HOW To Prepare for ISRO and DRDO Scientist SC Examination for winning.

Introduction

Upon reading this article you may have doubt about who am i to write this.Let me say something about me, I am not a professor nor running any educational institution but i am one among you before sometime. I have attended ISRO scientist SC examination 5 times from 2006 onwards and 3 times i got through the test. I have wrote DRDO SET exam from 2005 onwards 3 times and 2 times i got through the test. Although i am unlucky to get through the interviews still i am living here by securing a good job and doing and enjoying my work satisfactory. I had a passion to go to Tech research I tried my best but luck was not in my way still i am enjoying my work as assistant manager in a premier govt sector firm.

This is for whom having a passion to go to these premier organizations and are preparing for the SCIENTIST/ENGINEER 'SC' test of ISRO and other technical written exams. Some of you may not unlucky like me and may perform well in the interviews and having doubt or difficulty regarding how to approach these kind of technical competitive examinations. This is for those students and purely from my self experience.

Details of ISRO SCIENTIST/ENGINEER 'SC' test 2013

Application for online registration hosted in isro web site from 20/2/2014 to 13/3/2014. Examination will be conducted on 24th may 2014 in cities ahmedabad, bhopal, bangalore,chennai, guhawati, hyderabad, kolkata, mumbai, newdelhi, and thiruvananthapuram

more details in the link scientist sc exam in isro 2014

Pay & Allowances of Scientist 'SC' in ISRO as on 2014 march

On selection the candidate will be posted as scientist 'C' or Scientist SC on the scale 15600-39100 grade pay 5400. The present emoluments  including current DA at 100% and 30% HRA and 20% TA will come around 50000/-
You will get other benefits like medical facilities etc.

HOW to prepare for ISRO/DRDO Scientist Entry test (Scientist/Engineer SC)

Here is my experience and my advice in tackling the examinations. Since i was an IT graduate i was applied in computer science category. on the 5 occasions i attended ISRO examinations, 3 times the examination was generally tougher and on 2 occasions  examination was generally easier. the interesting thing is that on 3 tougher occasions, i got through the exams and in the two easy times I failed in the exam.

On preparing for ISRO computer science examinations first advice i have to give is to clear your basic understanding of the academic subjects. On completion of my B-tech studies I didn't got any campus placement so i got almost 4 months jobless, so what i did that time was that i made a lot of research on the portions which i studies for the sake of examination and not actually clearly understood. This may occur to almost 100% of the B-tech students. So after completing you will have somewhat broader knowledge and you can research and understand the portions self if you spend some time on research about it in the internet or through some library or just rewinding your academic text book some more time.

I am stressing it because the portions you didn't understood will be tougher ones which most of the students will not understand clearly so if you clear it there is a chance that you can score in the competitive exams from the areas others are not scoring, So there is a possibility of you scoring overall better than others.

This kind of revisiting and understanding basic things will not only increase your success chance in the examinations for which you studying but also will boost your confidence in approaching the future examinations. One thing i can guarantee that the portions you cleared like this will never going to leave you in future.

In short my manthra for preperations is

1, Rewind your academic portions one by one and find the portions you are not understood eventhough studied for the exams.
2, Research the portions and understand the facts and technique.
3, Give more importance to tougher subjects since others anyway you can score.
4, Scoring in tougher subjects and questions will give you success over others and help you put up a high rank in the exam.
5, After clearing the basics and understanding things read and solve any of the reputed GATE examination guide technical portion except maths.
6, Use internet and also do some research in gate forums and online GATE resources.
7, At last and not the least solve the previous questions of ISRO examinations provided in their web site.

Subjects which is important to secure a win over others in computer science

System programming, Computer Architecture & parallel processing ,Theory of Computation, Algorithms and complexity, Compiler design and its theory, Computer networks, Computer graphics.

These are the tougher subjects , it doesn't mean that you never prepare others, but my point is to give more importance to these since the others you already know and is easy to understand by reading and solving.

at the end one more thing there is no ultimate mantra other than pure HardWork so prepare well.

At the examination Hall(How to avoid stress related under performance)

Arrive in the examination hall on time, otherwise you will be tensed and this may effect your performance of problem solving at the start. Keep a serious mind about the examinations don't give ear to those who are not writing exams seriously and coming for a time pass.

Don't be over possessive about your exam, you may have that much passion to join ISRO but first you have to clear the test and for that you have to perform in the exam and just think about that, also suppose when seeing tough questions at start even though you did prepare a lot, please don't get tensed since if exam is tougher every one's output will affect it won't affect your ranking anyway. So do stay calm vigilant and cool in the exam and the questions that you can solve will come on the way.
Some tips and tricks to attend the exam
Answer all known questions first without wasting time but on doing that the questions you are not sure and want to revisit after answering the easy questions do mark it. this will help on identifying it in later stages other wise you will waste time by looking for the skipped questions.

Try not your luck, try the luck with your brain - if you are not understood i will explain it , If you are not completely know the solution of a questions don't go straightaway just look at the answers with commonsense and some inferences you may eliminate some of the options and then you can try your luck.

At last All the best for everyone for the examinations