How to Prepare for BARC

The BARC test is held to fill positions for Trainee Scientific Officers (DGFS or OCES). Bhabha Atomic Research Centre is its full name. This test is given once a year, and you have an infinite number of chances to pass it. To appear in the BARC exam, one needs to pass the GATE exam.

To appear for any exam, one must be through with the paper pattern and its syllabus.

Let us first understand the paper pattern of the BARC exam:

•       Number of questions: 100
•       Total duration: 3 hours
•       Marks for each correct answer: 3 marks
•       Marks for each wrong answer: 1 mark
•       Question type: All objective questions

As there are 100 questions, and the time duration is 3 hours, one will get approximately 1.8 minute to solve each question. The level of difficulty of BARC exam questions remains same as the difficulty level of the 2 marks question in GATE exam.

Generally, the cut-off for BARC exam remains 50% marks, i.e., around 150 marks, so if one manages to solve 60% of questions, it would be very easy to clear the cut-off. Also, keeping in mind the negative marking, one needs to be very choosy while picking up the questions, as marking wrong answers would result in deducting the marks.

Let us now understand about the syllabus of the BARC exam. Though the BARC never releases its exact syllabus, the following are the topics which it frequently asks.

•       Mathematics
•       Manufacturing
•       Basic thermodynamics
•       Industrial Engineering
•       Engineering Mechanics
•       Strength of Material
•       Material Science
•       Theory of Machines
•       Applied Thermodynamics
•       Fluid Mechanics
•       Heat Transfer

All the above-mentioned topics do not have equal weightage when it comes to this exam. Some of these topics have high weightage and some of them have low weightage. Let us look at the segregation of the topics on the basis of their weightage.

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Topics with High weightage:

•       Strength of Material
•       Basic Thermodynamics
•       Heat Transfer
•       Fluid Mechanics
•       Manufacturing
•       Theory of Machines
•       Engineering Mechanics

Topics with low weightage:

•       Mathematics
•       Industrial Engineering
•       Material Science
•       Applied Thermodynamics

To score good marks, one must prepare all the above listed topics be it high weighted or low weighted. If one leaves the low weighted topics and suppose some easy question comes out of that topic, then it would be a loss, so it is advisable to go through all the topics. But it would be more beneficial to first complete the high weightage topics and then go for low weightage.

As we now know about the topics, we should now focus on what resources we must prepare. Following are some suggested resources that one must rely upon.

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• GATE previous year question papers of the last 15 years.

Solving the GATE question paper can give you the idea about what topics you need to focus more on. Also, BARC never releases its question papers, so, finding BARC previous year question papers would be difficult and thus, one can practice on GATE previous year question papers.

• ISRO previous year question papers of last 15 years.

ISRO question papers are also a good resource, as this exam is almost similar to BARC and the weightage of topics in both the exams are also the same. There are books available in the market for ISRO previous year questions.

• ESE previous year question papers of the last 15 years.

One can use ESE previous year questions just to get clarity or revision on the topics, otherwise, much cannot be expected from this resource.

• YouTube Channels dedicated for exam preparations.

The main focus should be on solving previous year question papers of GATE and ISRO, and if time permits, one can go for solving ESE previous year question papers.

The one thing that should be kept in mind is that the cut-off for BARC exam does not go as high as GATE, so one should not try to attempt all 100 questions, instead, one should try to solve 60-70% questions accurately. BARC is comparatively an easy exam because of low competition. The selection ratio for the BARC exam is 1:20 which means, one in every 20 students who have appeared for the exam gets selected.

So, by practicing first, all the high weightage topics, that are mentioned above, and then, by practicing the low weightage topics it would not be very difficult to crack this exam. Also, by taking help from above-mentioned resources, one must be in a position to prepare for the exam with ease.

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Electronics & Communication Engineering – Watch Now

Electrical Engineering – Watch Now

Conclusion:

BARC is a comparatively easy exam to crack with a selection ratio of 1:20 students. The total number of questions are 100 and students get 3 hours to complete the exam with 3 marks for each correct answer and negative 1 mark for each wrong answer. There are only objective type questions in this examination. One can prepare for the topics such as, mathematics, manufacturing, basic thermodynamics, industrial engineering, engineering mechanics, strength of material, material science, theory of machines, applied thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer. For preparing these topics, one can use the resources such as, GATE previous year question papers of the last 15 years, ISRO previous year question papers of the last 15 years, ESE previous year question papers of the last 15 years and some dedicated YouTube channels.