UPSC SCRA (Special Class Railway
Apprentices) Exam Syllabus: Union
Public Service Commission conducts the Special Class Railway Apprentices’
Examination to select candidates for the Mechanical Department of Indian
Railways. The SCRA Exam Syllabus details are as given below.
The Examination held in three
parts :
Here is the Syllabus of SCRA Examination : -
Paper-I – General Ability Test
I) English
The
questions will be designed to test the candidates' understanding and command Of
the language.
(ii) General Knowledge
The
questions will be designed to test a candidate’s general awareness of the
environment around him/her and its application to society. The standard of
answers to question should be as expected of students of standard 12 or
equivalent. Man and is environment Evolution
of life, plants and animals, heredity and environment-Genetics, cells,
chromosomes, genesis Knowledge of the human body-nutrition, balanced diet,
substitute foods, public health and sanitation including control of epidemics
and common diseases. Environmental pollution and its control. Food adulteration,
proper storage and preservation of food grains and finished products,
population explosion, population control. Production of food and raw materials.
Breeding of animals and plants, artificial insemination, manures and
fertilizers, crop protection measures, high yielding varieties and green
revolution, main cereal and cash crops of India. Solar system and the earth.
Seasons, Climate, Weather, Soil—its ormation, erosion. Forests and their uses.
Natural calamities cyclones, floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions. Mountains
and rivers and their role in irrigation in India. Distribution of natural
resources and industries in India.
Exploration of under—ground minerals including Oil conservation of natural
resources with particular reference to the flora and fauna of India. History, Politics and
Society in India—
Vedic, Mahavir, Buddha, auryan, Sunga,
Andhra, Kushan. Gupta ages (Mauryan Pillars, Stupa
Caves, Sanchi, Mathura
and Gandharva Schools,
Temple architecture, Ajanta
and Ellora) the rise of new social forces with the coming of Islam and
establishment of broader contacts Transition from feudalism to capitalism.
Opening of European contacts. Establishment of British rule in India.
Rise of nationalism and national struggle for freedom culminating in Independence. Constitution
of India
and its characteristic features—Democracy,
secularism, Socialism, equality of opportunity and Parliamentary form of
Government. Major political ideologies—democracy, socialism, communism and
Gandhi an idea of non-violence. Indian political parties, pressure groups,
public opinion and the press, electoral system. India’s foreign policy and
non-alignment- Arms race, balance of power. World organization — political,
social, economic and cultural. Important events including sports and cultural
activities) in India
and abroad during the past two years. Broad features of Indian social system —
the caste system, hierarchy — recent changes and trends. Minority social
institution — marriage, family, religion and acculturation Division of labour, co-operation, conflict
and competition, Social control — reward and punishment, art, law, customs,
propaganda, public opinion, agencies of social control — family, religion,
State educational institutions; factors of social change — economic, technological,
demographic, cultural; the concept of revolution. Social disorganisation in India
— Casteism, communalism, corruption in public life, youth unrest, beggary,
drugs, delinquency and crime, poverty and unemployment. Social planning and
welfare in India,
community development and labour welfare; welfare of Scheduled Castes and
Backward Classes. Money — Taxation, price, demographic trends, national income,
economic growth. Private and Public Sectors; economic and non-economic factors
in planning, balanced versus imbalanced growth, agricultural versus industrial
development; inflation and price stabilization, problem of resource
mobilisation. India’s
Five Year Plans.
(iii)
Psychological Test
The
questions will be designed to assess the basic intelligence and mechanical
aptitude of the candidate.
Paper-II – Physical Sciences
(i)Physics
Length
measurements using vernier, screw gauge, speedometer and optical lever
measurement of time and mass. Straight line motion and relationships among placements, velocity and acceleration. Newton's Laws of Motion,
Momentum, impulse, work, energy and power. Coefficient of friction. Equilibrium
of bodies under action of Forces. Moment of a force, couple. Newton’s Law of Gravitation. Escape velocity
Acceleration due to gravity. Mass and Weight; Centre of gravity, Uniform
circular motion, centripetal force, simple Harmonic motion. Simple pendulum.
