APGCL Junior Manager Syllabus 2026 and Exam Pattern

APGCL Junior Manager Updated: 03 Sep 2026

Syllabus

The APSC screening test for APGCL Junior Manager is two objective papers. Paper I is your own engineering discipline; Paper II is General Studies and General English. Each paper carries 100 multiple-choice questions, 100 full marks and a time of 2:00 hours.

Open the Official Syllabus Page

The PDF opens on the official site. Every topic in it is explained in plain language below — you do not have to open the PDF to read the syllabus.

Compiled from the official syllabus · check it against the official link

Two papers of 100 questions each — the screening test in one look ↑

The syllabus was issued by the Assam Public Service Commission on the 18th of August 2026, against Advt. No. 10/2026 dated 16.07.2026. That distinction matters more than it sounds. The posts belong to Assam Power Generation Corporation Limited, but the examination is the Commission's, and so the syllabus lives on the APSC website rather than on APGCL's — which is why candidates searching the company's site come away empty-handed.

The Commission publishes the two papers as separate documents. Paper II is a single page and is the same for every candidate. Paper I exists in five versions, one for each discipline advertised, and you sit only the one for the post you applied to. Taken together that is 200 questions and 200 marks — that total is our own arithmetic, because the Commission prints 100 on each paper separately and gives no combined figure.

Every one of the six syllabus documents carries the same header line: multiple choice questions, and there will be 100 objective type questions. The heading also calls this a Screening test in the Commission's own words — it is the sift, not the whole selection.

Paper	Subject	Questions	Full marks	Time
Paper I	Your own engineering discipline — Electrical, Mechanical, Information Technology, Instrumentation or Civil	100	100	2:00 Hours
Paper II	General Studies & General English — the same paper for every candidate	100	100	2:00 Hours

Paper II: General Studies and General English — all three subjects ↑

This paper is common to all five disciplines, so it is the half of the exam you can start on today whatever post you have applied for.

Read the second row twice. Its first half is ordinary aptitude, but its second half names five specific academic models of Emotional Intelligence — the Ability, Trait and Mixed models, the Bar-On model of Emotional Social Intelligence, and the Genos model — along with the criticism of their theoretical foundation. That is a reading list, not general-awareness filler, and no reasoning book will cover it.

#	Topic unit, as printed in the APSC syllabus	Sub-topics the PDF lists	What to actually revise
1	General English	Sentence completion · Sentence improvement · Ordering of words in a sentence · Spotting errors · Synonyms and antonyms · Idioms and phrases · Fill in the blanks · Word groups	Every item here is a school-grammar skill tested at speed, not an essay skill. Ordering of words and spotting errors reward pattern practice more than rule-reading, so work through sets rather than re-reading grammar chapters.
2	General Aptitude & Emotional Intelligence	Time and distance · Series · Analogy · Statement · Direction · Verbal and non-verbal reasoning · Understanding Emotional Intelligence · Personality and EQ · The Ability Model of EI · The Trait Model of EI · The Mixed Model of Emotional Intelligence · The Bar-On Model of Emotional Social Intelligence and the Genos Model · Criticism of the theoretical foundation and measures of assessment of Emotional Intelligence · Emotional Intelligence, personality disorders and individuals on the autism spectrum · EQ and personal relationships · Emotional Intelligence in the workplace · Improving your Emotional Intelligence	Read this row twice before planning anything. The aptitude half is ordinary, but the second half is a named academic reading list — the Ability, Trait, Mixed, Bar-On and Genos models of Emotional Intelligence, by name, with their criticism. That is not the general-awareness padding candidates assume it is, and it cannot be prepared from a reasoning book.
3	General Knowledge	Current affairs, national and international · Who's Who · Sports · Books and authors · Awards and honours · Science: inventions and discoveries · Abbreviations · Important days	A conventional list, best handled in ten minutes a day for months rather than a week of cramming. Since the employer is an Assam state power utility, keep a separate page for Assam and for the power sector alongside the national items.

Five disciplines, five different Paper I papers ↑

Advt. No. 10/2026 advertises Junior Manager posts in five branches, and the Commission has issued a separate Paper I syllabus for each. The table below pairs each branch with the posts advertised for it, the diploma the advertisement demands, and how many named topic units its own Paper I contains.

The unit counts are ours: we counted the bold topic headings in each PDF. The Commission numbers nothing and publishes no weighting, so treat the counts as a measure of ground to cover, not of marks. Across all six documents there are 48 topic entries in total — three in Paper II and the rest spread over the five Paper I papers, all of which are set out in full further down this page.

The posts add up to 31, which is again our own sum of the five figures the advertisement prints; the advertisement gives a grand total per branch but no overall total.

