ISRO Scientist Engineer Admit Card 2026 Out: CBT on 29 Oct

The ISRO Scientist/Engineer ‘SC’ admit card 2026 is out. ISRO’s Centralised Recruitment Board (ICRB) has put up the download link for the computer based test on Thursday, 29 October 2026. That’s six days from now.

This exam is for 175 posts in Electronics, Mechanical and Computer Science, with a starting basic pay of ₹56,100. Here’s how to download the card, what the paper looks like, and what to do in the last week.

Detail	Information
Organisation	ISRO Centralised Recruitment Board (ICRB)
Advertisement	ISRO:ICRB:03(EMC):2026, dated 27 August 2026
Post	Scientist/Engineer ‘SC’, Level 10
Vacancies	175 (Electronics 100, Mechanical 53, Computer Science 22, including 3 at PRL)
Admit card	Out, link on the ICRB page
CBT date	29 October 2026 (moved from 19 October)
Exam cities	37 cities across India
Answer key	Within 3 working days of the CBT
Next stage	Interview (1:5 shortlist)
Official page	isro.gov.in ICRB page

How to download the ISRO Scientist Engineer admit card 2026

1. Go to the ICRB Scientist/Engineer ‘SC’ recruitment page on isro.gov.in.
2. Under “Remarks”, find “Admit Card Download Link – CBT for Recruitment of Scientist/Engineer ‘SC’ scheduled to be held on 29-10-2026”.
3. The link opens the ICRB application portal (run by TCS iON). Click Login.
4. Enter the User ID and password you got by email and SMS when you registered in August–September.
5. Download the admit card and save it as a PDF. Print two copies on A4 paper.

ISRO’s advertisement also says hall tickets are sent by email only to your registered email ID. So search your inbox, and your spam and promotions folders, for a mail from ICRB.

Forgot your password? Use the “forgot password” option on the portal. It sends a reset to your registered email and mobile, so you need access to those.

Details to check on your admit card

Check these the day you download it, not on the morning of the exam:

• Your name, photo and signature: they must match your ID proof
• Post code: BE001 (Electronics), BE002 (Mechanical) or BE003 (Computer Science); the PRL posts carry an “A” (BE001A and so on)
• Exam date: 29 October 2026
• Reporting time and gate closing time
• Venue address: open it on Google Maps and find out how long the trip takes
• Your category and PwBD status, if you claimed one

If anything is wrong, write to rmt-icrb@isro.gov.in at once, with your registration number and a screenshot. For login problems, use the Helpdesk tab inside the application portal.

ISRO Scientist Engineer exam pattern 2026

The CBT has two parts, both multiple choice, for 100 marks in total.

Part	Questions	Marks	Time	Negative marking
A: Your discipline (Electronics, Mechanical or CS)	80	80	90 minutes	−1/3 per wrong answer
B: Aptitude and ability	Up to 15	20	30 minutes	None
Total		100	2 hours

Part B covers numerical, logical, diagrammatic, abstract and deductive reasoning.

You must clear both parts separately. The qualifying marks are:

Category	Part A	Part B
Unreserved	50%	50%
PwBD (where posts are reserved)	40%	40%

That second line matters more than people think. A great Part A score won’t save you if you score badly in the 20-mark aptitude section. Don’t skip it in your last-week revision.

Vacancies: who is competing for what

Post code	Discipline	Posts
BE001	Electronics	99
BE002	Mechanical	52
BE003	Computer Science	21
BE001A, BE002A, BE003A	Electronics, Mechanical, CS at PRL (Ahmedabad)	1 each
	Total	175

The PRL (Physical Research Laboratory) posts are Group ‘A’ Non-Gazetted posts in an autonomous body under the Department of Space. The other 172 are Group ‘A’ Gazetted posts at ISRO centres. ISRO calls all these numbers tentative, so they can change.

Computer Science has only 22 seats in total. If you’re from CSE, expect the cut-off to be the toughest of the three.

Use the official previous year papers this week

This is the most useful thing on the ICRB page, and most candidates ignore it. ISRO has uploaded its own question papers from 2023 and 2025 for all three disciplines, right below the admit card link.

With six days left, my suggestion:

• Day 1–2: solve the 2025 paper in your discipline in 90 minutes, with a timer. Mark the wrong answers at −1/3 and see your real score.
• Day 3–4: revise the topics you got wrong. Then solve the 2023 paper the same way.
• Day 5: practise 15 reasoning questions in 30 minutes. That’s the Part B pace.
• Day 6: rest, check the venue route, and keep your documents ready.

On negative marking: if a question has 4 options, a blind guess gains you nothing on average (−1/3 three times out of four). If you can rule out 2 options, guessing is worth it.

Documents to carry and exam-day rules

ISRO’s advertisement doesn’t list the exam-day rules. They will be printed on your admit card, so read every line of it. In general, for TCS iON-run CBTs:

• Printed admit card
• An original photo ID (Aadhaar, PAN, passport, driving licence or voter ID), with the same name as on the admit card
• A spare passport-size photo
• Reach before the reporting time. Late entry is usually not allowed.
• No phones, smartwatches, calculators or bags inside the hall

PwBD candidates: ISRO uploaded a new notice on 22 October. If you want a scribe or compensatory time, you must submit the documents in Annexure 1 and Annexure 2 (on the ICRB page). If you don’t, ISRO says you will have no right to claim these facilities. Annexure 1 is a certificate from a Chief Medical Officer, Civil Surgeon or Medical Superintendent of a government hospital. Get it done this week.

PSLV-C57 on the launch pad before the Aditya-L1 mission, 2023. Photo: Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) / Wikimedia, CC BY 3.0

Answer key, interview and final selection

Answer key: ISRO will publish it within three working days of the CBT, so expect it in the first days of November. You can raise objections within 5 days, only through the link ISRO gives on its website.

Interview shortlist: candidates are called in the ratio 1:5 (five for each post), with a minimum of 10 per post.

Interview marks (out of 100):

What is assessed	Marks
Technical knowledge	40
General awareness in your field	20
Presentation and communication	20
Comprehension	10
Academic achievements (IIT/IISc/IIST/NIT/NIRF top 20 institute, CGPA, rank)	10

Final list: 50% weight to the CBT and 50% to the interview. Unreserved candidates need 50% in the interview and 60% overall. If two people tie, the CBT score decides first, then the degree marks, then age (the older candidate ranks higher).

So the CBT counts twice: once to get you into the interview, and again as half of your final score.

Salary and fee refund

Selected candidates join as Scientist/Engineer ‘SC’ in Level 10, with a basic pay of ₹56,100 a month, plus DA, HRA and transport allowance. They come under the New Pension Scheme and can be posted to any ISRO centre in India.

One more reason not to skip the exam: you get your processing fee back only if you appear.

Candidate	Refund if you appear
Women, SC/ST, PwBD, ex-servicemen	Full ₹750
Everyone else	₹500 (₹750 minus ₹250 application fee)

The refund goes to the bank account you entered in the application.

If you’re also looking at other ISRO jobs, ISRO SDSC SHAR is hiring for 97 technician and assistant posts until 9 November. And if this attempt doesn’t work out, GATE 2027 opens the door to PSU jobs.

My take

Six days is short, but it’s enough for two full mock papers, and that’s what will move your score. Don’t try to cover the whole syllabus again. Solve ISRO’s own 2023 and 2025 papers under time, and learn from your mistakes.

And go to the exam even if you feel unprepared. The paper decides half your final score if you make the interview, and ₹500–750 comes back to you just for showing up.

Download the admit card today, check every detail on it, and fix any mistake by email this week.