The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) often recruits eligible candidates for Junior Research Fellow (JRF) positions. Applicants must hold M.A or M.Sc qualification in subjects like life sciences or social sciences with at least 55% marks. The pattern of the written exam comprise of two sections. Section 1 includes aptitude based questions whereas Section II comprise of subject specific questions. It is compulsory to quality this entrance exam by scoring at least 55% marks to get selected.

Eligibility Criteria for ICMR JRF Entrance Exam

M.A/M.Sc holders from any recognized University are eligible to apply. It is compulsory to pass M.A or M.Sc degree in any of the subjects in life sciences or social sciences. Candidates must obtain the required qualification with a minimum of 55% marks (50% marks for SC/ST candidates). Final year post graduate students can also apply for this exam and they will be admitted provisionally for this post. Such candidates will be considered only if they can complete the post graduate course with a specified percentage of marks. The higher age limit specified for JRF is 28 years. However age relaxations are allowed for SC/ST and OBC categories in the order of 5 years and 3 years respectively.

Pattern for ICMR JRF Entrance Exam

The pattern of written examination comprise of multiple choice questions divided in two sections which is explained below –

Section 1 – Aptitude Section (Compulsory section)

• Total number of questions – 50 questions
• Total marks – 50 marks

This section includes questions from the following topics –

• Common statistics
• General knowledge in sciences
• Scientific Phenomenon in Everyday Life

Section 2 – Subject Specific Section – This section is further divided in to two parts and includes questions from two subjects sections namely Life Sciences and Social Sciences. Candidates can choose to attempt questions from any of the subject parts.

Part 1 - Life Sciences

• Total number of questions -100 questions (out of which candidates can attempt any 75 questions)

Following are the main topics covered under Life Sciences -

• Biochemistry
• Bioinformatics
• Biophysics
• Biotechnology
• Botany
• Environmental sciences
• Genetics
• Human biology
• Immunology
• Microbiology
• Molecular biology
• Pharmacology
• Physiology
• Veterinary sciences
• Zoology

Part 2 – Social Sciences

• Total number of questions -100 questions (out of which candidates can attempt any 75 questions)

The main topics covered under Social Sciences subject part are –

• Statistics and Health economics
• Sociology
• Social work
• Psychology
• Home sciences
• Anthropology

The time limit allotted for the entrance exam is 2 hours for a specific section. A qualifying mark percentage of 55% (50% cutoff for SC/ST/OBC/PH candidates) need to be scored by candidates in both the sections by candidates to finally qualify the entrance examination.