Discipline	Posts advertised	Diploma the advertisement requires	Topic units in its Paper I
Electrical	12	Full time Diploma in Electrical Engineering or Electrical & Electronics Engineering	11
Mechanical	6	Full time Diploma in Mechanical Engineering	7
Information Technology	2	Full time Diploma in Computer Science & Engineering, Information Technology or Computer Technology	11
Instrumentation	2	Full time Diploma in Instrumentation Engineering	8
Civil	9	Full time Diploma in Civil Engineering	8

The recruitment this syllabus was written for ↑

The syllabus documents carry no dates, fees or eligibility of their own — those live in the advertisement, Advt. No. 10/2026, issued on the 16th of July 2026. The application window has already closed; the figures below are here so that you know exactly which recruitment you are preparing for, and can check them against your own application.

The qualification is a full time diploma in engineering of at least 3 years after H.S.L.C., or a 2 year base plus 2 year diploma course, from a Government, Government-recognised or AICTE-approved institution, with a minimum of 60% marks — 50% for SC and ST candidates. The age band is 21 to 38 years as on 01-01-2026, relaxable by 5 years for SC and ST candidates, by 3 years for OBC and MOBC candidates, and by 10 years for persons with benchmark disability. The pay scale is Rs. 25,000/- to Rs. 92,000/- with a grade pay of Rs. 12,100/-.

The advertisement also says the Commission may hold the examination zone-wise, and lists six zones — Silchar, Jorhat, Nagaon, Tezpur, Kokrajhar and Guwahati — with the districts each covers, while keeping the discretion to change the number of zones.

Stage of the application	Date the advertisement gives
Starting date for online application	22/07/2026
Closing date for online application	21/08/2026
Last date for payment of the application fee	23/08/2026
Syllabus issued by APSC	18 August 2026

Category	Application fee (Rs)	CSC-SPV processing fee (Rs)	Total (Rs)
General	250	47.20	297.20
OBC/MOBC	150	47.20	197.20
SC/ST/BPL/PwBD	NIL	47.20	47.20

At a glance

Conducting Body	Assam Public Service Commission (APSC)
Post Name	Junior Manager (APGCL)
Total Vacancies	31
Official Website	apsc.nic.in / apscrecruitment.in

Paper I — Electrical: all 11 topic units ↑

Electrical is the largest recruitment of the five, and its Paper I is the one written closest to a generation company's daily work: an entire unit on generation, transmission and distribution, another on estimation and costing, and a third on power utilization.

Every topic unit the Electrical PDF prints is below, in the Commission's own order, with the sub-topics it lists under each. Nothing has been dropped and nothing has been added. The last column is ours.

