From our research
What this interview looks like
The interview boards of ISRO, DRDO, BARC and the defence PSUs look alike: five to eight senior scientists or engineers sit across a table, the chair asks you to introduce yourself and to name two or three subjects you are strongest in, and the panel then probes those subjects from first principles, often asking you to derive a result or work a rough calculation aloud on a whiteboard. Your final-year or M.Tech project is examined in detail, with the panel testing whether you personally understand every block of it. A short portion goes to motivation, willingness to relocate to a remote centre, and plans for higher studies. Real boards run from 30 minutes at a defence PSU to over an hour at BARC, where the interview alone decides selection. The ExamPilot mock compresses this into an 18-minute board with a chairperson, a technical member, a subject expert for the project discussion and an HR member, scored on fundamentals, project depth, problem-solving and fit.
Choose your post
4 posts available
Each post has its own panel, rounds and subject list.
What to expect
5 rounds, one after another
A research-organisation selection board compressed into 18 minutes: a short introduction with the chairperson on the candidate's project and interest areas, a long fundamentals round with a senior scientist who makes the candidate talk through derivations and first principles in their own discipline, a deep dive into the candidate's final-year or M.Tech project with a subject expert, a short aptitude and fit round with the HR member on why a research organisation, relocation and long-term intent, and a closing by the chairperson. The real boards sit five to eight scientists for 30 to 90 minutes, ask the candidate to name their favourite subjects and then probe those relentlessly, and reward a candidate who reasons aloud from basics over one who recites.
- Round 1
Introduction, project & interest areas
· 2:00Set the candidate at ease, hear a short account of their education and project, and get them to name the two or three subjects they are strongest in so the technical member can scope the fundamentals round.
Dr. Raghunath Pillai2–3 questionsup to 1 follow-up each - Round 2
Core fundamentals
· 7:00Test first-principles understanding of the candidate's discipline in the subjects they named: definitions, derivations talked through aloud, design calculations, orders of magnitude, and the assumptions behind the standard results.
Dr. Sharmila Rao4–6 questionsup to 2 follow-ups each - Round 3
Project deep dive
· 5:00Establish how much of the final-year or M.Tech project the candidate owns and understands, and whether they can defend design decisions, interpret their own results and think about what they would do next.
Prof. Debashis Sanyal3–5 questionsup to 2 follow-ups each - Round 4
Aptitude & fit
· 3:00Check motivation for a research or defence organisation over private industry, willingness to relocate to remote centres, awareness of the service conditions, and long-term intent including higher studies.
Ms. Neha Kulkarni2–3 questionsup to 1 follow-up each - Round 5
Closing
· 1:00Close the interview formally and courteously without revealing any assessment.
Dr. Raghunath Pillai1–1 questions
Meet the panel
Your AI interviewers
Distinct personas, voices and questioning styles, briefed on this interview.
Dr. Raghunath Pillai
ChairChairperson
Group Director (Retd.), ISRO; led avionics and mission teams at VSSC and URSC; chairs scientist/engineer selection boards
Courteous, unhurried, listens for ownership and honesty.
Male voice · 4 languages
Dr. Sharmila Rao
Technical lead
Scientist G, DRDO; project director on a radar and electronic-warfare programme; technical member on RAC selection boards
Sharp, fast, first-principles, allergic to memorised formulas.
Female voice · 4 languages
Prof. Debashis Sanyal
Subject expert
Senior Professor, Homi Bhabha National Institute and Outstanding Scientist, BARC; faculty at the BARC Training School; member on OCES/DGFS interview boards
Patient, deep, interested in what the candidate actually did.
Male voice · 4 languages
Ms. Neha Kulkarni
HR member
HR business partner, IT services
Friendly, efficient, detail-checking.
Female voice · 4 languages
Languages
Answer in the language you think in
Interviewers speak and understand each language natively. Switch mid-answer if you like.
- English
- हिंदीHindi
- Hinglish (Hindi + English)Hinglish
How scoring works
A report you can act on
Every round is scored on the rubric
Each interviewer scores only the criteria their round covers. Weights add up to your overall score out of 100.
Only what you actually said counts
Feedback quotes your own answers. Rounds you skip show as “Not assessed” rather than a zero.
Communication is always measured
Fluency, clarity, confidence and structure are tracked across the whole interview, in any language.
Pass mark, then a plan
You see the pass mark for this interview, your gaps, and the courses that close them fastest.
Scored on
- Core fundamentals40%
Correct, first-principles understanding of the candidate's own discipline: can state a law or theorem, explain where it comes from, talk through a derivation or a design calculation step by step, give orders of magnitude and units, and recognise the limits of a model. Red flags: memorised formulas with no idea of assumptions, wrong units, confident wrong answers that do not change under a hint.
- Project depth & ownership25%
Knows their own final-year or M.Tech project in detail: the problem, why the chosen method, the hardware or software actually built, the numbers measured, what went wrong and what they would do differently. Can defend design choices and admit what a guide or teammate did. Red flags: cannot explain a component of their own block diagram, quotes results they cannot interpret, claims the whole team's work as their own.
- Problem-solving under probing15%
When given a new problem or a twist on a known one, sets it up systematically, states assumptions, estimates before computing, uses hints productively and checks the answer for sanity. Red flags: freezes, guesses randomly, or argues instead of reconsidering when shown an inconsistency.
- Communication, aptitude & fit20%
Explains technical ideas clearly and concisely in English or Hinglish, says 'I do not know' honestly, and gives a credible reason for a research or defence organisation over private industry, with realistic expectations about pay, postings at remote centres, bonds and the slow pace of large programmes. Red flags: bluffing, salary-only motivation, unwillingness to relocate without saying so plainly.
Pass mark 60 / 100 · Scientist / Engineer selection board (ISRO, DRDO, BARC, defence PSUs)
Also live now
Job & campus interviews
Private-sector job interviews
Realistic hiring loops for experienced professionals and career switchers in software, product and design, sales and marketing, finance and operations, HR and admin, and customer-facing roles.
Job & campus interviews
Campus placements & internships
Placement-season interviews for final-year students and recent graduates: IT services technical + HR rounds, core-engineering rounds, MBA summer-placement PIs and internship interviews.
Job & campus interviews
Communication & leadership check-ins
Short, repeatable conversations for working professionals: promotion panels, client-facing role checks and single hiring-manager rounds, focused on judgement, influence and clear communication.
Keep exploring