Alerts and Updates for ISRO Scientist / Engineer (ICRB)

The qualification is BE or BTech, or equivalent, in the discipline concerned with an aggregate of at least 65 per cent or CGPA 6.84 on 10. Appointment is at Level 10 of the pay matrix with a minimum basic pay of Rs 56,100 a month. The advertisement lists 37 test venues, from Agartala and Kavaratti to Port Blair and Vishakhapatnam.

The single fixed forward date in this cycle is the CBT on 19 October 2026. The 2025 cycle is listed because its test was postponed by six weeks, which is the realistic precedent for how firm an ISRO test date is before the admit card appears.

The commonest mistake is treating the ISRO CBT as a qualifying screen and saving effort for the interview. It is not. The written test and the interview carry 50 per cent each in the final merit list, and the written test additionally decides whether there is an interview at all, because only about five candidates per post are called. A second mistake is assuming a GATE score opens a side door. This advertisement has no GATE route.

The CBT is 100 marks in two parts with different arithmetic. Part A is 80 discipline-specific multiple-choice questions for 80 marks over 90 minutes, marked plus one for a correct answer, zero for an unattempted one and minus one-third for a wrong one. Part B is up to 15 aptitude questions for 20 marks over 30 minutes covering numerical, logical, diagrammatic, abstract and deductive reasoning, with no negative marking. The practical consequence is that Part B should be attempted in full, every question, because a blank carries the same zero as a wrong answer, while Part A rewards restraint: three wrong guesses cancel one correct answer. Candidates who apply a single guessing policy across both parts leave marks on the table in one half and give them away in the other.

The advertisement sets minimum marks that operate before any ranking. Unreserved candidates must score at least 50 per cent in each part and 60 per cent in aggregate; candidates with benchmark disabilities applying against reserved posts must score at least 40 per cent in each part and 50 per cent in aggregate. That per-part floor matters more than it looks. A candidate who scores heavily in Part A but drifts through the 30-minute aptitude section can fail the Part B floor and be out regardless of aggregate. Treat the aptitude half-hour as a scored paper with its own pass mark rather than a cool-down, and practise it under a 30-minute clock rather than untimed.

The three disciplines are not equivalent races. Electronics carries 99 of the 175 posts, Mechanical 52 and Computer Science 21, plus one post each at the Physical Research Laboratory. Because shortlisting runs at about 1:5 with a floor of ten candidates per post, Electronics will call several hundred to interview while Computer Science calls roughly a hundred. Computer Science candidates therefore face the steepest ratio between applicants and interview slots and should assume the cut-off sits higher than the headline vacancy count suggests. ISRO also states plainly that the vacancy figures include backlog posts and are provisional, so the split can move before the final result.

Alongside this advertisement ISRO has posted its own previous-year question papers for Electronics, Mechanical and Computer Science from 2023 and 2025, and an FAQ dated 27 August 2026. These are the only primary evidence of the standard and coverage of Part A, since the advertisement does not publish a topic-by-topic syllabus. The 2025 papers come from the immediately preceding cycle and are the closest available proxy. Work them under the actual constraint, 80 questions in 90 minutes, which is a little over a minute a question, and use the error pattern to decide where the minus one-third rule makes an attempt worth taking.

The CBT is listed for 19 October 2026, but the previous cycle's written test moved from 14 September 2025 to 26 October 2025, so the date is firm only once the admit card is issued, and no admit card or exam city notice had appeared on the ICRB page by 22 September 2026. Watch the advertisement page itself rather than aggregator sites. Note also that the fee is structured to reward turning up: women, SC, ST, PwBD and ex-servicemen candidates who appear in the test get the whole amount back, and other candidates who appear get Rs 500 of the Rs 1,000 back. Skipping the test forfeits the refund.