#	Topic unit, as printed in the APSC syllabus	Sub-topics the PDF lists	What to actually revise
1	Basic Electrical Engineering	Laws of electricity · Ohm's law · Kirchoff's law · Faraday's law · left hand rule · Thevenin's and Norton's theorems · Maximum power transfer theorem · EMF · Network analysis: loop and node analysis · Voltage source · Current source · Resistance, Inductance, Capacitance, Impedance and Reactance · Magnetic circuits: MMF, Flux, Reluctance, Susceptance · Electromagnetic induction · Eddy currents · Basics of transformer, generator and motor · Electrical measuring instruments: PMMC and MI meters, Wattmeter, Energy meter · Basics of electronics: Semiconductors, Diodes, Rectifiers	This is first-year diploma ground and the widest unit in the paper. Revise each law as statement, formula and one worked numerical rather than as a derivation, and keep the loop-and-node method fluent because later units reuse it.
2	Electrical Circuits	Phasors and phasor algebra · Balanced and unbalanced poly-phase circuits · Test signals · Star-Delta transformation · Network theorems · Parameters of electromagnetic circuits · Resonance in R-L-C series and parallel circuits · Network analysis by mesh and node methods	Half of this unit is the previous one seen again in the a.c. domain. Work in phasor form from the start; the star-delta conversion and series-parallel resonance conditions are the two places a small sign or root-three slip costs the whole answer.
3	Electrical Engineering Materials	Conducting materials · Insulating materials · Magnetic materials · Properties and applications of each	The shortest unit on the list and the cheapest marks in it. It is pure recall — which material, which property, which application — so make one table of your own and revise only that table.
4	Electrical Instruments and Measurements	Principles of measurements: classification, accuracy and sensitivity · Damping and control forces · Shunt and multiplier · Measurement of resistance: low, medium and high · Principle and uses of DC potentiometers · AC bridges · Indicating instruments: multimeter, PF meters, synchroscope	Learn this as a decision tree rather than a list: which method for which resistance range, which bridge for which unknown quantity. Shunt and multiplier calculations are short and are worth doing until they are automatic.
5	Electrical Machines	Classification of D.C. machines: constructional features, e.m.f., torque, excitations, motor performance, speed, power, size considerations, speed control, efficiency · Transformers: induced e.m.f., equivalent circuits, regulation, different efficiencies · Three phase induction machines: torque characteristics, starting, equivalent circuits · Three phase synchronous machines: generation, voltage regulation, parallel operation, synchronous motor starting, V-curves · Single phase motors: types, starting characteristics	The heaviest unit for a power-utility post, and the one closest to the job itself. Build one comparison sheet across d.c. machine, transformer, induction machine and synchronous machine covering e.m.f. equation, equivalent circuit, torque or regulation, and starting method.
6	Generation, Transmission and Distribution	Generation: thermal, hydel and nuclear power stations, prime movers and alternators · Transmission: voltage levels, line conductors, electrical line parameters of short and medium lines, voltage regulation, corona · Distribution: D.C. and A.C. systems, voltage level, types of distribution feeders and distributors, voltage drop and effects, power factor improvement plant · Substation: different types, site selection, equipments, electrical earthing · Switchgear: switches, isolators, circuit breakers and their types · Protection: fault current and protective devices, fuses, relay functions, alternator and transformer protection, thermal relays, over-voltage causes, effects and protective devices	The unit written for this employer. APGCL is a generation company, so follow the power from the prime mover outward — station, alternator, line, substation, feeder — and attach the protection device to each stage as you go rather than learning protection as a separate list.
7	Electrical Estimation and Costing	Estimation of materials for industrial and residential installations · UPS and small diesel generating-set and accessories · Cost estimation of materials and selection criteria · Design and calculation of the cost of a 400V/230V three phase 4 wire overhead line of 100 KW to 500 KW · Tenders	A practical, workshop-flavoured unit that candidates from a theory-only preparation routinely skip. The named overhead-line costing exercise is specific enough to be worth working through end to end at least once.
8	Electrical Power Utilization	Design of lighting system · Electrical heating: resistance, induction, arc and dielectric heating · Types of electric welding · Electrochemical process: principles, equipment and procedure · Electrical drives: characteristics of various electric drives, speed control, starting and breaking, mechanical consideration, selection of motors	Four small application areas plus drives. Heating and welding reward one clean comparison of principle against application; the drives part leans back on the machines unit, so revise it after that one, not before.
9	Power Electronics	Power diodes and Darlington pair · Thyristor: principle, thyristor family, firing circuits, applications · Selenium rectifiers · Uncontrolled and controlled rectification · Power MOSFETs	Small unit, narrow scope. Fix the thyristor family and its firing circuits first, then the difference between uncontrolled and controlled rectification with the waveform drawn, because the rest of the unit hangs off those two ideas.
10	Digital Electronics	Digital signals · Gates · Boolean algebra · Logic families · Multiplexers and demultiplexers · Encoders and decoders · Flip flops · Registers · Counters · Applications of logic gates · OPAMPs in timing circuits · A/D and D/A conversion	Standard diploma digital, and the fastest unit to make safe. Boolean simplification, one flip-flop table and one counter timing diagram carry most of it; A/D and D/A conversion is the part most often left half-learnt.
11	Computer Programming	Concept of low level and high level languages · Block diagram · Concept of flow chart and algorithm · Assemblers · Macros · Sub-routines · Co-routines · Loaders · Linkers · Editors and compilers · Programming and file handling in C and C++	An unusual unit to find in an electrical paper, and easy to leave until it is too late. Most of it is definitions you can fix in an evening; only the C and C++ file-handling part needs actual practice at a keyboard.

Paper I — Mechanical: all 7 topic units ↑

Mechanical has the fewest units of any discipline here, but do not read that as the smallest syllabus — two of its seven units, engineering mechanics with strength of materials, and hydraulics with hydraulic machines, are each larger than an entire unit elsewhere in this paper.

Every topic unit the Mechanical PDF prints is below, in the Commission's own order, with the sub-topics it lists under each. Nothing has been dropped and nothing has been added. The last column is ours.