Pressure in a fluid and its variation with depth. Pascal’s Law. Principle of
Archimedes. Floating bodies, atmospheric
pressure and its measurement. Temperature and its measurement. Thermal
expansion, Gas laws and absolute temperature. Specific heat, latent heats and
their measurement. Specific heat of gases. Mechanical equivalent of heat.
Internal energy and First law of thermodynamics, Isothermal and adiabatic
changes. Transmission of heat; thermal conductivity. Wave motion; Longitudinal
and transverse waves. Progressive and stationary waves, Velocity of sound in
gas and its dependence on various factors. Resonance phenomena (air columns and
strings). Reflection and refraction of light.
Mage formation by curved mirrors and lenses, Microscopes and telescopes.
Defects of vision. Prisms, deviation and dispersion, Minimum deviation. Visible
spectrum. Field due to a bar magnet, Magnetic moment, Elements of Earth’s
magnetic field. Magnetometers. Dia, para and ferromagnetism. Electric charge,
electric field and potential, Coulomb’s Law. Electric current; electric cells,
e.m.f. resistance, ammeters and voltmeters. Ohm’s law; resistances in series
and parallel, specific resistance and conductivity. Heating effect of current.
Wheatstone’s bridge, Potentiometer. Magnetic effect of current; straight wire,
coil and solenoid electromagnet; electric bell. Force on a current-carrying
conductor in magnetic field; moving coil galvanometers; conversion to ammeter
orvoltmeter.Chemical effects of current; Primary and storage cells and their
functioning, Laws of electrolysis. Electromagnetic induction; Simple A.C. and
D.C. generators. Transformers, Induction Coil, Cathode rays, discovery of the electron,
Bohr model of the atom. Diode and its use as a rectifier. Production,
properties and uses of Grays. Radioactivity; Alpha, Beta and Gamma rays. Nuclear energy; fission and fusion,
conversion of mass into energy, chain reaction.
(ii) Chemistry
a) Physical Chemistry
1. Atomic
structure; earlier models in brief. Atom as at three dimensional models.
Orbital concept. Quantum numbers and their significance, only elementary
treatment. Paula’s Exclusion Principle. Electronic configuration. Aufbau
Principle, s.p.d. and f. block elements. Periodic classification only long
form. Periodicity and electronic configuration.
Atomic
radii, Electro-negativity in period and groups.
2. Chemical
Bonding, electro-valent, covalent, coordinates covalent bonds. Bond properties,
sigma and Pie bonds, Shapes of simple molecules like water, hydrogen sulphide,
methane and ammonium chloride. Molecular association and hydrogen bonding.
3. Energy
changes in a chemical reaction Exothermic and Endothermic Reactions Application
of First Law of Thermodynamics, Hess’s Law of constant heat summation.
4. Chemical
Equilibriums and rates of reactions. Law of Mass action. Effect of Pressure,
Temperature and concentration on the rates of reaction. (Qualitative treatment
based on Le Chatelier’s Principle). Molecularity; First and Second order
reaction. Concept of Energy of activation. Application to manufacture of
Ammonia and Sulphur
trioxide.
5.
Solutions: True solutions, colloidal solutions and suspensions. Colligative
properties of dilute solutions and determination of Molecular weights of
issolvedsubstances.Elevation of boiling points. Depressions of freezing point,
osmotic pressure. Raoult’s Law (no thermodynamic treatment only).
6.
Electro-Chemistry: Solution of Electrolytes, Faraday’s Laws of Electrolysis,
ionic equilibrium, Solubility product Strong and weak electrolytes. Acids and
Bases (Lewis and Bronstead concept). PH and Buffer solutions.
7. Oxidation
— Reduction; Modern, electronics concept and oxidation number.
8. Natural
and Artificial Radioactivity: Nuclear Fission and Fusion. Uses of Radioactive
Isotopes.
