The Union public service commission carries out the Special Class railway apprentice exam as per the vacancies arises in the Railway departments. This examination provides the greater opportunity for the job seekers to be a part of the world’s largest employer. Throughout the country a large number of aspirants are taking this exam and hence the competitive nature of the test is little high.

Structure of UPSC SCRA Exam

The UPSC Special Class Railway Apprentices’ Examination conducted in two stages. The first stage includes the written test with objective questions carrying 600 marks and the second stage includes the personality test with 200 marks. The written examination consist of three papers,

Paper I

General Ability Test with two hours duration carrying 200 marks with

• English
• General Knowledge
• Psychological Test

Paper-II

It is two hours duration with 200 marks including the subjects,

• Physics
• Chemistry

Paper-III

It evaluates candidate’s capability in Mathematics with 200 question and the duration of the paper is 120 minutes.

Syllabus for UPSC SCRA Exam

Section – I

General English

This part is to evaluate the candidates command over the language.

General Knowledge

• Man and his environment
• Knowledge of the human body
• Solar system and the earth
• History, Politics and Society in India
• Constitution of India and its characteristic features
• India’s foreign policy and non-alignments
• Broad features of Indian social systems
• Division of labour, co-operation, conflict and competition
• Social control
• Social Disorganization in India
• Social planning and welfare in India
• Money
• Psychological Test
• Basic intelligence
• Mechanical aptitude

Paper-II

Physics

• Length measurements
• Mass and Weight
• Electricity
• Temperature
• Laws of Motions
• Waves
• Magnetism
• Optics
• Thermodynamics
• Current Electricity
• Electromagnetic induction
• Radioactivity
• Nuclear energy

CHEMISTRY

• Physical Chemistry
• Atomic structure
• Chemical Bonding
• Energy changes in a chemical reaction
• Chemical Equilibrium and rates of reactions
• Solutions
• Electro-Chemistry
• Oxidation
• Natural and Artificial Radioactivity
• Inorganic Chemistry
• Hydrogen
• Group I Elements
• Group II Elements
• Group III Elements
• Group IV Elements
• Group V Elements
• Group VI Elements
• Group VII Elements
• Group Zero
• Metallurgical Processes
• Organic Chemistry
• Tetrahedral nature of Carbon
• General methods of preparation
• Halogen derivatives
• Hydroxy Compounds
• Ethers; Diethyl ether
• ldehydes and ketones
• Nitro compounds amines
• Carboxyl ic acid
• Esters
• P o l y m e r s
• Nonstructural treatment of Carbohydrate

MATHEMATICS

• Algebra
• Trigonometry
• Analytic Geometry
• Differential Calculus
• Integral Calculus and Differential
• Statistics and probability

Eligibility Criteria

The aspirant must be an Indian resident with at least 17 years of age. The candidates below the age of 21 can apply for the examination. The minimum education requirement for the examination is higher secondary with Mathematics as a compulsory paper with Physics or Chemistry as optional. The physical fitness of the candidates is also required.

How to Apply?

The candidates can download the form of Special Class Railway Apprentices’ from the official website of UPSC. The form can be obtained by post by sending the request to the given address for application form. While sending the form the candidate needs to keep the DD of the set amount along with the required postal stamp with the request letter.

How to fill the Form?

The information bulletin obtained along with the Common application form carries the instructions of filling up the application form. The offline applicants need to read the given instructions and follow the direction while filling the form. The candidates can use only the black ball pen for filling up the application form and darkening the bubbles. The aspirant should give the correct information as per the official records and should attach the needed documents along with the filled form. The online applicants can see the instructions in the website and print out of the completely filled form should send to the UPSC examination centre along with the attachments and DD before the final date.

Important Dates (Tentative)

Last date for submission of completely filled Application forms: 2nd week of February, 2012

Last date for the receipt of completely filled Application forms (for the students residing in remote areas or abroad): within the month of March, 2012

Examination starts from: June 1st week, 2012

List of UPSC SCRA Exam centers

• Agartala
• Gangtok
• Panaji
• Ahmedabad
• Hyderabad
• Patna
• Aizawl
• Imphal
• Port Blair
• Allahabad
• Itanagar
• Raipur
• Bangalore
• Jaipur
• Ranchi
• Bareilly
• Jammu
• Sambalpur
• Bhopal
• Jorhat
• Shillong
• Chandigarh
• Kochi
• Shimla
• Chennai
• Kohima
• Srinagar
• Cuttack
• Kolkata
• Thiruvananthapuram
• Dehradun
• Lucknow
• Tirupati
• Delhi
• Madurai
• Udaipur
• Dharwad
• Mumbai
• Vishakhapatnam
• Dispur
• Nagpur

Contact Address for the UPSC SCRA Exam

• Secretary, Union Public Service Commission, Dholpur House, Shahjahan Road, New Delhi – 110069
• Tel No.: 011-23385271/ 23381125/23098543
• Website: www.upsc.gov.in

Reference Books for UPSC SCRA Exam

• Upkars UPSC Special Class Railway Apprentice Examination by Dr. Lal and Jain
• SCRA: Special Class Railway Apprentices Entrance Exam Guide by R. P. Datason, D. V. Chopra and V. C. Garg
• Scra Special Class Railway Apprentices by by R. Gupta’s
• The Pearson Guide to The SCRA Examination by Edgar Thorpe and Showick Thorpe
• A Guidebook for SCRA Exam with Solve Papers by Expert Compilation
• Solved Papers & Mocks Tests for SCRA Exam by Expert Compilation

Coaching Centers for UPSC SCRA Exam

• Ambedkar Study Circle
• Analog IAS Institute
• Anand Institute of Mathematics
• Brain Tree
• Carreer Plus
• Gandhi IAS Study Circle
• Hamdard Study Circle
• IAS / IES Made Easy
• Jagan Civil Services
• Paradigm IAS
• Target IAS
• Vajiram & Ravi Institute for Civil Services Examination
• Venkateswara Reddy Study Circle

Study Plan

Having a structured study sketch will help the candidates to score high in the test. The candidates should keep their focus in the syllabus of the test and cover each topic in the prescribed syllabus. You have to manage the time as per the scheduled time and cover maximum questions with right response. So it is important to have the deep understanding in the subjects. You can use the reference books in each subject and that of the UPSC study guides. The text books in the higher secondary level will also help the candidates to understand the theory part. Most of the UPSC coaching centers providing the training on the special class apprentice examination and there the candidates can practice for the exam along with the mock test and previous papers.

How and Where To Get the Results?

The result of the test will be available from the UPSC web portal. The rank list of the examination published in the website on the announced date.

Score Validity

The score of the UPSC special class railway apprentice examination is valid until the next examination is carried out or till the published vacancies are filled.