What is the difficulty level of ICAR Exam?

Being a highly competitive exam, a candidate needs to prepare well to clear ICAR. Here we list tips to ensure you do well in your ICAR AIEEA exam. 

Indian Council for Agriculture Research (ICAR) conducts two variants of the ICAR AIEEA exam, AIEEA PG and AIEEA UG, for postgraduate and undergraduate students, respectively. Both the UG and PG versions of the AIEEA exams are conducted offline through OME mode. If you crack these exams, you are eligible to get admission into top agricultural universities across India. 

Eligibility Criteria for ICAR exam

• Aadhar card is mandatory as ID proof for these exams
• The candidate must be a citizen of India
• For the UG exam, the candidates must have passed XIIth standard or must be appearing for the exams
• For the PG exam, the candidates must have a bachelor’s degree completed after graduation pattern

Application Procedure

The candidates must fill up the application form online and print out a hard copy. They must also upload a scanned photo and signature. The application form must be filled up accurately to receive the admit card. For any errors, there is only one opportunity provided for correction.

ICAR Exam Syllabus

The subjects tested upon fir the ICAR UG exam are:

• Physics
• Chemistry
• Maths
• Biology
• Agriculture

The subjects the candidate needs to prepare for the ICAR PG exam are:

• Plant Biotechnology
• Physical Science
• Horticulture
• Animal Sciences
• Veterinary Science 

ICAR Exam Pattern

Mode: Both the AIEEA UG and PG exam will be held in the online mode via OMR.
Duration: The exam duration will be 150 minutes for the UG exam and two hours and thirty minutes for the PG exam.
Language: The language for testing will be English only.
Questions: The questions will be multiple choice and objective type.
Marking: For the UG exam, four marks will be awarded to the candidate for the right answer and one mark will be deducted for the wrong answer.
For the PG exam, each right answer of the multiple-choice will fetch four marks and each right answer of cross-matching question will fetch five marks. A wrong answer in the MCQ will lose one mark and a wrong answer in cross-matching question will lose 0.2 marks.

Tips to Prepare for ICAR Exam

The ICAR preparation is quite stressful for most students but with proper preparation, it can be a smooth ride. Following are a few tips to prepare for the ICAR exams:

Make a plan: Plan your study schedule by making a time table and sticking to it. Balance out the subjects and make maximum use of available study time.

Study with concentration: Whatever study time you have, use it to maximum by studying with concentration and sincerity. Only then you will be able to cover all topics.
Revision: You will need to allow time to revise what you studied to know where you stand.
Devise strategies to the ace exam: It is necessary to formulate strategies to approach each subject in the exam to perform your best at it. Prioritize the topics that need more time and attention and focus on them.
Stay healthy: Lastly, to have a healthy mind, a healthy body is needed. Take care of your health, watch your diet and do relax exercises daily.

Is the ICAR exam in comparison to other competitive entrance exams?

Although ICAR exams are not as tough as National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Under Graduate (NEET) or Joint Entrance Exam (JEE), you need to score well in them to get admission into a top university in India.
To be chosen, you must fall under ICAR rank 500. To get a top college, you must be within the top 150 rank. There will be counselling for your final selection.
Being a highly competitive exam, hard work and perseverance are needed to come out successful in the ICAR exam. The following books and study material will be useful to prepare for the exam:

• ICAR AIEEA Guide for UG and PG by R Gupta
• Physical Chemistry by O P Tandon, A S Singh
• Mathematics by R D Sharma
• BSc Agriculture Exam by Arihant
• General Agriculture for ICAR exams by M S Rathore