Inorganic Chemistry Brief Treatment of Elements and their industrially
important compounds:
1. Hydrogen:
Position in the periodic table. Isotopes of hydrogen. Electronegative and electropositive
character. Water, hard and soft water, use of water in industries, Heavy water
and its uses.
2. Group I
Elements: Manufacture of sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate
and sodium chloride.
3. Group II
Elements: Quick and slaked lime. Gypsum, Plaster of Paris. Magnesium sulphate
and Magnesia.
4. Group III
Elements: Borax, Alumina and Alum.
5. Group IV
Elements: Coals, Coke and solid Fuels, Silicates, Zolitis semi-conductors.
Glass
(Elementary treatment).
6. Group V
Elements. Manufacture of ammonia and nitric acid. Rock Phosphates and safety
matches.
7. Group VI
Elements. Hydrogen peroxide, allotropy of sulphur, sculptures acid. Oxides of
sulphur.
8. Group VII
Elements. Manufacture and uses of Fluorine, Chlorine, Bromine and Iodine,
Hydrochloric acid. Bleaching powder.
9. Group O.
(Noble gases) Helium and its uses. 10. Metallurgical Processes: General Methods
of extraction of metals with specific reference to copper, iron, aluminums,
Silver,
gold, zinc and lead. Common alloys of these metals; Nickel and manganese
steels.
b) Organic Chemistry
1.
Tetrahedral nature of carbon, Hybridization and sigma pie bonds and their
relative strength. Single and multiple bonds. Shapes of molecules. Geometrical
and optical somerism.
2. General
methods of preparation, properties and reaction of alkenes, alkenes and
alkynes, Petroleum and its refining. Its uses as fuel. Aromatic hydrocarbons:
Resonance and aromaticity. Benzene and Naphthalene and their analogues.
Aromatic substitution reactions.
3. Halogen
derivatives: Chloroform, Carbon Tetrachloride, Chlorobenzene, D.D.T. and
Gammexane.
4. Hydroxyl
Compounds: Preparation, properties and uses of Primary, Secondary and tertiary
alcohols, Methanol, Ethanol, Glycerol and Phenol, Substitution reaction at aliphatic
carbon atom.
5. Ethers;
Diethyl ether.
6. Aldehydes
and ketenes: Formaldehyde, Acetaldehyde, Benzaldehyde, acetone, cetophenone.
7. Nitro
compounds amines: Nitrobenzene TNT, Aniline, Diazonium Compounds, Azodyes.
8.
Carboxylic acid: Formic, acetic, benzoic and salicylic acids, acetyl salicylic
acid.
9. Esters:
Ethyl cerate, Methyl calculates ethyl benzoate.
10.
Polymers: Polythene, Teflon, Perplex, Artificial Rubber, Nylon and Polyester
fibers.
11.
Nonstructural treatment of Carbohydrates, Fats and Lipids, amino acids and
proteins - Vitamins and hormones.
Paper-III – Mathematics
1. Algebra:
Concept of a
set, Union and Intersection of sets, Complement of a set, Null set, Universal
set and Power set, Venn diagrams and simple applications. Cartesian product of
two sets, relation and mapping — examples, Binary operation on a set —
examples. Representation of real numbers on a line Complex numbers: Modulus,
Argument, Algebraic operations on complex numbers Cube roots of unity. Binary
system of numbers, Conversion of a decimal number to a binary number and vice versa.
Arithmetic, Geometric and Harmonic Progressions. Summation of series involving
A.P., G.P., and H.P... Quadratic equations with real co-efficients Quadratic
expressions: extreme values. Permutation and combination, Binomial theorem and
its applications. Matrices and Determinants: Types of matrices, equality,
matrix addition and scalar multiplication - properties. Matrix multiplication —
non-commutative and distributive property over addition. Transpose of a matrix,
Determinant of a matrix. Minors and Co-factors. Properties of determinants.
