The Staff Selection Commission (SSC) conducts an India-level examination every year to recruit candidates for Junior Engineer (JE) positions in the civil, electrical, mechanical, quantity surveying and contract positions in the most prestigious central government departments. The positions fall under Group B (Non-Gazetted), Level 6 (Rs 35400-112400/-), of the 7th Central Pay Commission’s pay structure. The SSC JE exam uses a two-step selection procedure that combines multiple select-type questions as well as subjective-based questions. 

Each year, thousands of engineering graduates and diploma holders take the Junior Engineer examination conducted by the SSC board. Candidates are drawn to prepare for the SSC JE exam because of the excellent salary, government benefits, and the opportunity to work for the country. To ace the SSC JE exam, candidates must follow the right strategy, and therefore, in the given article, some tips and suggestions are given based on the difficulty level of the exam and the previous year’s exam analysis.

SSC JE Exam Pattern

The SSC JE exam is conducted in two tiers. This indicates that there are two stages to the selection process:

  • Stage 1: There is a two-hour, 200 marks online test.
  • Stage 2: There is a two-hour, 300 marks offline exam.

Candidates must be well-versed in their respective core engineering areas (i.e. civil and structural, electrical or mechanical), as well as in subjects like General Intelligence and General Awareness if they want to succeed on the SSC JE exam. When planning their study, candidates should have a solid understanding of the exam format, as it is essential to score well in the exam and outperform the competition. The SSC JE exam format is given below:

Exam StageSectionsMaximum MarksExam Duration
Paper – IGeneral Intelligence and Reasoning502 Hours
General Awareness50
Part A- General Engineering (Civil & Structural)100
Part B- General Engineering (Electrical)
Part C- General Engineering (Mechanical)
Paper-IIPart A- General Eng. (Civil & Structural)3002 Hours
Part B- General Eng. (Electrical)
Part C- General Eng. (Mechanical)

The SSC JE examination can be passed easily if applicants use the SSC JE preparation tips listed below.

Preparation Tips for SSC JE 

Aspirants must develop a plan after doing an analysis of the factors influencing their preparation. Every aspirant has a unique study plan and strategy. However, given below are a few tips and ideas that will aid in aspirants’ SSC JE preparation.

  • Understand the syllabus: Carefully study the SSC JE Syllabus and SSC Exam Pattern. Separate the subjects into groups based on their degree of difficulty. Understand each topic’s significance from the perspective of the exam. The most important thing is to spend more time on topics that are more significant and frequently asked in the exam.
  • Make a realistic timetable: Make a reasonable schedule and adhere to it strictly. However, be prepared to adjust the schedule if necessary. Give more time for difficult topics.
  • Clear basic concepts and make notes:  Aspirants should have their fundamentals in place for each topic and understand the concept accompanying it. Developing a daily reading schedule that includes time for newspapers, current events magazines, and a variety of engineering-related books is important to update oneself on any significant events for the previous six months. Aspirants should try to take notes for themselves so that they can revise more rapidly. 
  • Improve time management skills: One of the essential factors of exam preparation is time management. It is essential to maintain a balance between speed and accuracy. Set a time limit and practice answering the questions in that time.
    • Time management is extremely important during the exam day in the exam hall as there are 100 questions in the General Intelligence & Reasoning and General Awareness section. Thus, candidates should strive to finish the non-technical portion in 60 minutes and then focus on the technical core subject for the remaining time.
  • Solve previous years’ engineering papers: The SSC JE previous years’ papers help to enhance time management skills for objective and descriptive papers. The strategy to practice these papers is by dividing the engineering SSC JE previous years’ papers into numerical-based and theory-based sections. 
    • The theoretical questions may be answered fast and readily because they are fact-based.
    • Don’t spend too much time answering numerical-based questions. Improve the speed by practising numerical questions on a daily basis.
  • Practice with mock tests: The aim should be to optimise time based on the complexity and level of difficulty of the questions when taking SSC JE mock tests. One may track how much time they devote to each question by taking a mock exam. Make a thorough analysis of the performance following the mock exam. Candidates should keep track of the questions that they regularly get wrong and practise them diligently until they are adept with them.
  • Strategise before marking answers: Candidates should make a plan before answering the questions. Since the SSC JE exam paper involves negative marking, candidates should initially attempt just the questions about which they are absolutely certain, followed by marking the ones about which they are 50% sure and should skip the questions about which they are unsure.

Candidates must concentrate more on the topics from which they couldn’t answer questions during the mock exams throughout the preparation. One must keep in mind that one must learn how to answer every type of question in the examination. Hence, paying close attention to each topic in the syllabus is very important to ace the exam. 

The SSC JE notification was recently released, and candidates can apply for the SSC JE exam until September 2, 2022. Candidates who successfully finish the application procedure will be able to download the SSC JE Admit Card from the official website of SSC. The exam dates for the SSC JE exam have not been announced yet. The release dates for the admit cards will be announced after the release of the SSC JE exam dates. 

Hopefully, the above-mentioned tips will help the aspirants to prepare easily for the exam. At last, remain calm and confident while answering the questions in the examination hall.