#	Topic unit, as printed in the APSC syllabus	Sub-topics the PDF lists	What to actually revise
1	Engineering Mechanics & Strength of Materials	Vector concepts · Rest and motion · Force systems: parallel, concurrent and coplanar · Free body diagram · Equilibrium principle · Static analysis of systems · Friction and impending motion · Rolling and sliding of cylinders · Newton's law of motion and derived concepts · Centroid · Area and mass moment of inertia · Work-energy principle · Impulse · Collision of two bodies · Plane motion of particles and applications · Static analysis of simple structures · Method of joints and method of sections · Virtual work · Combined motion of rotation and translation · Transmission of power by belt and gear drives · Stress and strain · Shear stresses · Principal stress and strain · Mohr's circle for stress and strain analysis · Beams and columns · Shear force and bending moment diagram · Theories of failures · Columns and struts · Stress and strain analysis of shafts under torsion · Analysis of springs	Two full diploma subjects merged into one unit, and by a distance the largest block in this paper. Split it yourself: statics and dynamics first, then stress-strain and beams. The free body diagram is the single habit that carries both halves.
2	Engineering Materials	Mechanical, thermal and chemical properties · Structure of materials · Alloys · Iron and its alloys · Iron-carbon phase diagrams · Steel and its important alloys of iron · Heat treatment processes · Elastic and plastic behaviour · Plastic deformation · Effect of alloying elements on the mechanical properties of iron · Bearing alloys · Powder metallurgy · Fick's law · Commonly used engineering materials for tools, engineering components and household objects	Mostly recall, with one diagram that decides the rest of it. Get the iron-carbon phase diagram right and heat treatment, alloying effects and steel grades all fall into place around it.
3	Design of Machine Element	Concepts of FOS (factor of safety) · Material selection · Engineering materials · Design of rivets, screws and bolts with detailed analysis · Cotter and knuckle joints · Shafts, keys and couplings · Springs: helical and leaf types	A short, formula-driven unit where marks are won by neatness rather than insight. Keep one page per element carrying its failure modes and its design equations, and always state the factor of safety you assumed.
4	Hydraulics and Hydraulic Machines	Properties of liquid · Hydraulic pressure and its measurement · Forces on immersed bodies · Centre of pressure · Buoyancy and stability of immersed and floating bodies · Flow of liquids · 1-D, 2-D and 3-D flows · Steady, unsteady, laminar and turbulent flows · Continuity, momentum and energy equations and their applications · Euler equation and Bernoulli's equation · Orifice, mouthpiece and nozzles · Flow through pipes and piping systems · Losses in piping systems · Fundamentals of channel flow · Hydraulic jump · Flow measurements · Dimensional analysis and associated theorems · Non-dimensional numbers and their significance · Stream function and velocity potential function · Streamline and pathline · Rotational and irrotational flow · Circulation and vorticity · Free and forced vortex · Basic flows: rectilinear, source, sink and doublet · Different types of pump · Reciprocating and rotary pumps · Operation and maintenance of pumps · Cavitation and NPSH · Characteristic curves, losses and efficiencies of pumps · Compressors, blowers and fans · Different types of turbines: Francis, Kaplan and Pelton · Operation and maintenance of turbines · Characteristic curves, work done and efficiency of turbine · Specific speed and selection · Jack, screw pump, gear pump and vane pump	For a generation company this is the unit closest to the plant floor, and it is the second largest in the paper. Turbine selection by specific speed, and cavitation with NPSH, are the two ideas that connect the theory to a real machine — learn those two properly first.
5	Thermal Engineering	Basic thermodynamic concepts · System and surrounding · Thermodynamic properties · Intensive and extensive properties · Point and path functions · Zeroth, first and second laws of thermodynamics and their corollaries · Absolute temperature, internal energy, enthalpy and entropy · Clausius inequality · Concept of availability · Maxwell's relations · Application of the laws of thermodynamics · Reversibility and irreversibility; internal and external irreversibility · Pure substances and mixtures · Thermodynamic cycles: Carnot cycle (the PDF prints "Carbon cycle") and Joule-Brayton cycle · Air standard cycles · Otto cycle (the PDF prints "Ortho cycle") and Diesel cycles · Ideal gas compression and compressors · Jet propulsion · Gas compressors · Steam generators (the PDF prints "stream generators") · Fuel and combustion · I.C. engines, calculation of efficiencies and testing of I.C. engines · Open and closed gas turbine cycles · Introduction to heat and mass transfer · Heat exchanger; LMTD and NTU methods · Principles of refrigeration · Air refrigeration system · Vapour compression refrigeration cycles · Use of T-S and P-H charts for refrigeration · Refrigerants and their properties · Vapour absorption system · Psychrometric properties and charts · Types of power plants · Components of a steam power plant · Hydro-electric, nuclear and diesel power plants · Elementary solar and geothermal power plant	The unit a thermal generation utility cares about most. Work the cycles on T-s and p-V axes rather than from memory, and give the steam power plant section extra time — it is the plant this employer actually runs.
6	Theory of Machines	Kinematics and kinetics · Mechanisms and structure · Inversions · Kinematic chains · Different types of mechanism · Degree of freedom and its determination · Grashof's criteria · Velocity analysis · Acceleration analysis · Gear trains · Balancing of rotating masses · Brakes and dynamometer	A compact, drawing-heavy unit. Degree of freedom and Grashof's criteria are quick certain marks; velocity and acceleration analysis need a ruler and repetition rather than reading.
7	Production and Industrial Engineering	Fundamentals of metal cutting · Tool geometry · Calculation of cutting forces and tool life · General purpose machine tools and their operations · Welding techniques: arc, gas and resistance · Metal forming: rolling, drawing, extrusion and press working · Powder metallurgy · Heat treatment of metals · Introduction to NC and CNC machines · Basics of measuring instruments · Study of transducers, static and dynamic · Characteristics of instruments · Introduction to metrology · Limits, fits and tolerance · Mechanical and optical comparators · Measuring instruments of angles · Measurement of surface roughness and thread profiles · Calibration of measuring instruments · Production planning · Inventory control · Material and wage calculation · Elements of cost · Network analysis · Work study and estimating machining time · Break-even analysis · TQM and ISO 9000 · Shop floor management · Machines and industrial safety	Two different subjects sitting in one unit: the workshop half and the management half. The management half — inventory, cost, network analysis, break-even — is short, scoring and routinely ignored by candidates who only revise machines.