Singular and non-singular matrices. Adjoin and Inverse of a square-matrix,
Solution of a system of linear equations in two and three variables-
elimination method, Cramers rule and Matrix inversion method (Matrices with m
rows and n columns where m, n < to 3 are to be considered). Idea of a Group,
Order of a Group, Abelian group. Identitiy and inverse elements- Illustration
by simple examples.
2. Trigonometry:
Addition and
subtraction formulae, multiple and sub-multiple angles. Product and factoring
formulae. Inverse trigonometric functions — Domains, Ranges and Graphs.
DeMoivre's theorem, expansion of Sin n0 and Cos
n0 in a series of multiples of Sines and Cosines. Solution of simple
trigonometric equations. Applications: Heights and Distance.
3. Analytic Geometry (two dimensions):
Rectangular Cartesian. Coordinate system, distance between two points, equation
of a straight line in various forms, angle between two lines, and distance of a
point from a line. Transformation of axes. Pair of straight lines, general
equation of second degree in x and y — condition to represent a pair of
straight lines, point of intersection, angle between two lines. Equation of a
circle in standard and in general form, equations of tangent and normal at a
point, orthogonally of two circles. Standard equations of parabola, ellipse and
hyperbola — parametric equations, equations of tangent and normal at a point in
both Cartesian and parametric forms.
4. Differential Calculus: Concept of a real
valued function — domain, range and graph. Composite functions one to one, onto
and inverse functions, algebra of real functions examples of polynomial,
rational, trigonometric, exponential and logarithmic functions. Notion of
limit, Standard limits - examples. Continuity of functions - examples,
algebraic operations on continuous functions. Derivative of a function at a
point, geometrical and physical interpretation of a derivative - applications.
Derivative of sum, product and quotient of functions, derivative of a function
with respect to another function, derivative of a composite function, chain
rule. Second order derivatives. Role’s theorem (statement only), increasing and
decreasing functions. Application of derivatives in problems of maxima, minima,
greatest and least values of a function.
5. Integral Calculus and Differential
equations: Integral Calculus: Integration as inverse of differential,
integration by substitution and by parts, standard integrals involving
algebraic expression, trigonometric, exponential and hyperbolic functions.
Evaluation of definite integralsdetermination of areas of plane regions bounded
by curves - applications. Differential equations : Definition of order and
degree of a differential equation, formation of a differential equation by
examples. General and particular solution of a differential equation, solution
of first order and first degree differential equation of various types -
examples. Solution of second order homogeneous differential equation with
constant co-efficient.
6. Vectors and its applications: Magnitude
and direction of a vector, equal vectors, unit vector, zero vector, vectors in
two and three dimensions, position vector. Multiplication of a vector by a
scalar, sum and difference of two vectors, Parallelogram law and triangle law
of addition. Multiplication of vectors —
scalar product or dot product of two vectors, perpendicularity, commutative and
distributive properties. Vector product or cross product of two vectors. Scalar
and vector triple products. Equations of a line, plane and sphere in vector
form – simple problems. Area of a triangle, parallelogram and problems of plane
geometry and trigonometry using vector methods. Work done by a force and moment
of a force.
7. Statistics and probability: Statistics:
Frequency distribution, cumulative frequency distribution - examples. Graphical
representation - Histogram, frequency polygon - examples. Measure of central
tendency - mean, median and mode. Variance and standard deviation -
determination and comparison. Correlation and regression. Probability: Random
experiment, outcomes and associated sample space, events, mutually exclusive
and exhaustive events, impossible and certain events. Union
and Intersection of events. Complementary, elementary and composite events.
Definition of probability: classical and statistical - examples. Elementary
theorems on probability - simple problems conditionals probability, Bayes'
theorem - simple problems. Random variable as function on a sample space.
Binomial distribution, examples of random experiments giving rise to Binomial
distribution. Personality Test Each candidate will be interviewed by a Board
who will have before them a record of his career both academic and extramural.
They will be asked questions on matters of general interest. Special attention
will be paid to assessing their potential qualities of leadership, initiative
and intellectual curiosity, tact and other social qualities, mental and
physical energy, power of practical application and integrity of character.
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