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WBMSC / KMC Assistant Engineer & Sub-Assistant Engineer (Civil)

The West Bengal Municipal Service Commission recruits civil engineers for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and other municipal bodies in West Bengal. Graduates apply as Assistant Engineer (AE); diploma holders as Sub-Assistant Engineer (SAE). Both follow the same two-stage pattern.

At a glance

Conducted by	West Bengal Municipal Service Commission (WBMSC) — mscwb.org
Posts	Assistant Engineer (Civil) and Sub-Assistant Engineer (Civil), KMC and other municipal bodies
AE qualification	Degree in Civil Engineering, with working knowledge of computers
SAE qualification	Diploma in Civil Engineering (or a higher engineering qualification)
Age limit	AE: up to 36 years · SAE: up to 37 years, as on 1 January of the advertisement year (relaxation for reserved categories)
Recent vacancies	SAE (Civil) 2025: 78 posts · AE (Civil) 2025: 59 posts

Exam pattern (AE and SAE)

Written test	100 objective questions, 2 marks each — 200 marks
Duration	1 hour 30 minutes
Negative marking	1 mark deducted for every wrong answer
Level	AE: degree level · SAE: diploma level (AICTE syllabus) Civil Engineering
Personality test	40 marks; about 3 times the number of vacancies are called, in order of written-test merit
Minimum to qualify	45% (General), 40% (OBC / EWS), 35% (SC / ST / PwD)
Final merit	Written test + personality test

Based on the 2025 WBMSC AE and SAE (Civil) advertisements. Confirm every detail in the official notice on mscwb.org before applying.

Syllabus — what the paper covers

The paper is entirely Civil Engineering. The real papers draw from:

Building materials & constructionBricks, stone, cement, concrete, timber, masonry, damp proofing, foundations

Estimating, costing & valuationQuantities, rate analysis, specifications, valuation and depreciation

SurveyingChain and compass, levelling, theodolite, contouring, curves

Soil mechanicsClassification, compaction, permeability, shear strength, bearing capacity

RCC & structuresIS 456 basics, beams, slabs and columns, SFD/BMD, deflection

HydraulicsFluid properties, flow through pipes and channels, notches and weirs

Irrigation engineeringWater requirement of crops, canals, headworks, cross-drainage works

Transportation engineeringHighway geometrics, pavements, materials testing, traffic

Environmental engineeringWater supply, treatment, sewerage, sanitation — very relevant for KMC

How to prepare

Speed matters more here. 100 questions in 90 minutes is 54 seconds each — faster than most other AE / JE exams.
Negative marking is heavy. At −1 for a 2-mark question, two wrong guesses wipe out one right answer. Skip what you can’t narrow down.
Water supply and sanitation come up often because of the municipal nature of the job — don’t leave environmental engineering for last.
Work the real papers. The same ideas reappear across the 2016–2026 papers, so solving them is the best preparation.