Paper I — Information Technology: all 11 topic units ↑

The Information Technology paper stays inside the diploma course: programming, databases, operating systems, data structures, networks and hardware, with one electronics unit that catches out candidates who left the electronics side of the diploma behind.

Every topic unit the Information Technology PDF prints is below, in the Commission's own order, with the sub-topics it lists under each. Nothing has been dropped and nothing has been added. The last column is ours.

#	Topic unit, as printed in the APSC syllabus	Sub-topics the PDF lists	What to actually revise
1	Object Oriented Programming in C++	Principles of object oriented programming · Classes and objects · Functions · Constructors and destructors · Inheritance · Polymorphism · Encapsulation · Pointers in C++ · Array · String	The paper opens with C++ and never leaves the diploma syllabus. Be able to write, not just recognise, a small class with a constructor and an inherited method; pointers and strings are where careless candidates lose easy marks.
2	Database Management System	Database system concepts · Database model · Types of database · Relational data model · ER diagram and normalization · SQL · Query processing and transaction processing · Concurrency · Lock based protocols	Normalization up to the third normal form and plain SQL queries are the two things worth being fast at. Concurrency and lock-based protocols are usually the last thing candidates read and the first thing they lose marks on.
3	Operating System	Introduction to operating system · Evolution and generations · Components and services · Process management · Scheduling algorithms · Memory management · I/O management · File system management · Security and protection	Scheduling algorithms and memory management are where the numerical questions live, so practise them with a worked Gantt chart and a page-replacement trace rather than reading the definitions again.
4	Data Structure	Introduction to data structure · Principles of programming and analysis of algorithms · Sorting and searching algorithms · Stacks · Linked lists and types of lists · Queues · Trees, tree types and traversal methods · Graphs · Hashing	The most predictable unit in the paper. Know the time complexity of every sort and search named here, and be able to write a tree traversal by hand — those two skills answer most of what this unit can ask.
5	Microprocessor and Assembly Language Programming	Basics of microprocessor · 16 bit microprocessor · Instruction set · Assembly language programming	Short unit, one processor. Fix the register set and the addressing modes first; the instruction set only makes sense once you can picture where each operand actually sits.
6	Data Communication & Computer Networks	Basic network concepts · Network topologies · Networking devices · Transmission media · OSI model · TCP/IP fundamentals	Learn the OSI model layer by layer and hang every device, medium and protocol named here on the correct layer. Done that way the whole unit becomes one diagram instead of six separate lists.
7	Basics of Multimedia and Web Development	Multimedia basics · Audio fundamentals · Image fundamentals · Image and graphics · World Wide Web and its evolution · HTML · CSS	Light and largely factual — file formats, compression types, tag names. It costs little time, so do not leave it out because it looks easy; that is exactly how a whole block of certain marks gets dropped.
8	Computer Organization and Architecture	Software and hardware organization of computers · Addressing modes · CPU design · Memory organization · I/O organization · DMA data transfers	This unit and the microprocessor unit overlap heavily, so revise them together. Addressing modes and the memory hierarchy are the two places questions repeat year after year in diploma-level papers.
9	Basic Electronics	Introduction to digital electronics · Number system · Logic gates and Boolean algebra · Flip-flops · Memories · Semiconductors · Rectifiers and filters · Transistors	The one unit an information technology candidate can be rusty on, because it comes from the electronics side of the diploma. Number-system conversion and Boolean simplification are quick to make safe and appear constantly.
10	Software Development	Software development process · Analysis and design models · Software testing fundamentals	The smallest unit in the paper and almost entirely definitional. One pass over the development models and the testing levels is enough; do not spend a second day here.
11	Computer Hardware and Maintenance	Motherboard and its components · Memory and storage devices · I/O devices and interface · Power supply · Troubleshooting and maintenance	Practical and easy to underrate. If you have ever opened a cabinet you already know most of it; if you have not, one hour with a labelled motherboard diagram closes the gap.

