ISRO Scientist Civil study guide
ISRO Scientist Civil · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The ISRO Scientist/Engineer 'SC' Civil recruitment examination is the entry route into scientific and engineering posts at the Indian Space Research Organisation for civil engineering graduates. It is aimed at candidates who hold a first-class BE/BTech (or equivalent) in Civil Engineering and who want to work on launch-pad structures, ground infrastructure, water and environmental systems, and site facilities rather than on satellite payloads themselves. The ISRO Scientist Civil study guide has 9 sections and about 2,920 words.
01Engineering Mathematics and Numerical Methods
ISRO uses this domain as a filter: items are short, computational and unforgiving of sign or unit slips. Expect rank and eigenvalue problems, partial differentiation, first-order ODEs, standard probability distributions, and numerical methods judged on order of error and convergence.
351 words, about 2 min02Structural Engineering: Mechanics of Solids, Structural Analysis, Concrete and Steel Design
Structural engineering carries the largest question share. Mechanics of solids tests stress–strain behaviour and beam theory; structural analysis tests determinate and indeterminate systems; design tests IS 456 for concrete and IS 800 for steel.
338 words, about 2 min03Geotechnical Engineering: Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering
Questions run from index properties to bearing capacity. ISRO favours short numerical items on phase relationships, effective stress, consolidation settlement and shear strength, with classification and compaction theory as supporting topics.
335 words, about 2 min04Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering: Fluid Mechanics, Hydraulics, Hydrology, Irrigation
Questions are formula-driven: Bernoulli and momentum applications, open-channel flow, hydrologic abstractions and unit hydrographs, plus irrigation duty and canal design. Expect two or three calculation items and one conceptual item on dimensional analysis or similitude.
316 words, about 2 min05Environmental Engineering: Water Supply, Wastewater, Air and Solid Waste Management
This domain mixes design calculations with standards: water demand and treatment trains, sewer hydraulics, BOD kinetics and effluent limits, plus air-quality and solid-waste fundamentals. Per capita demand is commonly taken as 135 lpcd; peak factors are 1.5 for distribution mains and 3 for trunk mains; fire demand follows Kuichling's formula.
309 words, about 2 min06Transportation Engineering: Highways, Railways, Airports, Traffic Engineering
Coverage spans highway geometry and pavement design, railway track and alignment, airport runway length, and traffic flow theory. Numerical items come from superelevation, sight distance and delay; theory items from pavement layers and railway fixtures.
330 words, about 2 min07Surveying, Geomatics and Remote Sensing Applications
Questions are traditional plus modern: chain and compass work, levelling, theodolite and tacheometry, then geomatics - GPS, remote sensing and GIS. Conceptual items on resolution and map projections are as likely as reduction-of-levels arithmetic.
323 words, about 2 min08Construction Materials, Management and Estimating
Questions split into material specifications - cement chemistry, concrete, bricks, steel - and project management - CPM/PERT, crashing and estimating. This domain rewards precise definitions and recall of IS code provisions.
318 words, about 2 min09General Aptitude, Reasoning and Quantitative Ability
This section rewards speed and accuracy across series, coding, reasoning and quantitative problems at roughly matriculation level. The questions are not hard, but negative marking punishes careless computation.
300 words, about 2 min