Gateway for engineering grads to enter the corporate domain

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has recently rolled out its competitive exam, CII iPATE to bridge the gap between engineering academia and the industry by standardising its technical recruitment and protocol, thereby strengthening the overall engineering ecosystem.

Understanding the test

It is a three-hour-long online exam, conducted by the CII to gauge and analyse the engineering acumen and industrial skillsets of eligible engineering candidates, giving them access to the Indian corporate sector. With the introduction of this unique examination, CII strives to set a benchmark to assess industrial aptitude and proficiency of engineering graduates across India.

iPATE will comprise technical as well as non-technical papers covering three sections: Cognitive Abilities, Professional Abilities and Technical Abilities. The paper carries 100 questions for a total of 100 marks with negative marking for every wrong attempt. After the declaration of results, CII will be sharing the scorecards of students with different private organisations. Shortlisted candidates will be called for screening by them thereafter.

Eligibility criteria

Candidates who have pursued 4 years of BE or BTech, BArch or Naval Architecture or any professional society exam equivalent to these streams recognised by MHRD/UPSC/AICTE can apply for CII iPATE. In fact, the final year students from any of these streams who are soon to become graduates are eligible for this exam. Since there is no age limit for iPATE, it also allows the postgraduate engineers and PG engineering students to appear. The best preparational advice for this entrance exam is taking reference from previous year GATE papers and ESE non-technical papers from 2012 onwards.

CII iPATE registrations are already open till April 15, 2020.

— Akhand Swaroop Pandit, CEO & Co-Founder, Catalyst Group