Paper I — Instrumentation: all 8 topic units ↑

The Instrumentation paper is the most technical of the five and the most standard in shape — it reads like a condensed instrumentation degree, from circuits and signals through to sensors and optical instrumentation.

Every topic unit the Instrumentation PDF prints is below, in the Commission's own order, with the sub-topics it lists under each. Nothing has been dropped and nothing has been added. The last column is ours.

#	Topic unit, as printed in the APSC syllabus	Sub-topics the PDF lists	What to actually revise
1	Electrical Circuits	Voltage and current sources: independent, dependent, ideal and practical · v-i relationships of resistor, inductor, mutual inductor and capacitor · Transient analysis of RLC circuits with d.c. excitation · Kirchoff's laws · Mesh and nodal analysis · Superposition, Thevenin, Norton, maximum power transfer and reciprocity theorems · Peak, average and rms values of a.c. quantities · Apparent, active and reactive powers · Phasor analysis, impedance and admittance · Series and parallel resonance · Locus diagrams · Realization of basic filters with R, L and C elements · One-port and two-port networks · Driving point impedance and admittance · Open and short circuit parameters	The paper's foundation unit and noticeably deeper than the circuits block in the electrical paper — two-port parameters and locus diagrams are asked here and not there. Get transient analysis and the two-port parameter sets solid before anything else.
2	Signals and Systems	Periodic, aperiodic and impulse signals · Laplace, Fourier and z-transforms · Transfer function · Frequency response of first and second order linear time invariant systems · Impulse response of systems · Convolution and correlation · Discrete time systems: impulse response, frequency response, pulse transfer function · DFT and FFT · Basics of IIR and FIR filters	The most mathematical unit in the paper. Build a single transform table of your own — Laplace, Fourier, z, side by side — and practise convolution by hand until the shifting no longer confuses you.
3	Control Systems	Feedback principles · Signal flow graphs · Transient response · Steady-state errors · Bode plot · Phase and gain margins · Routh and Nyquist criteria · Root loci · Design of lead, lag and lead-lag compensators · State-space representation of systems · Time-delay systems · Mechanical, hydraulic and pneumatic system components · Synchro pair, servo and stepper motors, servo valves · On-off, P, P-I, P-I-D, cascade, feed forward and ratio controllers	For a plant job this is the unit that matters after the exam too. The controller list at the end — on-off through ratio control — is the part written for a working power station, so do not let it get squeezed out by the plotting techniques.
4	Analog Electronics	Characteristics and applications of diode, Zener diode, BJT and MOSFET · Small signal analysis of transistor circuits · Feedback amplifiers · Characteristics of operational amplifiers · Applications of op-amps: difference amplifier, adder, subtractor, integrator, differentiator, instrumentation amplifier, precision rectifier, active filters and other circuits · Oscillators · Signal generators · Voltage controlled oscillators and phase locked loop	The op-amp application list is long but every circuit on it is one page of work. Do them as a set in a single sitting, and treat the instrumentation amplifier as the one you must be able to derive, not just recall.
5	Digital Electronics	Combinational logic circuits · Minimization of Boolean functions · IC families: TTL and CMOS · Arithmetic circuits · Comparators · Schmitt trigger · Multi-vibrators · Sequential circuits · Flip-flops · Shift registers · Timers and counters · Sample and hold circuit · Multiplexer · Analog to digital conversion: successive approximation, integrating, flash and sigma-delta · Digital to analog conversion: weighted R, R-2R ladder and current steering logic · Characteristics of ADC and DAC: resolution, quantization, significant bits, conversion and settling time · Basics of number systems · 8-bit microprocessor and microcontroller, applications, memory and input-output interfacing · Basics of data acquisition systems	This goes further than the digital block in the other papers: four named ADC methods, three DAC methods, and the ADC and DAC specification terms. Make one comparison table of the conversion methods against speed, resolution and cost — that table is most of the unit.
6	Measurements	SI units · Systematic and random errors in measurement · Expression of uncertainty: accuracy and precision index · Propagation of errors · PMMC, MI and dynamometer type instruments · D.C. potentiometer · Bridges for measurement of R, L and C · Q-meter · Measurement of voltage, current and power in single and three phase circuits · A.C. and d.c. current probes · True rms meters · Voltage and current scaling · Instrument transformers · Timer/counter · Time, phase and frequency measurements · Digital voltmeter and digital multimeter · Oscilloscope · Shielding and grounding	The unit closest to the actual job title. Error analysis at the start is small, scoring and often skipped; three-phase power measurement and instrument transformers are the parts a substation instrument technician is genuinely expected to know.
7	Sensors and Industrial Instrumentation	Resistive, capacitive, inductive, piezoelectric and Hall effect sensors with their signal conditioning circuits · Transducers for industrial instrumentation · Displacement (linear and angular), velocity, acceleration, force, torque, vibration and shock · Pressure, including low pressure · Flow: differential pressure, variable area, electromagnetic, ultrasonic, turbine and open channel flow meters · Temperature: thermocouple, bolometer, RTD (3/4 wire), thermistor, pyrometer and semiconductor · Liquid level, pH, conductivity and viscosity measurement	Learn this measurand by measurand, not sensor by sensor: for pressure, flow, temperature and level, know every method the syllabus names and one reason to choose each. That is exactly how the questions are framed.
8	Communication and Optical Instrumentation	Amplitude and frequency modulation and demodulation · Shannon's sampling theorem · Pulse code modulation · Frequency and time division multiplexing · Amplitude, phase, frequency and pulse shift keying for digital modulation · Optical sources and detectors: LED, laser, photo-diode, light dependent resistor and their characteristics · Interferometer and its applications in metrology · Basics of fibre optic sensing	The last unit and the one most often reached with no time left. It is compact: one page on analogue modulation, one on the keying methods, one on optical sources and detectors will cover it.

