BHEL ET Exam Pattern, Sample Papers & Books

This blog post follows my previous article on BHEL ET Recruitment 2010-2011: Notification, Eligibility & Forms which tells you about the recent BHEL job notification for Engineer Trainees along with the eligibilities and how to apply for the same. The focus of this blog post is on how to prepare for the BHEL Engineer Trainee Exam, by giving you the details of the Exam pattern and than pointing you to the study materials – sample papers and books for BHEL Engineer Trainee Exam.

BHEL Engineer Trainee Exam Pattern:
The selection process of BHEL for Engineer Trainee consists of a written test, followed by a personal interview. Following the written test, almost 1800 candidates are supposed to be called and one out of every three of them is expected to get the BHEL JOB!

What is the pattern of BHEL written test? Well, as you can find from this BHEL written test webpage, the exam consists of 240 Objective questions, each of 1 mark, to be answered in 2-n-half hour – you thus have just over 35 seconds to answer each question. Speed is therefore a criteria in doing well in the BHEL written test.
But at the same time, you need to be accurate as well in answering these BHEL questions correctly – as there are 0.2 negative marks for each wrong answer!

There are two sections in BHEL written test:
1.0 Aptitude Test: Consists of questions from the areas of Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning Ability, Logical thinking, English usage & General Awareness.
2.0 Technical test: Consists of two parts: General engineering questions & questions specific to your engineering discipline.
Although BHEL notification has not specified anything about how many questions would be set in each section, data from previous exams shows that 120 questions are set in each of these two sections.

Is there any syllabus for BHEL written test?
No. BHEL has not prescribed any syllabus for the written test. However as per feedback from previous exams, for the BHEL Technical test, you can follow the syllabus for the GATE exam. Likewise however, for BHEL Aptitude test, no specific exam syllabus can be prescribed and you have to rely on the Aptitude test question pattern of other competitive exams.

How do you prepare for these tests?

BHEL Engineer Trainee Sample question papers:
Sample questions for the BHEL aptitude Test:
The first place that you should look to get an inkling of what kind of questions may be asked in the aptitude test is this BHEL written test webpage, which gives you 13 solved sample aptitude questions. Also, this candidate experience in chetanasinterview.com (scroll down to the “General Aptitude” section) gives you some insights to the BHEL aptitude test questions.

But to prepare for these questions thoroughly, you need to prepare selectively for each section (i.e. Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning Ability, Logical thinking, English usage & General Awareness). I find that these test areas are very similar to the ones asked in Bank PO exam and therefore, the sample aptitude question papers given in this blog post should definitely help you prepare for the BHEL Aptitude paper.

Sample questions for the BHEL Technical Test:
The BHEL written test webpage again gives you a few solved sample questions from both the test areas of General engineering as well as Specific engineering disciplines.

As said, your approach to preparation for the BHEL Technical Test can be based on GATE exam and my following blog posts should definitely help you on this matter:

GATE exam study material for Electronics and Communication Engineering (EC):
Syllabus, Sample Online paper, Recommended Books & Coaching institutes.

GATE exam study material for Mechanical Engineering (ME):
Syllabus, Sample Online paper, Recommended Books & Coaching institutes.

GATE exam study material for Electrical Engineering (EE):
Syllabus, Sample Online paper, Recommended Books & Coaching institutes.

BHEL Exam Preparatory books:
Which books to study in your preparation for BHEL exam? I just searched net and could find the following books, which you may find useful:

Books for BHEL Exam Engineering test papers:
Guide to BHEL – Mechanical Engineering
by GK Publishers Price: Rs. 540

Guide to BHEL – Electronics Engineering
by GK Publishers Price: Rs. 480

Guide to BHEL – Computer Engineering
by GK Publishers Price: Rs. 480

Galgotia Question Bank in Electrical and Electronics Engineering
by Harish C. Rai & Ashok Raj


Books for BHEL Exam Aptitude test papers:
Guide To General Aptitude Test For NTPC, BHEL, SAIL, DRDO & Other Public Sector Exam by GK Publishers Price: Rs 220

S. Chand Quantitative Aptitude For Competitive Examinations (Fully Solved) by R. S. Aggarwal Price: Rs. 400

S.Chand A Modern Approach To Verbal & Non-Verbal Reasoning by R.S. Aggarwal