Exam Pattern
SSC Junior Engineer Exam Pattern
Staff Selection Commission: Junior Engineer (Civil, Mechanical & Electrical)
Half this paper is your own discipline. General Engineering carries 100 of the 200 questions in the branch you choose, Civil, Mechanical or Electrical, against 50 each for General Intelligence and Reasoning and General Awareness, so the branch paper decides the result and the two general sections decide the margin. One thing the notice does not settle: it gives a single two-hour duration and no per-section times, so whether the parts are separately timed is not established here and this page does not assert it either way. Prepare to a composite two hours and check your own admit card.
Paper I
Official SSC JE 2025 pattern| Questions | 200 |
| Total marks | 200 |
| Duration | 120 minutes |
| Negative marking | 0.25 per wrong answer |
| Sections | General Intelligence and Reasoning, General Awareness, General Engineering (chosen discipline) |
| Test | Qs | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| General Intelligence and Reasoning | 50 | 50 |
| General Awareness | 50 | 50 |
| General Engineering (chosen discipline) | 100 | 100 |
Timing: Two hours for the whole paper. The notice gives one total duration and no per-section times, so whether the parts are separately timed is not established here.
Paper I is common to every candidate regardless of engineering discipline. Paper II, the discipline-specific General Engineering paper (100 questions, 300 marks) for Civil & Structural, Electrical, or Mechanical Engineering depending on the candidate's notified stream, is not modeled on this site: the technical syllabus differs by discipline, so no single question bank would be accurate for every candidate. Both papers are Computer-Based, objective, multiple-choice, and their normalized scores together decide the final merit list; there is no separate descriptive paper.
Official source · checked 7 August 2026The SSC Junior Engineer Paper I exam pattern is 200 questions carrying 200 marks, to be answered in 120 minutes. That works out to about 36 seconds per question on average, before any time spent reading instructions or revisiting marked answers. The 3 sections are General Intelligence and Reasoning, General Awareness and General Engineering (chosen discipline). General Engineering (chosen discipline) carries the most, 100 marks of the 200 or about 50%, against 50 marks for General Awareness. All sections share one composite timer, so you are free to move between them and spend your time where it earns most.
SSC Junior Engineer Paper I marking scheme
- Each correct answer is worth 1 mark.
- A wrong answer deducts 0.25 marks; an unattempted question scores zero.
- A guess therefore breaks even at 20% accuracy: above that it gains you marks on average, below it loses them. A blind guess between four options is right 25% of the time, which is already above that line, so an educated guess is worth making rather than leaving the question blank.
- Worked example: attempt 160 of the 200 questions and get 120 right and 40 wrong, and you score 110 out of 200.
Practising against the same clock is the point of a mock test: at 36 seconds a question, the difference between a good score and an average one is usually pacing rather than knowledge. Attempt a free SSC Junior Engineer mock test to see where your time actually goes.
SSC Junior Engineer exam pattern: frequently asked questions
Is there negative marking in SSC Junior Engineer?
SSC Junior Engineer deducts 0.25 marks for a wrong answer. An unattempted question always scores zero, so the choice is only ever between guessing and leaving it blank.
How many questions are there in SSC Junior Engineer?
SSC Junior Engineer has 200 questions. That leaves about 36 seconds per question in SSC Junior Engineer.
What are the total marks in SSC Junior Engineer?
SSC Junior Engineer is out of 200 marks, which works out at 1 mark a question.
How long is the SSC Junior Engineer exam?
SSC Junior Engineer runs for 120 minutes.
Does SSC Junior Engineer have a sectional time limit?
No. SSC Junior Engineer runs every section on one composite timer of 120 minutes, so you can move between sections freely and give the slower ones more of your time.