Paper I — Civil: all 8 topic units ↑

The Civil paper runs across the whole diploma, and for a job in Assam the water resources unit deserves particular attention: flood studies, channel routing and river training works are all named in it.

Every topic unit the Civil PDF prints is below, in the Commission's own order, with the sub-topics it lists under each. Nothing has been dropped and nothing has been added. The last column is ours.

#	Topic unit, as printed in the APSC syllabus	Sub-topics the PDF lists	What to actually revise
1	Strength of Materials & Theory of Structures	Normal stress, shearing stress and normal strain · Hooke's Law (the PDF prints "HOOK's Law") · Stress-strain behaviour of mild steel · Poisson's ratio · Shearing strain · Torsion of circular shaft · Relations among load, shear and bending moment · Shear and bending moment diagrams · Pure bending · Bending of members made of several materials · Shearing stresses in a beam · Mohr's circle for plane stress · Principal stresses and maximum shearing stress · Euler's formula for pin-ended columns and columns with other end conditions (the PDF prints "Eular's Formula") · Equation of the elastic curve by the double integration method · Slope and deflection of determinate beams by moment-area theorems · Deflections and slope by the energy method · Castigliano's theorem · Stability and degree of indeterminacy · Rolling loads and influence lines for determinate beams, trusses and floor girders · Cables and three-hinged arch	The largest unit in this paper, and the one everything else leans on. Shear force and bending moment diagrams have to become automatic before you touch deflection or influence lines — every later method assumes you can draw them without thinking.
2	Water Resources Engineering	Hydrology: rainfall, stream flow measurements, runoff, hydrographs, flood studies, reservoir and channel routing, flood forecasting, flood protection measures, river training works, well hydraulics · Irrigation: command area, duty and delta, canal outlets, crop-water requirement	In Assam this is the unit closest to real work, and flood studies, river training and channel routing sit right at the centre of it. Duty and delta calculations are short and standard — do not lose them.
3	Fluid Mechanics	Properties of fluid · Manometry · Forces on plane and curved surfaces · Flow classification · Continuity equation, momentum equation and energy equation and their applications · Orifices · Venturimeter · Weirs and notches · Laminar and turbulent flow through pipes · Darcy-Weisbach equation · Moody diagram · Steady uniform flow in open channels · Manning's formula	Compact and heavily numerical. The three governing equations, then Darcy-Weisbach with the Moody diagram, then Manning's formula — those three blocks answer nearly every question this unit can set.
4	Geotechnical Engineering	Preliminary definitions and relationships · Determination of index properties · Classification of soils · Soil structure and clay mineralogy · Permeability and Darcy's law · Seepage analysis · Compaction · One dimensional consolidation and Terzaghi's theory · Shear strength: theoretical considerations and tests · Shallow and deep foundations · Soil exploration	The phase relationships at the very start decide whether the rest of the unit is arithmetic or guesswork, so fix those first. Terzaghi's consolidation theory and the shear strength tests are the two long answers worth writing out once by hand.
5	Highway and Railway Engineering	Highway geometric design: cross sectional elements, sight distances, horizontal and vertical alignments · Types and components of pavement structures · Design of flexible pavements · Traffic characteristics: road user and vehicular characteristics, traffic volume studies, origin-destination studies and traffic capacity studies · Railways: components, construction and maintenance of rail tracks, points and crossings	Two subjects in one unit, and the railway half is short enough to finish in an evening. Sight distance and flexible pavement design are the numerical parts; everything else here is well-structured recall.
6	Surveying	Contouring · Theodolite and its adjustment · Measurement of angles and setting out lines · Trigonometrical levelling · Tacheometry · Curves and different methods of setting out curves · Introduction to electronic theodolites and total stations	A field subject examined on paper, which is why the setting-out procedures matter more than the instrument descriptions. Curve setting-out and tacheometry carry the numericals; know one method per curve type properly rather than all of them vaguely.
7	Structural Design	Working stress method of design · Singly and doubly reinforced sections · Rectangular and tee beams · Shear, torsion and development length · One way and two way slabs · Short and long columns · Design of isolated footings · Introduction to limit state design · Design for flexure, shear and compression · Design of riveted and welded connections · Tension and compression members · Splicing and lacing · Beam-column connections · Roof trusses	Concrete and steel design in one unit. Notice that working stress method comes first and limit state design is listed as an introduction — read the order the way the syllabus wrote it and give the working stress method the larger share of your time.
8	Environmental Engineering	Estimation of quality of water · Per capita demand · Population forecasting · Water quality parameters · Treatment of water · Distribution system · Estimation of quantity of sewage · Dry weather flow and storm runoff · Sewer appurtenances · Characteristics of sewage · Treatment and disposal of sewage · Sludge digestion	Two clean halves, water and sewage, each following the same path from estimation to treatment to disposal. Population forecasting methods and the treatment unit sequence are the two things worth memorising in order.

