Syllabus
Agniveer — What the syllabus covers
The first thing to establish is which category you are actually applying for, because the papers differ substantially. A General Duty candidate studying physics and chemistry is wasting time; a Technical candidate studying only general knowledge is under-preparing badly. Confirm the category, then find its syllabus in the notification.
- Army — General Duty
- General knowledge covering current affairs, history, geography, polity, sports and awards; general science at approximately class 10 level across physics, chemistry and biology; and mathematics covering arithmetic, algebra, geometry, mensuration and trigonometry at school level.
- Army — Technical
- Physics, chemistry and mathematics at class 12 level, alongside general knowledge. The physics and chemistry content is substantially deeper than in the General Duty paper and follows the class 11 and 12 syllabus.
- Army — Clerk / Store Keeper Technical
- General knowledge, general science, mathematics, computer science, English language and comprehension, and elements of accountancy or book-keeping. The broadest of the Army papers.
- Navy — Agniveer SSR and MR
- SSR covers science and mathematics at class 12 level along with English and general awareness; MR covers science, mathematics, general knowledge and English at a level appropriate to the class 10 requirement.
- Air Force — Agniveer Vayu
- The science stream covers English, physics and mathematics at class 12 level; the other-than-science stream covers English along with reasoning and general awareness. Candidates eligible for both may sit a combined paper.
Across all categories, class 10 general science and school mathematics form a large common core. A candidate uncertain which category to target can begin with those safely, then specialise once the choice is settled.
What the common core across categories looks like
- Class 10 general science — physics, chemistry and life sciences at school level, appearing in almost every category in some form. Finite, finishable and the most efficient place to start.
- School mathematics — arithmetic and elementary algebra and geometry for the general categories, rising to class 12 mathematics for the technical and science-stream entries.
- General knowledge — current affairs, history, geography, polity, sports and awards — the conventional pool, shared with most other recruitment at this level.
- English or the language component — basic comprehension, grammar and vocabulary, weighted differently across categories but present in most.
That common core is worth identifying early because it lets a candidate begin productively before finalising every detail of their category. Class 10 science and school mathematics will be needed whichever entry you pursue, and starting them in week one costs nothing even if the category choice shifts. The specialisation — class 12 physics and mathematics for technical and science-stream entries, computer science for clerical ones — can be layered on once the notification is settled.
Read your own category’s notification, not a general summary
The Army, Navy and Air Force each run their own recruitment with their own categories, syllabi, marking and standards, and the differences between General Duty, Technical, Clerk, SSR, MR and Agniveer Vayu are substantial. Preparing from a general account of Agniveer is a real way to prepare for the wrong paper.
