APPSC Lab Assistant (Mining) 2026 — Notification 34/2026 CBRT

APPSC Lab Assistant (Mining): written test, 300 marks

📊 Written examination: equal weight for both papers

The online degree-standard objective examination comprises two 150-question papers of 150 minutes each, with one-third negative marking per incorrect answer. APPSC will not conduct a separate Screening Test. Multi-session normalisation may be adopted where applicable. The 6 November detailed notification does not announce the CBRT examination date.

Paper I — General Studies & Mental Ability: complete official subject outline (150 marks)

The 150-question, 150-mark, 150-minute degree-standard objective paper covers the following ten subject areas from the APPSC Lab Assistant 34/2026 syllabus. The annexure does not allot a fixed number of marks to each bullet.

1. Current affairs: major international, Indian national and Andhra Pradesh developments and issues.
2. General science and technology: practical applications of general science; contemporary advances in science, technology and information technology.
3. Indian history: social, economic, political and cultural history, with emphasis on Andhra Pradesh and the Indian National Movement.
4. Geography: geography of India, with particular attention to Andhra Pradesh.
5. Indian polity and governance: constitutional matters, public policy, governance reforms and e-Governance initiatives.
6. Economy: Indian economic structures and economic planning.
7. Sustainability: sustainable development, the environment and protection measures.
8. Disaster management: vulnerability profiles, prevention and mitigation strategies, and the application of Remote Sensing and GIS to disaster assessment.
9. Reasoning: logical reasoning, analytical ability and logical interpretation.
10. Data analysis: tabulation and visual presentation of data; mean, median, mode and variance; interpretation of data and graphical displays.

Scheme and calculation

The recruitment uses a single-level written test: no separate Screening Test is provided irrespective of applicant numbers. If held in multiple sessions, normalisation may be used where considered necessary by the Commission. The written-paper date remains unannounced in the 6 November detailed notification.

Paper II — Chemistry: complete official subject outline (150 marks)

Examination: 150 questions; 150 marks; 150 minutes; degree-standard objective test conducted through CBRT. A wrong answer costs one-third of the allotted question mark. The notification does not allocate separate marks to Inorganic, Organic and Physical Chemistry; they are syllabus sections, not three separately scored 50-mark papers.

Section A — Inorganic Chemistry

1. Atomic structure: Schrödinger wave equation; physical meaning of quantum numbers; radial/angular probability and orbital shapes; relative orbital energies with atomic number; electron configurations; Aufbau, Hund and Pauli rules.
2. Chemical periodicity: periodic classification; s-, p-, d-, f-block characteristics; trends in atomic and ionic radii, ionisation potential, electron affinity and electronegativity.
3. Chemical bonding: sigma and pi bonds, metallic and hydrogen bonding, molecular geometry, VSEPR model, bond length/order/angles and hybridisation.
4. Oxidation/reduction: oxidation numbers, redox reactions, ionic equations and balancing.
5. Acid–base chemistry: Brønsted and Lewis concepts, HSAB principle, solvent and substituent effects, relative acid/base strengths.
6. Elements: hydrogen isotopes and forms; heavy water; s-/p-block allotropy, inert-pair effect and catenation; borates, boron hydrides, oxyacids, interhalogens, pseudohalogens, noble-gas compounds; first-row transition metals and lanthanides, colour and magnetism.
7. Metallurgy: extraction principles for sodium, magnesium, aluminium, iron, nickel, copper, silver and gold.
8. Nuclear chemistry: mass defect, binding energy, nuclear reactions, fission/fusion, nuclear reactors and radioisotopes.
9. Coordination chemistry: nomenclature, geometrical and other isomerism, bonding theories and roles in nature and medicine.
10. Environmental chemistry: air, water and radioactive pollution and control.

Section B — Organic Chemistry

1. Organic bonding: polarity, inductive/mesomeric/hyperconjugative effects, bond cleavage, radicals, carbanions, carbocations, carbenes, nucleophiles and electrophiles.
2. Aliphatic chemistry: alkane synthesis and substitution; cycloalkane strain; alkene/alkyne addition and Markovnikov/peroxide effects; polymerisation; synthesis and reactions of halides, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, acids, esters, amides, nitriles, amines, anhydrides, ethers and nitro compounds.
3. Stereochemistry: symmetry and chirality; Fischer, Newman and sawhorse projections; optical/geometrical isomerism; enantiomers, diastereomers, meso compounds; erythro/threo, E/Z, D/L and R/S notation; conformations of short-chain alkanes and cyclohexane; SN1, SN2, E1 and E2 reaction stereochemistry.
4. Organometallics: preparation and application of Grignard reagents and alkyl-lithium compounds.
5. Active methylene systems: malonate, acetoacetate and cyanoacetate chemistry; synthetic uses and keto–enol tautomerism.
6. Aromatic chemistry: aromaticity and Hückel rule; electrophilic substitution, substituent effects, benzene derivatives, phenols and benzyne chemistry.
7. Biomolecules: carbohydrates (glucose, fructose, sucrose), amino acids and peptide/protein basics, oils, fats, soaps and detergents.
8. Spectroscopy: principles and applications of ultraviolet, visible, infrared and NMR spectroscopy of simple organic molecules.

Section C — Physical Chemistry

1. Gaseous state: real and ideal gas equations, van der Waals and virial equations, critical phenomena, corresponding states, liquefaction and molecular-speed distribution.
2. Thermodynamics: zeroth, first and second laws, reversible/irreversible work, enthalpy, calorimetry, Joule–Thomson effect, entropy, free energy and equilibrium.
3. Phase equilibria: Clausius–Clapeyron equation, components/phases/degrees of freedom, phase rule for water/sulphur and lead–silver systems, distribution law.
4. Solutions: miscibility, critical-solution temperatures, Raoult/Henry laws, vapour pressures, fractional and steam distillation.
5. Colligative properties: dilute solutions and determination of molecular mass from colligative measurements.
6. Electrochemistry: weak electrolytes, pH/buffers, ionic conductance, Ostwald and Kohlrausch laws, transport numbers, Faraday laws, galvanic cells, redox potentials, Nernst equation, fuel cells and potentiometric titrations.
7. Kinetics: reaction order, rate constants, half-life, integrated rate equations, Arrhenius parameters and collision/transition-state concepts.
8. Photochemistry: light absorption, quantum yield and radiative/non-radiative excited-state reactions.
9. Catalysis: homogeneous, heterogeneous and enzyme catalysis, including Michaelis–Menten treatment.
10. Colloids: purification, protective action, coagulation, lyophilic and lyophobic systems, gels, emulsions, surfactants and micelles.

What is not specified: separate question counts/marks for the three chemistry sections, the examination date and any paper-specific cut-off score.