Six terms the official PDFs print oddly — and what they mean ↑

Reading the scanned syllabus documents closely turns up a handful of terms printed in a way that will send a candidate searching for a chapter that does not exist. These are not scanning errors; each was checked against the rendered page. We have kept the Commission's spelling in the tables above, because changing an official document's text is not ours to do, and we name the standard term here instead.

None of these change what is being asked. They only change what you should type into a search box.

As printed in the APSC PDF	Which paper	The standard name	Where it appears
Carbon cycle	Mechanical	Carnot cycle	listed among thermodynamic cycles beside the Joule-Brayton cycle
Ortho cycle	Mechanical	Otto cycle	listed among air standard cycles beside the Diesel cycle
stream generators	Mechanical	steam generators	listed between gas compressors and fuel and combustion
multiplexures / demultiplexure	Electrical	multiplexers / demultiplexers	listed in Digital Electronics beside encoders and decoders
Eular's Formula	Civil	Euler's formula	for pin-ended columns and columns with other end conditions
HOOK's Law	Civil	Hooke's Law	listed after normal stress, shearing stress and normal strain

How to plan two papers that carry the same weight ↑

The single most useful fact on this page is one the syllabus states plainly and candidates keep ignoring: the two papers are equal. Paper II carries the same 100 marks as your engineering paper, and it is the paper you have been preparing for the least.

A workable split follows from that. Your discipline paper is the deeper document but also the familiar one — it is your own diploma, examined again. Paper II contains material most engineering candidates have never studied at all, particularly the Emotional Intelligence models, and it is worth starting there rather than leaving it to the end.

Within your own Paper I, work in the Commission's order rather than by preference. The order is not random: in every one of the five documents the foundation units come first and the applied units later, and the later ones assume the earlier ones. Skipping ahead to the interesting unit is how candidates end up re-learning the foundation twice.

One caution about study material. Because the Commission publishes a topic list and nothing else, any chapter-wise weightage table, predicted question count or 'most important topics' list you find for this exam is somebody's guess. Prepare against the official list on this page, which is the whole of what has actually been announced.

Not covered in this document — and where to find it ↑

A syllabus defines scope. It does not answer everything a candidate wants to know, and the honest thing is to name the gaps rather than fill them with a confident guess.

For every item below, the Assam Public Service Commission's own website is the only source worth trusting.

Negative marking. The syllabus documents do not mention it at all — not to confirm it, not to rule it out. Any figure you see quoted for this exam has been carried over from some other examination.
The exam date. None of the six syllabus PDFs carries one, and the advertisement does not set one either.
The full selection procedure. The advertisement says in plain words that the selection procedure will be notified later, through a corrigendum or addendum if required, and that the Commission will decide the provision for selection considering the status, cadre and grade of the post or the number of applications received. So whether the screening test is followed by an interview is not yet published.
Marks per subject inside Paper II. Only the paper total of 100 is given. The three subjects are listed in order with no weighting against them.
The number of questions from each topic unit in Paper I. There is no unit-wise breakdown anywhere in the documents, and any table claiming one is an estimate.
Cut-off marks. Nothing about qualifying marks or cut-offs appears in the syllabus or the advertisement; a cut-off depends on vacancies and on how candidates perform, and is published after the exam if at all.
A book list. The Commission prescribes topics, not textbooks. A topic list is not a reading list.

Important Links

View Syllabus / Notification apsc.nic.in

FAQ — Your Questions, Answered

Which body conducts this exam?

Assam Public Service Commission (APSC)

Which post is this for?

Junior Manager (APGCL)

How many vacancies are there?

What is the official website for this recruitment?

apsc.nic.in / apscrecruitment.in