.

Do I need a degree, or is a diploma enough?

It depends on the organisation. CPWD, CWPRS and Farakka Barrage accept a plain diploma. BRO, DGQA-Naval and MES want a degree, or a three-year diploma plus two years' experience, and DGLL a diploma with three years' experience.

My diploma is in Automobile Engineering. Is that any use here?

In one place. The Border Roads Organisation accepts a three-year diploma in Electrical, Automobile or Mechanical Engineering plus two years' experience, for JE (Electrical and Mechanical). It is the only entry in the notice that names Automobile Engineering, so that route runs through BRO and its physical and medical standards.

Can I apply for JE (Electrical) and something else?

Yes, if you are qualified. Note 3 makes a JE (Electrical) applicant also eligible for JE (Telecom), subject to its qualification, and for JE (Electrical and Mechanical). But you must appear in each of the respective examinations, and Part-G for JE (Telecom) runs in a separate batch from Parts A to F.

What is the age limit?

Up to 30 years for most organisations, up to 32 for CPWD and DGLL, reckoned as on 1 August 2026 rather than the closing date; educational qualification is reckoned on the closing date. Relaxation is 5 years for SC and ST, 3 for OBC, 3 for ex-servicemen after deducting military service, and 10, 13 or 15 years for PwBD by category.

Is there a physical test?

Only for the Border Roads Organisation. Provisionally selected BRO candidates must pass a one-mile run in 10 minutes at the GREF Centre, Pune, then a medical board against standards written for high-altitude and remote deployment.

Is power electronics really on the syllabus?

Yes, as a heading of its own. Part-B names the static V-I characteristic of the thyristor, firing and gating circuits, DC-to-DC conversion with buck, boost and buck-boost converters, and single-phase half-controlled, full-controlled and midpoint-controlled rectifiers. It sits alongside the older basic-electronics block rather than replacing it.